The Babysitter II – R.L. Stine

“Hi, Babes. I’m back.”

Jenny survived her last adventure in babysitting (barely) and she’s now in therapy (thank goodness!). She’s done with Chuck, who she was dating during the first book, but he’s not done with her. Chuck swings between joking around and angry and when she rejects him he responds by shouting at her, “threatening and cursing”. Jenny’s internal dialogue?

Poor Chuck.

So, it turns out that Jenny needs therapy for more than the whole almost dying thing. Some more therapy would probably give her some clarity about her decision to babysit again. Seriously, why, Jenny? Get a job at McDonald’s or something!

But Jenny isn’t listening to me so off to her next babysitting job she goes.

Jenny isn’t the only one in need of therapy. The ten year old kid she babysits is nowhere near the only male in this book that is well versed in temper tantrums. The males her age have some serious toxic masculinity happening and Jenny is quick to forgive or ignore all, even the behaviour that’s criminal.

Back to the kid Jenny babysits for a moment; it wouldn’t surprise me if I found him in a future Stine book as the serial killer. There’s almost certainly a jail cell in his future.

If you haven’t read the first book in the series, make sure you do before you start this one. Huge spoilers come at you right out of the gate, including who the big bad was and how the showdown happened.

There are some fun descriptions in this edition of Adventures in Babysitting, like

The head seemed to rise up, like a pulpy, bloodstained moon.

There’s no resolution for a lot of the characters in this book. As far as I can tell, Chuck is still a jerk, the kid Jenny babysits is on his way to some much more serious ‘pranks’, Jenny still needs therapy and Jenny’s mother is not as involved in the drama that is her daughter’s life as she probably needs to be.

“Believe me, child – nothing like that will ever happen to you again.”

I’d hate to tell you this, Jenny’s mother, but Jenny still needs to play a starring role in two more sequels.

Once Upon a Blurb

Jenny’s last baby-sitting job nearly killed her. But she’s a survivor and she’s over it. She’s even got a new baby-sitting job. Then the phone rings. When she answers, she hears a familiar voice – a voice from the grave.