#13- Good-bye, Stacey, Good-bye

How do you say good-bye to your very best friend?

Childhood Memories: I remember reading this one as a child and I know the basic story line but I don't remember all the details like I do with some books. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it, it was just kind of there. I think I remember them throwing a good-bye party but that's about it.

Book Summary: The book begins with Stacey sitting for Charlotte Johanssen, and then a club meeting. After the meeting ends, Stacey's mom calls and tells her that she needs to get home. When Stacey gets home her parents inform her that the branch of the company that her father works out is closing and that they must move back to New York. Stacey has conflicted emotions about moving but decides to call her best friends Laine and Claudia. Claudia insists that Stacey comes to her house right away. They discuss Stacey moving and try to come up with any other options besides Stacey moving to New York. When they realize the move is inevitable they discuss how much fun Claudia would have visiting. The next day at school, Stacey tells the rest of the club that she's moving. When she leaves to discuss moving with one of her teachers, they discuss throwing a party for Stacey and what the club will do without her there. Mary Anne babysits for Jeff Schafer and they discuss him wanting to move back to California. While getting ready to move, Stacey decides to have a yard sale to get rid of some extra things. She enlists the BSC to help sell the things and they can keep a share of the money. The club decides to use the money to plan a surprise party for Stacey. Stacey is still conflicted about moving to New York. Claudia has a sitting job with the Pikes and thinks about possibly adding Mallory as a member but decides she's too young. The club gets together to organize the yard sale. They decide to sell other items and Stacey discusses with Claudia that she hasn't told Charlotte that she's moving. Kristy babysits for her younger siblings and has a run-in with Morbidda Destiny. Stacey breaks the news to Charlotte that she is moving. She gives Charlotte a gift and tries to make her feel better by showing all the things they're packing up and telling her about the yard sale they're holding. While babysitting for the Barretts, Dawn helps them hold a yard sale and comes up with the brilliant idea to invite babysitting charges to Stacey's party. The girls hold their yard sale which is a huge success and earns them a lot of money. Stacey's party goes great, all the kids have fun playing games and drawing Stacey a mural, they even make her all farewell cards. Stacey attends her last club meeting and the girls decide to invite Mallory Pike to be a junior member of the club. Moving day comes and Stacey says a sad goodbye to all her friends. Claudia gives Stacey a special letter that she reads on the way, they both decide that they will remain the best of friends. 

Snarkable Moments: Let's start off with the book dedication: "With Love to Peanut Butter From Jelly" What the heck is that supposed to mean? Does Ann M. Martin have a secret lover? Is she a lesbian? I've always wondered this. Next, let's discuss how sucky Stacey's diabetes is. I've known diabetics and none of them have had to completely cut sugar out of their lives, in fact sometimes they have to eat sugary foods to bring their blood sugar levels back to normal. Can you imagine going through PMS and not being able to eat any chocolate. Stacey is my new hero. I love how everybody treats Mallory like a baby because she's two years younger. Two years is not that much of a difference, honestly my best friend is two years younger than me and there's never been a problem with our ages being different. Another thing, why is their yard sale so late and so long? Like all the yard sales I've seen start at 8:00 and go until noon but theirs starts at 10:00 and goes until 4:30. One of the games they play at Stacey's party is Musical Rug. What the crap is that? Doesn't a rug destroy the point of Musical Chairs? Also what kind of a middle name is Read? Even Dawn's parents hate her.

Claudia's OOTD: I decided to switch things up a bit today and not do a Claudia outfit (many because her's included a wide purple belt with a telephone belt buckle. Seriously Claud, how am I supposed to find that?). Instead we have:

"She was wearing a very short kilt, an over sized red sweater, and yellow socks over red tights. On her head was a red beret with a sparkly initial pin attached to the side."

Super Special #1- Baby-sitters on Board!

It's the baby-sitting adventure of a lifetime!

Childhood Memories: I never read this book as a child. I do remember always wanted to read it and they supposedly had it at my local library but it always showed that it was checked out. I never saw it. Is it possible that this book was so popular that it was checked out constantly for a good 7 years? I doubt it. To whoever stole this book from my library and never returned it: thanks, you jerk.

Book Summary: This book starts with Kristy explaining how the whole club is going on vacation including a cruise through the Bahamas and three days at Disney World. They fly to Florida and begin their cruise. Dawn, Kristy, and Claudia share a room, Kristy and Dawn immediately start arguing over how clean they need to keep it. Dawn wanders off and runs into the man of her dreams. While exploring the ship, Mary Anne meets a very sophisticated girl named Alexandra, and finds somebody that might be a stowaway. Mallory decides to be a spy during the trip and ends up seeing a lot of interesting people, including somebody she thinks is a member of her favorite band. Karen goes on an adventure by herself on the boat, getting a manicure and a Coke when she was just supposed to go to her cabin and get some earplugs. Claudia has a secret admirer who stalks follows her around when they dock, he even buys her an expensive pair of earrings. Stacey meets a little boy with heart condition named Marc that must ride in a wheelchair. Kristy meets and old widower that she decides would be perfect to date her Nannie. She continues fighting with Dawn over keeping their room clean. The Pike boys and David Michael go on a treasure hunt while they are docked at Treasure Cay. Dawn spends the next couple of days with the man of her dreams, who's name turns out to be Parker. Mary Anne becomes friends with Alexandra and feels a special connection with her because they both have lost parents. Stacey spends more time babysitting for the Pikes and her new friend Marc. While searching for her secret admirer, Claudia meets a cute boy named Timothy who she agrees to hang out with while they are in Disney World. Kristy goes exploring their new hotel and sees her old man friend checking out of the hotel. She convinces him to stay until the end of the trip. Karen insists on going on the Haunted Mansion ride and then believes there is a ghost following her around. Dawn spends the day in Disney World with Parker, she buys a glass unicorn charm for her special bracelet but is heartbroken when she realizes she lost the bracelet. Parker buys her another unicorn charm and kisses her on the cheek (too much hot action for me). Mallory decides to spy some more in Disney World. She discovers that Alex is not an orphan and that her parents are famous singers. Mary Anne confronts Alex about her lying. Alex stalks follows Mary Anne around the park for the rest of the day. The Pike boys and David Michael continue their treasure hunt at Disney World, they get very excited when they find a gold bracelet. It turns out to be the bracelet that Dawn lost. On their last day at Disney World, Karen goes to a special breakfast with the Disney characters. She lies and says it's her birthday so everyone will sing to her. Then she gets lost and decides that the ghost that has been following her is a nice ghost and that it will come home to Stoneybrook with her. Stacey spend the last full day of vacation at the Epcot Center with Marc and his parents. She finds out that he is scheduled to have a major heart surgery in a few weeks that might not end well. Claudia finds out that her secret admirer is really Timothy and that he is Alex's little brother. Timothy kisses her (seriously these girls get more action than me. My life is pathetic.) The club decides to make a scrapbook/journal of their trip as a thank you present to Kristy's parents and the Pikes. Everybody says goodbye to their new friends at the airport and the club arrives back in Stoneybrook. A few months later, Stacey receives a letter saying that everything went well with Marc's heart surgery.

Snarkable Moments: There's so many of them in this book but I think that just comes with it being a Super Special. First off, why does the whole club have to do everything together all the time? I get that Watson's a nice guy and all but I can't believe that he would pay for Claudia and Dawn to come just so the club wouldn't have to be separated. Next, I love that this is still one of the books that Ann M. Martin wrote and not one of the ghost writers. How do I know? It has I Love Lucy references and the flight attendant is a male (Ann M. Martin loves to switch up traditional gender roles). Another thing, I've never been on a cruise so someone will have to clear this up for me, but do they really throw confetti at you when the ship leaves the dock for the first time. This sounds like fun but highly doubtful. I have a few other questions. First, why does Mallory's signature have an animal face? This has always confused me. Second, they talk about going on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, did somebody really die on that? Every time we go to Disneyland, my mom talks about how someone died on that and I refuse to go on it because of this reason. Someone clear this up for me, will you? Third. How does Mallory get away with using the word retarded? I'm pretty sure that was politically incorrect even back then. Kristy is going to be pissed when she finds out. And last but not least: Why do I hate Dawn so freaking much? She complains constantly about how Disney World isn't that exciting because she's already been to Disneyland (I don't care how old you are or how many times you've gone, you still get as excited as a 4 year old on cotton candy when you go to Disney World. That's just the way it works.). Then she goes off about how selfish Parker is for not liking that his dad got remarried. (Hello pot, it's kettle. Remember when you threw a crap fit because your dad got engaged and you ended up flying cross-country. Yeah, that happened.) Dawn also talks about never having seen an R-rated movie. Lies. I distinctly remember you watching European Vacation in The Ghost at Dawn's House. Suck on that, blondie. Also, I hate that Karen and Byron have their own chapters. Mostly Karen. I can't stand that child, she's up there with Dawn on my hit list. Somethings I did like about the book is that they were only on vacation for one week instead of their usual two weeks (who goes on vacations for two weeks?). Another thing is that they kept with the whole scrapbook theme and had pictures throughout (albeit they looked like they were drawn by a 3 years old, or a drunk Ann M. Martin spending a Saturday night with her cat, Mouse, watching I Love Lucy reruns and drawing pictures.)

Claudia's OOTD: Check out this little beauty. Not going to lie, I would wear this if the colors matched better. 

"I put on my new blue-and-white bikini and over that, a pink sundress with spaghetti straps at the shoulders and big blue buttons down the front. Then I accessorized  I tied a pink-and-blue scarf around my waist, knotting it in the middle, added my snake bracelet and feather earrings, wound my hair up on top of my head, and finally put on these white sandals with long laces that you crisscross up your legs and tie in a bow."

#8 Boy-Crazy Stacey

Who needs baby-sitting when there are boys around!

The Jessi: This was one of my absolute favorites, I read it so many times growing up that it started falling apart and is now missing pages. Every first day of summer I would read either this or Mary Anne and Too Many boys, or both. I loved the Sea City books. They always made me want to go to the beach and I would read them in the middle of winter when I needed a little beach time.

The Mal: This book starts with Stacey being nervous about going over to Kristy's new mansion. When she gets there she realizes it's still the same Kristy as ever and everybody has fun at their party. They talk about their vacations that they're going on. Stacey and Mary Anne are very excited to accompany the Pikes on their trip to Sea City as mother's helpers. When Stacey and MA arrive at the Pikes the morning of the trip everything is hectic. Once things are in order, they set out on the road. Of course with 8 children, the car ride is not peaceful and there is a war between the two cars. They finally arrive in Sea City. As they go for a walk on the beach, Stacey spots the most gorgeous lifeguard ever. The next morning everyone goes to the beach. Mary Anne notices a boy mother's helper and Stacey keeps her eye out for the hot lifeguard she saw the night before. They both notice that Byron won't really go in the water. In the afternoon, the hunk of a lifeguard makes an appearance and Stacey talks to him. The rest of the day Stacey spends fawning over Scott and doing favors for him. The next day Scott isn't on duty so the girls take the kids into town. While there they visit Burger Garden, the boardwalk and Ice Cream Palace. They also discover that Mary Anne has developed a serious sunburn. The next day Stacey spends worshiping Scott again. Mary Anne gets mad and yells at her but Stacey doesn't understand why she would be mad because she's in luv. Kristy has a sitting disaster when her younger siblings wash her stepdad's car with steel wool. A few days later, the Pikes give Mary Anne and Stacey the night off. They decide to visit the boardwalk. While they're there Stacey buys Scott an expensive box of candies and almost immediately after buying it finds him making out with another girl. She is heartbroken and runs home crying. The next day, Stacey is too embarrassed to go to the beach and face Scott so she pretends to have a headache and stays home. Byron decides to stay home with her. They go for a walk in the afternoon and talk about Byron's fear of water. They both decide to face their fears and go back to the beach. A few days later, Stacey meets another boy and falls in luv. His name is Toby and he is the cousin to the boy mother's helper that Mary Anne has been talking to. At the end of the week Mary Anne and Stacey go on a double date with Toby and Alex. They all have a great time and Stacey gets her first kiss in the Tunnel of Luv. They return to Stoneybrook and think about the wonderful time they had.

The Stacey: Number of times Stacey falls in LUV- 2, Amount of money she spends on chocolate for Scott- $10, Number of times I've read this in my life- Enough to know that Gurber Garden has the best Crazy Sauce on this planet.

The Dawn: The whole Stacey falling in love multiple times in 2 weeks screams teenage girl. I know everybody thinks Stacey is this little skank but she's one of my favorites and I love when her and Toby finally get together in the Tunnel of Luv. Totally makes me wish those things were still around. I also like that we get to learn more about Byron in this one because I feel like with the triplets they just seem to be one character without any separate identities but in this book they expand and show their different sides.

The Claudia: Stacy says "Mary Anne couldn't find anything of her own that she really liked, so I loaned her my yellow pedalpushers, a yellow and white striped tank top, and an oversized white jacket." I always thought this outfit was so cute when I was younger and it's about time we featured a Mary Anne outfit on here.

The Mary Anne: When they go to Kristy's house at the first of the book, she is siting on her porch reading People. I don't see Kristy as a People kind of person, it just doesn't fit her. I doubt she cares about the celebrities in it but whatever. I love all the postcard writing going back and forth. I always wanted to write people postcards while I was on vacation but it never happened. Curse me being born at the beginning of the technology era. I will forever think of Sea City as the original Jersey Shore. I remember in like 7th grade my friend used Sun-Lite in her hair and I was so jealous because she was one step closer to being Stacey than I was. Is it just me or does a Crazy Burger sound good? I always wanted one really badly, which is weird because I don't even like hamburgers, I think it was just the idea of it. When it tells about Mary Anne's sunburn I flinch every time. Probably because me, being the little albino skinned girl that I am, have suffered waaay too many painful blistering sunburns in my life and know exactly how she's feeling.

The Kristy: I don't think I can even tell you how much I love this book. I can't even tell you why I love it so much. I just do. So to avoid this being a little gush-fest we're just going to rate this a 9,328,895,238 out of 5. Ok? Sounds good.

#3- The Truth About Stacey

Stacey's different... and it's harder on her than anyone knows. 

The Jessi: I remember reading this on a road trip. Did your family ever just go on road trips to different states, not on like a vacation or anything, just to like drive there? Maybe it's just my family. Anyways, I remember reading this all in one day and it was the first chapter book I ever read in one shot. I was pretty proud of myself. I remember feeling super bad for Stacey because she couldn't eat candy. I still think that would suck.

The Mal: During a club meeting, the girls are discussing what to do when Mrs. Newton goes into labor. While planning, Janine rushes in the room with a flier advertising a new baby-sitting business called The Baby-Sitters Agency. Not only are the people from the agency older, they can sit later, and there is a whole network of them. The girls decide to prank call them to find out how they work. The agency answers calls, takes down information, and calls a list of sitters, they come up with several sitters and let you choose the one you want. The girls get very concerned when they hear this and feel like they can't compete with that. Stacey goes home and starts thinking about the past year and when she found out that she had diabetes. She thinks about how her and Laine stopped getting along when she got sick and that she didn't tell Laine that she had diabetes. She thinks about her parents and how they're so overprotective of her because they found out they can't have anymore children and they want her to be around as long as she can. She also thinks about learning to give herself injections and how they finally ended up moving to Stoneybrook, partly because her dad was transferred and partly because of her not having any friends left in the city. Stacey's mom comes to talk to her about seeing a new doctor in New York for 3 days, Stacey gets upset about missing school and having to see another doctor. Kristy calls an emergency meeting the next day and they discuss ways to improve the BSC. First is doing household chores at no extra cost. Second is offering special deals to their best customers. Thirds are Kid Kits. Four is lowering their rates and five is hiring older siblings aka Janine. They come to the conclusion that they will use the Kid Kit idea and the special offer one but the rest are a little over the top and will only be used as a last resort. Stacey babysits for Charlotte, they go into town and visit the candy shop, Stacey almost eats candy but stops herself. On their way home, they stop at the playground where Charlotte is teased for being a teacher's pet. Then they run into Liz Lewis, head of the Baby-Sitters Agency, who is handing out balloons with the agency's information on them. Later on, Kristy and Stacey go to Kristy's house to find Jamie Newton there with Mrs. Thomas. Jamie's mom had gone into labor and they dropped Jamie off with Mrs. Thomas on their way to the hospital. After Mrs. Thomas goes back to work, Kristy and Stacey decide to throw a Big Brother party for Jamie to make him feel better about having a little sister. After a little while, Stacey finds Jamie in the laundry room crying about Kristy not being his sitter anymore because his mom hired someone from the agency. The next day at school, the agencies is recruiting members. The BSC decides that to keep up with them, they must recruit some eighth graders. During Thanksgiving break, Stacey's parents tell her that instead of having to go to Dr. Barnes for 3 days she will now have to go for 5. Stacey is very upset and tells Dr. Johanssen about him. Dr. Johanssen tells her that Dr. Barnes is a quack and she will try to help Stacey out. Kristy shows up on Monday with a new way for the BSC to advertise and get new members. She makes all the members walk around with sandwich boards on them with all the club's information. The only one to have any success is Kristy and she recruits two new members. Stacey gets asked to the Snowflake Dance by Pete Black who isn't afraid to talk to her even with her embarrassing sandwich board sign.The club goes to visit the Newtons. Mrs. Newton explains why she wants older sitters to watch Lucy. The club holds its first meeting with its new members, the new members accept two jobs. At the next meeting, the new girls never show up, then the clients they were supposed to sit for call and say that the girls never show up. The club confronts them at school and they just laugh it off saying that they work for the agency. Stacey takes a babysitting job for the Newtons. While she is there, Jamie seems sad, she finds out that his other babysitters aren't good and one of them burned a whole in a cushion with a cigarette. She encourages Jamie to tell his parents about his sitters and that he doesn't like them. That same night, Stacey takes a last minute job with Charlotte. While she is there she finds out Charlotte has had other sitters as well and they haven't been very good. She tells Charlotte the same thing as she told Jamie. Then Stacey has a talk with Dr. Johanssen about seeing a new doctor in New York and Dr. Johanssen gives her a recommendation for a good doctor and writes a note to Stacey's parents explaining why she thinks Stacey should see that doctor. The next day on their way home from school, the girls see Jamie playing out by the street in the snow without any winter clothes on. They discover that he's supposed to be being babysat by one of the girls from the agency. When Mrs. Newton gets home, they tell her about what happens and she decides to warn other parents about the agency. Stacey visits Dr. Barnes who gives her several weird tests. Then she surprises her parents with a visit to Dr. Graham. Dr. Graham tells them that Stacey is as healthy as can be and the best thing for her is to not keep switching doctors. They decide to not keep seeing Dr. Barnes. Laine and Stacey make up and become friends again. Charlotte decides to skip a grade and the Baby-Sitter's Agency goes out of business.

The Stacey: Number of pages: 167 (this is the longest book in the series), Number of months the BSC has been in business: 2, Number of times Stacey talks about New York: enough that if every mention was a person it would fill every apartment building in New York.

The Dawn: There are two very dramatic situations in this book. First, Stacey is trying to deal with her parents being so overprotective of her and her diabetes. I can understand both sides of the problem. I used to only sympathize with her but now I kind of see that her parents had a reason to worry and they were right to search for a miracle cure. I'm sure if I had a child with a disease I would do everything I could to make them better and in the mean time watch their every move. The second drama is the BSC's struggle with The Baby-Sitters Agency. The Baby-Sitters Agency? How clever. I thought the girls who started it were older and supposedly smarter. Couldn't they have at least picked a name that wasn't one word away from their rivals. While for the most part I am totally against them and think it's lame of them to steal the BSC's business, I can see their point. I don't think the BSC should have a total monopoly on the babysitting jobs either. It would free up more of their time and I would get to hear about more boy drama and Claudia outfits. I do like how the BSA has older girls. Looking back, there's no way I would hire a 12-year-old to watch my newborn child, maybe a 17-year-old but only after I gave them a test-run and saw them in action.

The Claudia: Since this book doesn't describe one specific outfit, I thought I would just take certain pieces that Stacey talks about and mash it up into one outfit.

The Mary Anne: Stacey talks about Stoneybrook being a small town and only having one middle school. What about Stoneybrook Day School where Shannon goes? Does that not count? The girls are talking about Liz and Michelle, Claudia says that they're sassy and a bunch of different things and "They hand around the mall. You know, that kind of kid." Since when did you become that kind of kid from hanging out at the mall? Oh, Claudia. When Kristy calls the Baby-Sitters Agency she discovers that they hire boy sitters. She is so appalled by this fact. What about when Logan joins the club? Isn't he a boy? Make up your mind Kristy! This is the book where the Kid Kit makes its first appearance. When Stacey and Charlotte go to the candy store it names a bunch of different candies, one of them is my personal favorite, Mary Janes. You guys ever tried those? AMAZING. Go eat some. Right now. Mrs. Thomas must be pretty cool and have a super flexible job if people can just drop their child off in the middle of the day and her boss doesn't even care. Is it bad that I really want to name my daughter Lucy Jane after this book? Too bad. It's the truth. I love it how Stacey doesn't even know what Black Friday is. I thought she was supposed to be this mega shopper. When Kristy has all the girls walk around school with their sandwich board signs none of the teachers say a word. Really? Are the adults around here blind? How did Mrs. Newton not smell cigarettes when she walked in her house? If neither her nor her husband smoke how did she not notice this? It's not like cigarettes have a faint fragrance, they're pretty strong. I love when Stacey goes to the movies and complains about her popcorn AND drink costing $1.75 and that it's so expensive. Show me where that theater is Stacy! Lastly, in this book they talk a lot about a sitter named Cathy Morris, is this the same Cathy that is David Michael's sitter in the first book? Now that I think about it, how weird would it be to babysit at somebody's house when you're the same age as them, assuming Cathy is in high school with Sam and Charlie. Isn't there always a chance that she would run into them while babysitting, I guess it's just me but I would find that super awkward.

The Kristy: My opinion, I kind of felt like this book had too many storylines going but yet it still seemed to drag. I got bored hearing about Stacey and her diabetes. I know that is horrible to say. I did like hearing about New York and it was really cute when Pete asked her to the dance but I would have liked to hear more about the dance. Overall, I give it a 2.1 out of 5.