*spoiler warning*

The BSC has dealt with racism, death, disabilities, and now child abuse. Sometimes it's hard to remember that, throughout all of this, these characters are just barely teenagers. It's amazing how well they deal with serious situations like this, considering.

I felt so bad for Claudia, caught in the middle of such a horrible situation, and unsure if she was misinterpreting things. It was very good that she got her mother involved... At first Mrs. Nicholls denied everything, which often happens in these situations... Unfortunately it had to get worse before she finally admitted that she needed to get the kids away from Mr. Nicholls. One of the more emotional, serious BSC books, very well-written. ( )

When you consider how long the Baby-Sitters Club series ran, it's suprising that the topic of child abuse hasn't come up earlier. This book, of course, deals with a new family where the father has everyone terrified. He's all peaches and cream with the baby-sitters, but he has strict rules for the children (touching the outside of a briefcase is enough to send him cranky), and the children have some suspicious marks on them. Claudia realises that things just aren't adding up like they should, finally turning to her mother to help her.

I read the book a little while ago, and it's not completely memorable now. But one thing that did stick out was how much I liked Claudia's mother in this book. Claudia's point of view usually makes her mother out as the big meanie, but here we see a much more adult approach as her mother takes control and helps 'save the day'.