The Baby-Sitter Books in Order

The Baby-Sitter is R.L. Stine's four-book teen horror series about Jenny Jeffers, whose babysitting jobs become entangled with threats and fear. What should be an ordinary way to earn money places her in unfamiliar houses at night, responsible for a child while adults are away. The setup makes her both the person expected to stay calm and the person who needs help. Across the books, frightening experiences make it harder for her to treat another job as a fresh start.

In The Baby-Sitter, Jenny begins working for the Hagens and looking after their young son, Donny. Disturbing phone calls interrupt the job, and she initially has reason to wonder whether she is dealing with a prank. Strange noises and a threatening note make that explanation less reassuring. Reports of attacks on babysitters add a wider danger to a situation that already feels uncomfortably personal.

Someone seems to know when she is alone.

The first mystery depends on Jenny trying to identify the person behind the threats. People she knows, along with a neighbor whose behavior troubles her, become possible sources of danger. That keeps the suspense close to everyday life. A phone ringing or a noise outside doesn't need a supernatural explanation to be frightening when Jenny can't tell whether someone is watching the house. Her responsibility for Donny makes leaving the problem behind especially difficult.

The later books continue with Jenny rather than replacing her with an unrelated babysitter. Her past matters, because another unsettling event arrives in a life already affected by fear. The series' continuity gives familiar situations a different weight: a new house or family may offer a change of scene without giving Jenny confidence that she is safe. She has reasons to be wary, but wariness alone doesn't tell her which suspicions to trust.

By The Babysitter IV, Jenny is trying to begin again in a new neighborhood. Another babysitting request tests that effort to move forward. The recurring job therefore becomes a way of exploring how difficult it is to return to an ordinary routine after it has been linked with danger. The books combine an immediate question about who is threatening her with a continuing question about whether she can leave earlier experiences behind.

Read The Baby-Sitter first, followed by its three numbered sequels. The order matters because Jenny's history carries across the series, and later setups refer to the fear she has already endured. These are teen suspense stories for readers who like threatening calls, uncertain suspects and danger inside an apparently normal home. Jenny's wish is understandable throughout: do her job, feel safe and regain some control over a part of life that has become frightening.