One thing that’s the same about us is our looks. We both have brown hair and brown eyes and are short for our age.

     The vice-president of the Baby-sitters Club is Claudia Kishi. Claud lives across the street from Mary Anne. There is nothing, and I mean nothing, typical or average or ordinary about Claudia. To begin with, she’s Japanese-American. Her hair is silky and long and jet-black. Her eyes are dark and almond-shaped and exotic. And her skin, well, I wish it were mine. I’m sure her skin doesn’t even know what a pimple is. Which is interesting when you consider Claudia’s eating habits. Claud is pretty much addicted to junk food. Her parents don’t like her to eat much of it, though, so she has to resort to hiding it in her room. Everywhere you look, you find something: a package of red-hots in the pencil cup, a bag of Cheese Doodles under her bed, a box of Cracker Jacks in the closet. This makes for a crowded room because Claudia is a pack rat. She has to be. She’s an artist and needs to collect things for her work, such as shells, leaves, and interesting pebbles. Plus, she has tons of supplies — paper, canvases, paints, pastels, charcoals — and most of them are stored under her bed. Claud likes Nancy Drew mysteries and is a terrible student (even though she’s smart). She

lives with her parents, her grandmother, Mimi, and her older sister, Janine. It’s too bad that Claud is such a poor student, because Janine is a genius. One last thing about Claudia — her clothes. They are just. . . so cool. Well, I mean Claud is. She’s the coolest kid in our grade. Her clothes are wild. Claud loves trying new things and she has an incredible imagination. She wears hats, weird jewelry (she makes some of it), bright colors — anything she can get away with!

     Dawn Schafer is the club’s treasurer. Now she’s got an interesting family. Dawn used to live in California. She lived there with her parents and Jeff, her younger brother.