Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls

The second book in Ann M. Martin's The Baby-sitters Club series follows Claudia Kishi, a seventh-grader and aspiring artist in the small town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Claudia is the vice president of the Baby-sitters Club, a business founded by her friend Kristy Thomas. The club also includes Kristy's shy best friend Mary Anne Spier, who serves as secretary, and Stacey McGill, a recent transplant from New York City who serves as treasurer. The four girls meet three times a week in Claudia's bedroom, which doubles as club headquarters because she has her own phone line, and they take calls from parents looking for sitters.

Claudia is a talented artist but a poor student, a sore point at home because her older sister Janine is a genius with an IQ of 196. Her parents require Claudia to complete all homework each night under family supervision, or she will lose her art classes and her spot in the club. Her grandmother Mimi, a patient woman who emigrated from Japan, is her favorite homework helper and the subject of an oil portrait Claudia is painting for art class. When Claudia wonders why she and Janine cannot be friends the way Mimi and her own sister once were, Mimi tells her that friendship takes effort and that the sisters will grow closer in time.

Claudia's thoughts are also consumed by Trevor Sandbourne, a quiet, dark-haired poet. They share no classes, and Claudia believes he does not know she exists. Stacey, who has her own crush on Kristy's older brother Sam Thomas, calls one evening, and the two bond over their frustrations. Claudia proposes a Saturday get-together with the whole club.

That Saturday, the four girls lounge in Kristy's front yard with nothing to do. Mary Anne flips through the local newspaper and finds an alarming article about the Phantom Caller, a burglar who phones homes to check whether anyone is in, then steals jewelry while residents are out. He has struck six times in two weeks, moving from New Hope to Mercer, the town closest to Stoneybrook. Mary Anne points out that the Phantom could target a home where only a baby-sitter and small children are present. Claudia recalls that the phone rang twice with no one on the line the last time she baby-sat at the Marshalls' house. Kristy calls an emergency meeting.

In Claudia's room, the club devises safety measures: a coded phone system for emergencies, improvised burglar alarms such as stacking tin cans behind a door, and a plan for Kristy to bring the club's record book to school each day so every member always knows the others' locations. The girls agree to keep everything secret from their parents, especially Mary Anne's overprotective father, who might ban her from baby-sitting.

At school, Claudia trails Trevor and collides with Alan Gray, a boy who has tormented Kristy since kindergarten. Alan taunts Claudia with a rhyme about her and Trevor, revealing that her secret crush is spreading through the school. A classmate reports that her grandparents were robbed by the Phantom Caller, and the principal announces the Halloween Hop, a school dance on October 31. Claudia dreams of going with Trevor but doubts he will ever notice her.

Over the following days, the baby-sitters face unnerving experiences on the job. Claudia is frightened by flickering lights and mysterious footsteps while baby-sitting three-year-old Jamie Newton, but the source turns out to be Kristy delivering a casserole. A radio report that the Phantom has been caught proves false, and while Claudia baby-sits the Marshall children, a silent caller and noises in the garage terrify her before the Marshalls themselves appear, having misplaced their keys. Kristy receives a silent call while baby-sitting at the home of Watson, her mother's boyfriend. Stacey weathers a power failure during a thunderstorm while sitting for Charlotte Johanssen, a shy only child. Mary Anne, baby-sitting Kristy's younger brother David Michael Thomas while he is home sick, rigs elaborate homemade burglar alarms that are triggered one by one by wind, the family dog, and the returning Thomas family, who find the results more amusing than alarming.

At the next club meeting, Claudia answers a client's call and accepts the job without offering it to the other members first, violating club rules. Kristy confronts her, and Claudia admits she has done this several times, distracted by worry over Trevor and the dance.

That evening, the Goldmans, Claudia's next-door neighbors, arrive at the Kishi house in distress: They returned from dinner to find their home burglarized. A pearl necklace and an antique gold brooch are missing, and Mrs. Goldman mentions receiving two silent phone calls that afternoon. Police suspect a possible copycat rather than the Phantom himself. Kristy calls Mary Anne with the news, and Mary Anne tells her father, who immediately forbids her from baby-sitting until the Phantom is caught. At an emergency meeting, the club redistributes Mary Anne's jobs. Mary Anne offers to quit, but the others insist she stay on as secretary.

At school, Claudia tries to catch Trevor's attention in the cafeteria but loses her balance, and her plate of Jell-O lands in his lap. That afternoon, she and Kristy baby-sit Jamie and his three cousins. The phone rings three times with a silent caller, and the sitters spot a shadow darting from the front window. Claudia calls 911. Police arrive and find Alan Gray hiding behind a bush. He confesses to reading the club's record book from Kristy's desk each morning to learn where the sitters would be. He made the silent calls because he wanted to ask Kristy to the Halloween Hop but lacked the nerve. Surprised, Kristy accepts his invitation.

At home, Janine comes to Claudia's room, having seen a police car and chosen not to tell their parents before hearing from Claudia. The sisters share candy and talk openly for the first time in a long while, agreeing to make more time for each other. In bed, Claudia realizes that Alan was responsible only for Kristy's mysterious calls. Someone else made the silent calls Claudia received, and she falls asleep wondering who.

The next day, Claudia takes her math test and works carefully. Her teacher, Mr. Peters, finds her afterward and congratulates her on scoring an 86, a B-plus. That afternoon, while baby-sitting the Marshalls, the phone rings with another silent caller. It rings again, and this time a nervous voice identifies itself: Trevor Sandbourne. He asks Claudia to the Halloween Hop. Trevor explains that Alan had been passing him Claudia's baby-sitting schedule from the record book because Alan knew Trevor liked her. He apologizes for the frightening silent calls, saying he was too shy to speak. Claudia accepts, overjoyed.

At the Halloween Hop, Claudia and Trevor laugh about the Jell-O accident and dance together. Kristy attends with Alan, and Stacey goes with their classmate Pete Black. The following Monday, Claudia's B-plus is confirmed, and her family celebrates. Mimi tells Claudia quietly that she always knew Claudia could do it. Two days later, the real Phantom Caller is caught in Mercer during a police sting. He confesses to all his crimes but denies ever being in Stoneybrook, confirming that the Goldmans were robbed by a copycat. With the Phantom behind bars, Mary Anne's father allows her to baby-sit again, and she rejoins the club fully. The four members celebrate at their next meeting, toasting with cans of soda to the Baby-sitters Club's survival.