What This Book Actually Is
Ivy And Bean take care of the babysitter, as it turns out. It's the fourth book in Annie Barrows and Sophie Blackwell's series about two kids who couldn't be more different but end up together anyway. The babysitter situation is just another vehicle for chaos. The setup is simple enough. Bean wants a babysitter she can actually have fun with, and Ivy isn't exactly thrilled about sharing her space with a stranger. Things escalate from there, naturally. That's the entire premise condensed into a paragraph.
Ivy And Bean Take Care Of The Babysitter
Published in 2007, this one gets called the "babysitter book," but honestly that label undersells what happens. It's about boundaries, creativity, and the strange way kids solve problems that adults create for them. The babysitter isn't even really the protagonist of her own story, which is kind of the point. The reading level sits around second to fourth grade, roughly a Lexile score in the mid-600s to low 700s. My experience with kids who've worked through this one: they're usually comfortable with chapter books but still need the visual support of Blackwell's illustrations to keep engagement up. The text won't crush them, but it's dense enough that some reluctant readers will hit a wall without the pictures breaking up the paragraphs. The page count runs about 112 pages with illustrations scattered throughout. That's a solid commitment for a younger reader but not so long that they'll lose momentum. I've seen kids finish it in two or three sittings depending on their pace.
What Actually Happens In The Story
Bean's new babysitter, Mrs. Grubb, arrives and immediately sets rules. Lots of rules. Ivy doesn't have the same patience for rule-making as Bean does, and Bean has developed this fascination with Mrs. Grubb that frankly crosses into uncomfortable territory for most parents. Ivy steps in because that's what she does, even though it means getting deeply involved in something she didn't ask for. The resolution involves Ivy and Bean essentially taking charge of the babysitting arrangement, flipping the dynamic so the kids are running the show. It's not particularly revolutionary plot structure, but the execution works because Barrows writes the kid dialogue without condescending to the reader or overwriting the humor.
Get the Full Details
What Parents And Educators Should Know Before Buying It
There's a reason this book gets recommended and a reason some parents hesitate. Bean's obsession with the babysitter isn't presented as appropriate behavior, and the book doesn't shy away from showing why that fixation is weird and wrong. But it does spend significant time in that neighborhood, and some kids absorb that energy without catching the subtext. I've had conversations with parents who felt the dynamic between Bean and Mrs. Grubb needed more explicit critique than the text provides. On the flip side, Ivy's arc here is genuinely interesting. She's the controlled, meticulous sibling throughout the series, and this book asks her to step outside her comfort zone in a way that feels earned rather than forced. That's worth noting if you're evaluating the series as a whole for a child's reading list.
Edge Cases And Problems I've Run Into
The main issue I've encountered is sourcing physical copies. The book went out of print at certain retailers for extended periods, and when it was available, the paperback editions showed wear quickly. The hardcover holds up better but costs significantly more and is harder to find secondhand. If you're looking at used copies on Amazon or eBay, check the condition carefully. Several copies I picked up had damaged spines that made reading aloud painful. The ISBN-10 is 0061124980 and ISBN-13 is 978-0061124981. Those will help you track down clean editions. Another practical problem: some school libraries pulled this title during the 2020-2021 period due to content concerns about the babysitter dynamic. If you're trying to reserve it through a public library system and it shows as unavailable or checked out indefinitely, that could be why. Interlibrary loan works but adds a week or two to the wait time. The workaround I ended up using was buying a discounted used copy from a bookseller who specializes in children's lit, specifically one with a 95% or higher positive rating and recent reviews mentioning condition accuracy. Spending five dollars extra upfront saved me from going back and forth three times on returns.
Where It Fits In The Series
Reading order matters less here than in most series because each book stands alone, but if a kid is new to Ivy and Bean, starting with book one makes sense. The relationship between the characters is established there, and without that foundation, some of the interpersonal dynamics in the babysitter book land with less impact. That said, I've watched kids jump into book four cold and follow along fine because the situations are self-contained enough. The full series runs eight books, with subsequent entries exploring themes like career day, summer camp, and a Halloween mystery. The tone stays consistent throughout, which is unusual for children's series that often drift as authors and illustrators move on to different projects.
What The Book Does Better Than Most
The friendship between Ivy and Bean doesn't get resolved or "fixed" by the end of any book, and that's deliberate. They're still fundamentally different people who occasionally cooperate because they've learned each other's patterns. Most children's series in this genre push toward some kind of moral lesson or behavioral correction, and Barrows mostly avoids that trap. The lessons here emerge from the situation rather than being announced outright. Blackwell's illustrations are functional in a way that's easy to overlook. They don't just decorate the pages, they convey information the text doesn't state. Bean's expressions shift in ways that signal her emotional state before the narration catches up, which helps younger readers track the subplot about her fixation without spelling it out.
Limitations And When This Isn't The Right Call
If a child is sensitive to stories where authority figures are outmaneuvered, this book will bother them. The entire third act hinges on Ivy and Bean circumventing Mrs. Grubb's authority, and while the narrative treats it as problem-solving, it's also pretty clearly disrespecting a responsible adult. Some kids interpret that as validation for their own boundary-pushing, which isn't what the book intends but is a realistic outcome. There's also a gender dynamic at play that some modern readers might find dated. Ivy is pragmatic and somewhat cold, Bean is emotional and chaotic, and these traits are coded in ways that align with fairly traditional sibling stereotypes. The book doesn't interrogate those assumptions, which means a critical reader will notice them and an uncritical one might absorb them without question. If that's a concern, the alternative approach is reading the book alongside your child and discussing the choices the characters make rather than treating it as a simple entertainment pick. The series works better with guidance than without it, honestly. Even the earlier, gentler books like the first one have moments that benefit from a conversation afterward.
The audiobook version exists and is narrated by Julia Whelan, who does competent work but doesn't bring much additional dimension to the performances. Physical copies or library rentals tend to be the better bet unless you specifically need audio format for a long car trip or a child who processes information better through listening.
