~ BSC School Year Diary 94/5 ~

The last time I was home I was packing up my things and quickly took a few photos of the BSC School Year Diary, which was a limited-edition item available to buy through an order form in the back of the first pressings of books 50-56 or thereabouts.  It's a fairly bog-standard academic diary (published by Letts, for the curious) but it has some nice colour BSC pages in the front, most of which are unintentionally hilarious.  The only page that didn't come out so well was the 'Letter from Ann', which I've transcribed.

I forgot to take a picture of the cover, but I'll do it at some point.

Sorry it's a bit blurred:
Dear BSC Fan,
Welcome to the 1994/5 Babysitters School Year Diary, and welcome to your new school year!  I always loved the beginning of term when I was a young girl - it's a chance to start fresh - new teachers, new files, new things to learn.  I think you can make just as many New School Year Resolutions as you make in January, and have fun trying to keep them!  And it's always great to meet your friends and catch up after the long summer holiday, and see who's had a haircut or something really exciting happens to them over the break.
Diaries are fun too.  They're not just for writing in your dentist appointment and maths tests.  If you keep a diary for every year they are a real treasure trove to look back on.  You won't believe the bands you listened to, the boys you liked, or the sports you played. But they're all there on the page as proof.  And just reading through an old diary can bring back really happy memories of a lovely birthday, or a fantastic party.  So take Mallory's advice, and make your diary a very special part of this next school year.  Work hard, play hard, enjoy your friends and family, and make every day count for you.
love Ann M Martin

I think it's fairly poorly-written and the punctuation is atrocious (methinks Ann is fond of commas), but there you go.  I'd hazard a guess that the letter was ghostwritten, but in any case it's been looked over by the British-English editor.  The picture of Ann is quite pretty, but her blouse looks really outdated.

A somewhat bizarre joint letter written by Kristy and Mary Anne.  The pictures of the girls that appear in this diary were used on the bookmarks that came in books 50-56 and on the covers of Dear Babysitter... and Merry Christmas, Babysitter... (the UK titles for Chain Letter and Secret Santa).  Feck knows why they mixed up Mallory and Mary Anne's hair colours.

Yay for the middleaged Mallory with comedy specs picture!
"You can look back at [your diary] and have fun remembering...when you had your first date with your new boyfriend".  Mallory, love...no-one's ever going to kiss you.  Let me tell you that right now.
Yes - Stacey uses the word 'cos' liberally. 'Cos she's down with the mid-90s street lingo.  Not!

This page is so bittersweet.  Jessi's segment is so boring, yet Claudia's is so delicious.  "Yee ha" it up for...the COWGIRL look, indeed. 
I didn't have enough time to take a picture of the last page, but there are another one or two trivia questions and then the SUPER TRIVIA QUESTION - unscramble the circled letters to answer the question about which TV programme was Mimi's favourite ('Wheel of Fortune', in case anyone was desperate to know) - and then there's a small picture of the 'California Girls' coverart, which you can sort of see through the previous page on the scan above.

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