Kristy

Books narrated: 31

#1 Kristy’s Great Idea (no ghostwriter)
#6 Kristy’s Big Day (no ghostwriter)
#11 Kristy and the Snobs (no ghostwriter)
#20 Kristy and the Walking Disaster (no ghostwriter)
#24 Kristy and the Mother’s Day Surprise (no ghostwriter)
#32 Kristy and the Secret of Susan (no ghostwriter)
#38 Kristy’s Mystery Admirer (no ghostwriter) my favorite Kristy book
#45 Kristy and the Baby Parade (ghostwriter: Ellen Miles)
#53 Kristy for President (gw: Nola Thacker)
#62 Kristy and the Worst Kid Ever (gw: Nola Thacker)
#74 Kristy and the Copycat (gw: Nola Thacker)
#81 Kristy and Mr. Mom (gw: Jahnna Beecham/Malcolm Hillgartner)
#89 Kristy and the Dirty Diapers (gw: Peter Lerangis)
#95 Kristy + Bart = ? (gw: Peter Lerangis)
#100 Kristy’s Worst Idea (gw: Peter Lerangis)
#107 Mind Your Own Business, Kristy! (gw: Peter Lerangis)
#112 Kristy and the Sister War (gw: Ellen Miles)
#118 Kristy Thomas, Dog Trainer (gw: Nola Thacker)
#122 Kristy in Charge (gw: Suzanne Weyn)
#129 Kristy at Bat (gw: Ellen Miles)

M#4 Kristy and the Missing Child (gw: Ellen Miles) my favorite Kristy mystery
M#9 Kristy and the Haunted Mansion (gw: Ellen Miles)
M#15 Kristy and the Vampires (gw: Ellen Miles)
M#19 Kristy and the Missing Fortune (gw: Ellen Miles)
M#25 Kristy and the Middle School Vandal (gw: Nola Thacker)
M#30 Kristy and the Mystery Train (gw: Nola Thacker)
M#36 Kristy and the Cat Burglar (gw: Ellen Miles)

Kristy’s Book (gw: Jeanne Betancourt)

FF#1 Kristy’s Big News (gw: Nola Thacker) my favorite Kristy FF
FF#5 Kristy Power! (gw: Ellen Miles)
FF#9 Kristy and the Kidnapper (gw: Ellen Miles)

Portrayed by Avriel Hillman in the TV show and Schuler Fisk in the movie. The TV episode "Kristy and the Great Campaign" is centered around her, and the Christmas special is mostly about her and Stacey. She just about overshadows Claudia in "Claudia and the Missing Jewels."

Kristy’s Crushes-2 (tied for sixth with Mary Anne)
Michel DuMoulin, Bart Taylor

Kristy’s the only person in her grade who can turn her eyelids inside out. She is also the shortest person in her grade. Kristy admits that her bossiness is a way to make sure she’s not ignored, something she thinks will happen because she’s so short. No one else in her immediate family is short.

Kristy’s good at spelling. She’s also good at sports.

Kristy and Mary Anne have a similar face shape. They both also have brown hair and brown eyes. According to #38 Kristy’s Mystery Admirer, Kristy is the only BSC member to not wear a bra. Presumably that’s not including associate members unless Logan has really massive pecs or something.

Kristy is left-handed. In a picture in her Portrait Collection book, she’s clearly wearing a glove like a right-handed person, but on the cover of Kristy at Bat she’s in a left-handed batting stance.

Kristy broke her ankle the summer before sixth grade. I broke mine in sixth grade.

Kristy loves to stay up late, and also enjoys sleeping in. She also likes anchovies, and hording her money. Kristy doesn’t like spiders, cabbage, or people chewing with their mouths open. She is afraid of lightning.

According to Mary Anne Saves the Day, Kristy has been to Florida, and it was one of the six times Mary Anne had not walked to school with her. Another was when her dad left and the other four she was sick. Even assuming a few days for Mary Anne being gone, that's a great attendance record. That trip to Florida was probably the time Charlie had a birthday there, mentioned in The Summer Before. In Baby-sitters on Board! Kristy claims to have never flown on a plane (okay, her family could have driven to Florida) but also to have never left Connecticut, and in Kristy and the Missing Child says that at the age of eight she’d never been further from home than Stamford, although Charlie's birthday party would have been before that.

The softball team the Kristy organizes is actually a baseball team that uses a softball, which is larger than a baseball. Softball has ten positions (left AND right centerfield instead of just centerfield) while Kristy’s Krushers have nine positions.

Kristy has a TV in her room.

Kristy’s family

When the series starts, Kristy lives with her mother who is called Edie at first but Elizabeth later on, older brothers Charlie and Sam, younger brother David Michael, and dog Louie. Kristy’s mom marries Watson Brewer in #6 Kristy’s Big Day, gaining Kristy a stepfather and two younger step-siblings, Karen and Andrew (Watson is not the custodial parent), plus a grumpy cat named Boo Boo. Louie dies in #11 Kristy and the Snobs, and the family gets a puppy named Shannon. In #25 Kristy and the Mother’s Day Surprise, Kristy’s mom and stepdad adopt a toddler from Vietnam, Emily Michelle (totally out-of-the-blue…somehow…). Kristy’s maternal grandmother, Nannie, moves in with the family to help with the new addition. #125 Mary Anne in Middle reveals that Boo Boo is no more, and a kitten named Pumpkin has been added to the household.

Kristy and her family moved next door to Mary Anne when Kristy was an infant, shortly after Mary Anne was born.

Kristy’s mom only gets pizza when she has to ask the kids a favor. As a single mom, she tries to spend a little time with each of the four kids every night, due to her feeling guilty about having to work full time to support them after her dad “ran off to California and got married again and doesn’t send much child support money.” She's been dating Watson for four months by the time of Kristy’s Great Idea. The Summer Before states that Elizabeth starting dating Watson in May, which is indeed four months before September.

Kristy’s biological father, Patrick, left before Kristy learned to ride a bike. There’s something so very sad about that.

Patrick was married briefly after leaving his family. He gets married for a third time to a very nice woman named Zoey in Kristy’s Big News, and invites Kristy, Sam, and Charlie to come but not David Michael. It’s never really explained why. By this point in his life, he’s no longer a sports writer but head chef at a fancy restaurant Zoey owns. Zoey hopes to have children with him some day, prompting Kristy to ask her if she really knows Patrick’s history. Zoey does, but trusts that Patrick regrets what he missed by abandoning his family and has matured now. Kristy’s father has a brother named Ray, who has even less contact with Kristy and her siblings than Patrick does. 

Patrick played for a minor league baseball team.

Kristy describes Watson as telling the world’s worst jokes, but says she still loves him.

In #38 Dawn and the Older Boy, David Michael has a cigar box to hold some small toys in. Later in #107 Mind Your Own Business, Kristy! Watson is revealed to smoke an occasional cigar.

Watson is a huge baseball fan as early as Kristy and the Walking Disaster.

Watson leaves his kids with a babysitter on his weekend with them on several occasions. He’s also established as going to his office (he’s upper management at Unity Insurance) on weekends. But following his heart attack in Kristy and Mr. Mom, he cuts back on work.

According to #6 Kristy’s Big Day, Watson had Boo-Boo before he met his ex. Boo-Boo is 17, Karen is five, Andrew is three, the mom’s already engaged and Watson’s about to be, but the divorce is recent enough that she’s still on Watson’s insurance…Wonder how long the marriage lasted?

Like Kristy, Charlie is very punctual. It’s implied that this is out fear he will turn out like his father. 

Charlie plays Varsity football and Sam’s in Math Club. Later Sam also joins the track and field team.

Before they move to Watson’s house, Sam and Charlie share a room.

Sam has a job delivering groceries, despite being too young to have a driver’s license.

Apparently a record exists for the most strands of spaghetti sucked into a mouth consecutively. It's 27, set by Sam Thomas.

Sam like anchovies, like Kristy.

David Michael and Sam have dark curly hair; Sam has sparkling blue eyes.

David Michael was born two weeks early.

David Michael is a very thoughtful, sweet kid. He helps out Andrew a lot when Andrew is feeling left out, and when Mary Anne’s house burns down, he tries to console by giving her the rest of his bubble bath solution and helping Emily Michelle draw a picture and learn a song to sing for Mary Anne. It’s hinted that David Michael and Andrew sometimes gang up on Karen.

At first, Karen and Andrew spend only every other weekend with their father. By #75 Jessi’s Horrible Prank, they’ve switched to every other month. That plot is covered in a Little Sister book, as is Boo Boo's death and Pumpkin's acquisition, and a plot with their stepdad getting a six month carpentry contract in Chicago during which Karen spends time in CT but Andrew remains in IL. Karen and Andrew's mom is Sheila and their stepdad is Kendall in the older version I have of the book. In the new cover version it's changed to Lisa and Seth.

Emily Michelle has trouble learning to speak, presumably due to living in an orphanage in a non-English speaking country for most of her life. However, the examples of her difficulties speaking aren't convincing to me, as I have a toddler who is very stubborn and doesn't talk much, and the pediatrician says she's fine.

Boo-Boo catches and eats mice, but not all of the fur and tail.

Nannie is an accomplished knitter. According to Kristy’s Big Day Nannie is in her seventies. We know that Elizabeth is mid 30s...Nannie was 35 or so when she had Elizabeth? Kristy's aunts Theo and Colleen are younger. My paternal grandmother was 30 when she had her first baby; Grandpa was 24. They’d been married for a year or two.

Nannie's last name is Taylor, meaning that Kristy's mom was Elizabeth Taylor.

In #1 Kristy’s Great Idea, Kristy mentions “Grandma.” Not Nannie…would that be her dad’s mom, then? But in #6 Kristy’s Big News, she says both her paternal grandparents are deceased. Both of Kristy’s grandfathers are deceased.

Kristy’s cousin Robin has diabetes. She’s not among the wedding attendees when Kristy’s mom remarries. Maybe she’s on her dad’s side. Robin lives in western Connecticut.

Kristy has a godmother, who sends her a birthday present in The Summer Before. No mention of a godfather, though (and I don't recall Claudia's baby cousin/goddaughter Lynn having a godfather).