Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls

Ann M. Martin's Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls is a friendship story with a spooky streak for 9 year olds about a baby-sitter who jumps every time the phone rings.

What happens

Claudia Kishi would much rather be reading Nancy Drew than doing her homework. She keeps one hidden under her mattress (along with a secret stash of sweets). But her parents have made a deal. Keep up with the homework, or say goodbye to art classes and the Baby-Sitters Club.

Then Mary Anne spots a story in the local paper. A thief the police call the Phantom Caller is robbing houses in nearby towns. He rings first and hangs up without a word, to check whether anyone's home. And Claudia remembers two silent calls on a baby-sitting job only days before.

Cue an emergency meeting! The four girls plan tin-can burglar alarms and a secret code for the phone. Practising it goes about as well as you'd imagine.

Claudia tells it herself, so you get every thought as it pops into her head. She's very funny about school (what's the point of working out x when it's something different every time?). She wears lobster earrings and tights with clocks on. And she's sure she'll never live up to her big sister Janine, a genius who can't answer a simple question without giving a lecture.

The scary bits are just the right size. A light flicks on in an empty house. A phone rings and Claudia daren't answer it. And one moment ends with her peering through a knothole in the fence at an eye that's peering straight back!

There's lots of real friendship stuff too. Claudia and Stacey do sometimes leave the other two out. And her gran Mimi gently tells her that being friends with a sister takes work as well.

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Claudia is in seventh grade and there's a lot of sighing over boys, especially a quiet poet called Trevor she's never spoken to. The burglar sometimes robs houses while the family are still inside, although the paper says he's never hurt anyone. It's played for shivers rather than real fear. If your reader isn't into crushes yet, they might roll their eyes (Kristy and Mary Anne aren't either, which Claudia finds very babyish).

It's the second Baby-Sitters Club book, so Kristy's Great Idea is the place to start if you can.

What to read next

If they're after another girl with a big sister who makes life complicated, try Alice in the Spotlight. Alice is a planet-saving worrier with every pencil sharpened, and her sister Nikki is the last thing she wants anyone to know about.