California Diaries

The California Diaries series is a spin-off of Ann M. Martin's The Baby-Sitters Club. All 15 books are written as first-person journals. The pretense of the Diaries is that they are a school project; all students at their school must keep a journal, with the contents and method left up to them. This is why Maggie's diaries are written in a typewriter font: she uses her computer.

The main conflict of the series arises when the 8th grade is merged with the high school. The students abruptly go from being the oldest of the middle school to the youngest of the now 5-grade high school. This series covers more mature themes than the original, such as alcohol, eating disorders, cancer and runaway teens. It addresses them in a familiar and informative way.

Main characters

Dawn Schafer, a member of the Baby-Sitters Club from Connecticut, returns to her previous home of California to live with her father, stepmother, and brother. Upon her arrival, she reunites with old friends, and they try to revive the West Coast version of the club: the We Love Kids Club. She spends the majority of the series trying to keep the group together, and to balance her desire to live in two states at once. At several points in the series, she has major conflicts with Sunny, usually regarding how often Sunny visits her mother in the hospital. She gains a little sister later in the series. The main themes in Dawn's diaries are about facing family and friendship changes.

Sunny Winslow is Dawn's best friend in California. Her mother is dying of lung cancer, and her father works all the time in his bookstore to avoid his pain. Sunny's negative attitude and outlandish way of dressing are both attempts to get the attention she desires from her parents. She runs away from home in her first diary, and her mother dies later, in her third diary.

Maggie Blume's father is obsessed with his job as a studio executive, but also puts pressure on her to have a detailed plan for high school. She copes with the stress by developing an eating disorder, anorexia. Throughout the series, her biggest struggle comes from trying to assert herself. Her mother's alcoholism eventually helps Maggie realize that she has a problem as well.

Amalia Vargas is Maggie's best friend. She fears a junior at their school, James, who has been stalking her since she broke off their relationship. He finally leaves her alone when she finds a new boyfriend, Brendan. Amalia is the manager of a band called Vanish. She was originally brought into the group by James, but the others realize that Amalia may have to quit if James remains. The other band members are Maggie, Peggie, Bruce, Justin and Rico. Amalia is fond of drawing in her diary.

Ducky McCrae is the token boy in the series. His real name is Christopher, and he is a sophomore. His four best friends are the girls above. His old friends, Jay (formally known as Jason) and Alex have previously drifted away. Jay is interested in girls, and Alex has suicidal tendencies, which are mentioned in Ducky's second diary. His parents travel for months at a time, so he lives with his irresponsible older brother, Ted, whom his parents prefer. Ducky also works at Sunny's father's bookstore. There is speculation among fans that Ducky was intended to be gay, but this was never confirmed.

Titles

1: Dawn
"Friends. Changes. Together. Alone."

2: Sunny
"Living. Dying. Run."

3: Maggie
"Perfect. Always. Pressure."

4: Amalia
"Love. Not."

5: Ducky
"Guys. Girls. Nowhere."

6: Sunny, Diary Two
"Waiting. Watching. Crash."

"7: Dawn, Diary Two
"Inside. Out."

8: Maggie, Diary Two
"Weight. Problems."

9: Amalia, Diary Two
"Fate."

10: Ducky, Diary Two
"Try. Again."

11: Dawn, Diary Three
"Missing. Losing. Hurt."

12: Sunny, Diary Three
"Just. Cry."

13: Maggie, Diary Three
"Life. Camera. Action."

14: Amalia, Diary Three
"Confusion. Pain. Away."

15: Ducky, Diary Three
"Together."

External links

* [http://www.scholastic.com The Official Scholastic Website]
* [http://fans.papervixen.net/diaries/ Inside. Out. - The Approved Fanlisting]
* [http://community.livejournal.com/cd_discussion/ California Diaries - Livejournal]