THE BABYSITTER by R.L. Stine

PUBLISHER: Scholastic, 1989
GENRE: Young Adult Fiction/Thriller
SETTING: USA
SERIES: Point Horror #5
PURCHASE: link, link
AUTHOR SITE: link
MY GRADE: B

FROM PUBLISHER: From the minute that Jenny accepts the Hagen baby-sitting job, she knows she has made a terrible mistake. First there is the dark and gloomy Hagen house, filling her with dread and horror. Then the crank phone calls start. When she finds a threatening note in her bag, she realizes that this isn't a harmless game.

MY THOUGHTS: Like all others in this series, this was a quick read, being under 175 pages. Other than the characters being in high school, grades, ages, and location weren't given.

Jenny Jeffers is the babysitter, and she lives with her mother. I don't particularly care for the mother, whose role is minimal in this.

Chuck, the classmate that likes Jenny, is overbearing and over the top yet still likable somehow. He just tries too hard to get her attention.

Donny's the annoying boy who's being baby-sat by Jenny. The author wanted us to know about four times that the kid has blond hair.

Mike Hagen, the man who's six-year-old son Donny Jenny's babysitting, is definitely over the top in his worry of his son and it got to be annoying.

This was suspenseful with several cryptic things going on at once. I can't say I was surprised to find out who the villain was. So far this one in the point horror collection had the villain with the most awful background. There are several more in the authors babysitting series involving the same lead character, Jenny and I do look forward to them since each one seems to have a conclusion and not a cliffhanger.