Karen Brewer

Infobox character
colour =
name = Karen Brewer


caption = Karen on the cover of the first novel in the "Baby-sitters Little Sister" series, "Karen's Witch"
first = "The Baby-sitters Club": "Kristy's Great Idea"
last = "Friends Forever" Super Special: "Graduation Day"
cause = end of series
nickname = "The Three Musketeers" (together with Hannie and Nancy)
age =
born =
occupation =
title =
family = Lisa Brewer Engle (mother)
Watson Brewer (father)
Andrew Brewer (brother)
Emily Michelle Thomas Brewer (adopted half-sister)
Elizabeth Thomas Brewer (step-mother)
Seth Engle (step-father)
Charlie Thomas (step-brother)
Kristy Thomas (step-sister)
David Michael Thomas (step-brother)
Sam Thomas(step-brother)
relatives = Grandma Packett (maternal grandmother)
Nannie (step-grandmother)
Grandma Engle (step-grandmother)
episode =
portrayer = Ashley Chase ("The Baby-Sitters Club" (TV series)) Jessica Needham ("The Baby-Sitters Club" (film))
creator = Ann M. Martin

Karen Brewer is the 7-year old protagonist of Ann M. Martin's "Baby-sitters Little Sister" series (which is a spin-off of "The Baby-sitters Club" book series). Karen's first appearance is in the Baby-sitters Cub's first book,"Kristy's Great Idea", when she is five years old.

Biography

In the "Baby-sitters Little Sister" series, Karen is seven years old and lives in fictional Stoneybrook, Connecticut (which is said to be a town approximately 30 miles from Stamford). She has one younger brother, Andrew Brewer (age four), and both children are the younger step-siblings of Kristy Thomas of "The Baby-sitters Club". Karen’s actual birth date has never been stated (although she turned seven in BSLS #7, "Karen’s Birthday"), but it is believed to be in mid-April. In "Karen’s Book" (BSLS #100) she writes that she was born in the spring, and she celebrates a half-birthday party in BSLS #78 "Karen’s Half Birthday", which takes place in the middle of October. The series began in 1988 with the publishing of "Karen's Witch" (BSLS #1), and ended twelve years later in 2000 with the publishing of "Karen's Cowboy" (BSLS #122). In all books after her seventh birthday, Karen remains a seven-year-old second grader.

Karen calls herself a "two-two," as her parents are divorced, causing her and Andrew to live in two different houses and have two different sets of clothes and toys. As both parents have remarried, Karen and Andrew now have two different families. This includes Seth Engle (their step-father) and Elizabeth Thomas Brewer (their step-mother) and her children, Charlie, Sam, Kristy, and David Michael Thomas. Karen refers to her mother and step-father’s house as "the little house" (as it is smaller and quieter) and her father and step-mother’s house as "the big house" (as it is larger—much, as it is a mansion—and much noisier). Later, more additions come to the big house when Karen and Andrew's father Watson and step-mother Elizabeth decide to adopt a two-year old girl from Vietnam, whom they name Emily Michelle Thomas Brewer, and Elizabeth's mother Nannie comes to live with them to help care for her. Karen also has a step-grandmother who lives on a farm in Nebraska.

Karen’s two best friends are Nancy Dawes and Hannie Papadakis—they call themselves "The Three Musketeers" or the "3M." All three girls attend Ms. Colman's second grade at Stoneybrook Academy (a private school). Nancy lives next-door to the little house, and Hannie lives across the street from the big house.

Karen is quite gifted—she is younger than most of her classmates as she skipped the first grade. She won many spelling bees (going so far as to compete in the State Bee) and has many hobbies which consist of reading, writing, arts and crafts, softball, and running small neighborhood businesses (dog walking and lemonade stands in particular). She is also very fond of witches and ghost stories, and is convinced both that her big house neighbor, Mrs. Tabitha Porter, is a witch named Morbidda Destiny, and that the ghost of her father's grandfather Ben Brewer resides on the third floor there. Karen wears glasses (which she received in BSLS #5, "Karen’s School Picture") and is "married" to Ricky Torres. She uses two pairs of glasses—a blue pair for reading and a pink pair for the rest of the time, as of book #5 Karen's School Picture.

Although Karen is typically a happy seven-year-old, she has had to deal with dramatic changes in her life—namely her parents’ divorce and remarriages (which occurred before the series began), a broken wrist and ruptured spleen (both the result of accidents), the death of her (step-) grandfather, the death of the family cat, friends moving away, and her little house family’s relocation to Chicago (and later, back to Stoneybrook). During these more serious incidents, Karen turns to the support of her family and friends.

At times Karen can be bossy and a bit of a know-it-all, particularly when she is in charge. She has an overactive imagination (something which notoriously landed her into trouble in the earlier books) and often has a hard time remembering to use her "indoor voice," especially in school. In certain instances, she deliberately disobeys her parents' rules (such as buying toy guns for herself and Andrew in BSLS #65 "Karen's Toys") and she has a habit of stretching the truth. In spite of these faults, Karen is still portrayed as a loyal friend and a kind sibling.

References

*cite book
last = Martin
first = Ann M.
authorlink = Ann M. Martin
coauthors =
title = Karen's Witch
publisher = Scholastic Inc
date = 1988
location = New York, New York
url = http://www.scholastic.com/annmartin/bsc/littlesister.htm
doi =
id = ISBN 0-590-44300-3
*cite book
last = Martin
first = Ann M.
authorlink = Ann M. Martin
coauthors =
title = Kristy's Great Idea
publisher = Scholastic Inc
date = August 1986
location = New York, New York
url = http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=17863&langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10004&sa_campaign=internal_ads/scholastic3_0/search
doi =
id = ISBN 0-590-33950-8
*cite book
last = Martin
first = Ann M.
authorlink = Ann M. Martin
coauthors = David Levithan
title = The Complete Guide to The Baby-Sitters Club
publisher = Scholastic Inc
date = September 1996
location = New York, New York
url = http://www.scholastic.com/annmartin/bsc/classic.htm
doi =
id = ISBN 0-590-92713-2