"The California Diaries series ($8) was a spin-off of the Babysitters Club, but it was older and edgier. The books were written in first person diary entries by the characters, and chronicled high school, love, sex, drugs, and the pain of growing up. It also included some particularly bad teenage poetry that inspired me to no end. The series let me feel like I was getting away with something by reading it, even though it wasn't so scandalous. It made me feel grown up at a time when I was truly still a kid, but all I wanted to be was a moody teenager. Lucky for my mom, I soon became one!" — Casey McCormick, Senior Creative Strategist