Emma, dressed up as Kristy Thomas as a kid

We’re still celebrating the announcement that The Baby-sitters Club series will be released as ebooks next month, and we love hearing about your Baby-sitters Club memories! So far, you’ve heard from Aimee, Mallory, and Emily, and today, we bring you Emma Brockway, one of Scholastic’s publicity coordinators. We think you’re going to like what you read — especially if you’ve ever gone on a job interview. But first! What you need to know about Emma:

• She started reading The Baby-Sitters Club when she was about seven years old
• Her all-time favorite BSC Book is #8: Boy Crazy Stacey
• The BSC-er she most identifies with is Kristy (check out that photo!)

I thought my job interview at Scholastic was going pretty well. I had researched the company, memorized my resume, practiced my questions, and I was having a really good hair day. It was clear that this was my dream job. I love to talk and I love books, so what could be better than talking about books all day? It wasn’t until I noticed a lunchbox that my job interview took a turn from professional to potentially humiliating.

At a pause in conversation, I asked my interviewer what the lunchbox sitting atop her desk was. It struck me as odd that she would 1. Own a turquoise lunchbox emblazoned with pink and green stars; 2. Bring a lunchbox to work; and 3. Proudly show it off. She replied that it had been a promotional mailer for the launch of The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin.

I audibly gasped, and for the remainder of the interview I spoke not of my qualifications for the Publicity Assistant position, but rather my love for all things Baby-Sitters Club. Nothing was off-limits at this point. I rambled on about how my quaint hometown on Long Island was just like Stoneybrook, Connecticut. I discussed that while Kristy was the character that I most identified with (and dressed up as for Halloween — as evidenced by this photo!) it was Claudia who inspired my love of funky fashion. I then shared the slightly mortifying story of how my friends and I founded our own babysitting club, but we weren’t able to obtain any clients since, um….we still required babysitters ourselves.

Before I knew it, my interview was over and I was walking the streets of downtown Manhattan in my uncomfortable heels, copies of my resume in hand. Around 14th Street it hit me that I might have blown my chance to work at Scholastic. Did I really compare my first kiss to Stacey’s? Had I actually said my junk food addiction rivals Claudia’s? Yikes! I couldn’t even remember if I had even mentioned my research and organizational skills.

Well, as it turns out, I got the job. My interviewer (and current boss) loved my enthusiasm for the series and somehow determined through my giddy prattle that I could be a competent employee in addition to a crazed BSC fan girl. In the past two years, I have had the opportunity to get to know and work with Ann M. Martin, which is a real dream come true. As part of my job is to attract readers for the series, it’s been fun to introduce the plucky heroines of BSC to a whole new generation of girls.

I have come to realize that my childhood narrative of loving The Baby-Sitters Club might not be unique, but that’s perfectly fine. It’s amazing that whenever The Baby-Sitters Club is referenced by 20-something women from all over the country, they can so easily transport themselves back to happy hours spent in their parents’ basement with their beloved BSC paperbacks. The universality of that reading experience is magical and I am thrilled to be a part of it. Now I even have my very own turquoise lunchbox.