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~ Extras ~ In the first editions of books 50-56 a special
offer was run where readers could order limited edition BSC goodies from an
order form in the back of the books. The order form was as follows (my scanner is
broken, so bear with me): (The 'Babysitters' bubble-writing was at the top) Celebrate their 50th adventure with the Babysitters! Collect all these
personalised Babysitters goodies! A full colour Babysitters Club
Keyring - 99p + 25p p+p ~ flipping heck, things were a lot cheaper back
in 1994... NEW: I managed to snap a few quick photos of
the School Year Diary, which are posted on
this page.
Both letter books came with the extras:
friendship necklaces with Merry Christmas Babysitter and Dear
Babysitter with a BSC friendship bracelet. Unfortunately I don't know
whether the friendship bracelet was the same as the US version because my copy
was a display copy (not wrapped in plastic) and some little bastard had stolen
it. The friendship necklaces with Seasons Greetings were a split
heart where one said 'friends' and the other said 'forever'. If I remember,
Dear Babysitter also included a BSC bookmark (supposedly made
by Jessi for Mallory or something), but I think I either left mine in a book
that I lent to somebody and they stole it (the scaff) or else it's inside a book
that I haven't read in ages. Either way, it's lost. The passport photos of Mary Anne and Dawn were included as well. The hardcover BSC movie storybook came with a heartshaped 'BSC Forever' necklace, which I wore religiously day and night until the chain broke. I still have the pendant, though, and i think it was exactly the same edition as the US one. Around about 1997-1998 a BSC book club was launched, where for £4.99 (£6.99 usual price) you got the first three books, a pair of BSC bookends, a wipe-clean BSC week planner, a bookmark and a sparkly keyring. The interesting thing about this offer is that the bookends, the bookmark and the week planner (like a memo board thing) all had the American logo and American BSC portraits on them, whereas the keyring had the UK logo and the books were the UK releases (I pored over the tiny pictures in the leaflet carefully). I didn't join this book club because, as much as I wanted all of the BSC goodies, I already had just about all the books already (at that time I would've been just completing my collection). I have no idea what the other packs included because I didn't join i_i When I was nine I decided to write a letter to
the BSC - yes, I know they're fictional characters, but I was only nine and I just wondered if
I'd get a reply or anything. So I wrote my little letter
(just "Dear Kristy etc., my name is ~~, I love the books, my favourite
is...") and I got a very nice letter back from the commissioning editor's
assistant (or secretary, whatever), saying something along the lines of "Thank you for your lovely letter,
Kristy & Co say hi and they want you to have these Babysitters goodies".
Included in the envelope was a pink plastic BSC folder containing a really big
BSC poster (42cm x 60cm of the Babysitters Remember cover), a copy of the
Ann M. Martin postcard included with book 60, a pink BSC badge and the 1995
Babysitters Club complete stock list and order form. The latter makes me
think that it was an information pack for bookshops interested in buying BSC stock.
I'm actually really glad I got the order form too, because it has
some publication dates and, heck, I could have purchased BSC display bookcases for £219.90
- get me...well, not that I would have, but it was nice to have the option.
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