The Baby Sitters Club (PG, 1995)

Based on the book by Ann M. Martin, THE BABY SITTERS CLUB shows kids of different ethnicities and interests hanging out, riding bikes, getting crushes, working on schoolwork, and hatching crazy/brilliant schemes. The scheme in this case is a summer day camp where the girls can earn enough money to get an office for their baby sitting group. Group ringleader and tomboy Kristy (Shuyler Fisk) and her buddies -- the math-minded Stacy (Bre Blair), the studious Mary Anne (She's All That's Rachael Leigh Cook), hippie Dawn (10 Things I Hate About You and The Secret World of Alex Mack's Larissa Oleynik), artistic Claudia (Tricia Joe), novelist Mallory (Stacy Linn Ramsower), and dancer Jessi (Zelda Harris) -- have had the market cornered on babysitting in suburban Stoneybrook for years -- but they're also best friends. In a bid to get to spend the summer together every day and still keep their babysitting clients happy, the girls open a day camp. But when Kristy's flaky biological dad reappears after a near five-year absence, Kristy's loyalties are torn: Does she keep the secret her dad asks her to keep or does she risk betraying him? And can she get all the time she wants with her dad while still spending enough time with her family and at the day camp she created?

If you want a picture of real suburban tween/teen life, don't look to the Disney Channel or early Lindsay Lohan movies. Instead, check out The Baby Sitters Club. Nearly all the young actresses are enchanting. The only shame is that Blair's performance as Stacy falls flat. It's no surprise that Oleynik and Cook became bigger-name stars after this movie. And Fisk's portrayal of the confused but well-meaning Kristy has viewers alternately rooting for her and worrying about her. It's especially worrying when she does things like head to a carnival alone at night and leave her baby brother to walk home alone.

The great thing about The Baby Sitters Club is that Kristy learns her lesson -- and offers instructive life lessons to tweens eager to test their independence. It reminds them that going it alone, especially when an adult is asking them to compromise their morals, is never the right choice. And in a world of oversexualized teens, it's refreshing that the sweet girls, dressed age-appropriately and non-suggestively, are the ones with the boyfriends. It also shows boys as they really are -- sure they're attracted to girls, but they also like the girls for all the different parts of their personalities.