Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye

Love recollecting BSC! Love that I can find these online!

Great book in the babysitters club series

As a homeschool parent, I was always on the lookout for the next book or book series that would really get one of my kids reading. Of course, interests vary, so book choices need to be tailored to each individual child.

When my older daughter discovered The Baby-Sitters Club books, I knew I was onto something. I must have bought 100 of these books, all of which she devoured. She also reread many of them. At that age, anything that gets them reading and keeps them reading is a win. From that perspective, I can highly recommend these books.

My daughter loved them so much that she was never willing to part with them. She now teaches fourth grade and took the books to her classroom!

One of the characters has Type I Diabetes. While I applaud inclusion of any character with a disability in childrens books, mistakes were made. We know this because my younger daughter has Type I Diabetes. But even that proved educational because we discussed the diabetes situations as they arose.

Very well written and engaging. My only gripe (a mild one) about this series is that the narrator is also narrating the chapters that aren’t related to their particular story. For instance, there are subplots in this book (the kids visiting the “witch” in the neighborhood). Apparently, Stacey isn’t present, but she’s still relaying the story. I like the diversion chapters, I just think maybe they should be narrated by someone in the chapter. But maybe that would force young readers to lose focus. The author(s) do a good job because they have to stick to narration. But if it means that much to them, maybe they shouldn’t do it in first person. This is the episode before “Hello Mallory” and I think it gives a good backdrop to why Mal is inducted. Cast here includes the usuals plus Charlotte, Dr. Johannsen, Karen, Andrew, Mr. & Mrs. McGill. Some artwork is included.

Synopsis: The book starts off with Stacey daydreaming in Mr. Zizmore’s class about food. It is just another regular day for Stacey; Go to school, hang out with her best friend Claudia, and after school, go to the Babysitter’s club Meeting to babysit kids in her neighborhood. That evening, when Stacey, Claudia, Kristy, Mary Anne and Dawn are having a meeting, Stacey gets an urgent call from her mother asking her to come home immediately. Stacey rushes back home, thinking that something terrible has happened to the family. When she gets home, her father announces that the branch that he was working for his company have decided to close down, and he has to go back to the New York branch, which means Stacey would be leaving Stoneybrook and going back to New York in four to five weeks!

Stacey has mixed feelings about her move. On one hand, she is thrilled to be going back to New York, which she has missed, and get together with her friend Laine again, but on the other hand, she doesn’t want to leave her friends and her life in Stoneybrook, especially from her best friend Claudia. When she tells Claudia the news, they decide to come up with different ways to make Stacey stay, but none of them work out.

Eventually, the Babysitters Club realizes that Stacey is moving. Will the Babysitters Club go on without Stacey, and if so, who would be able to fill her place? How would they spend their last few days with her as a group?

There are also a couple of side stories about Mary Anne’s experience with babysitting Jeff (and how she realizes how miserable he is), Claudia’s experience as playing pretend secret agent with the Pike kids on their new neighbors, and Kristy’s experience with babysitting Karen and Andrew and their encounter with Morbidda Destiny!

Review: I really liked reading this book because Stacey was one of my favorite characters in the Babysitters Club and it was sad to see her being written off. I thought the book blended the emotional drama of Stacey’s farewell to the side stories that were equally humorous, such as when Claudia coming up with a poem for Stacey’s yard sale, or when she babysits for the Pike’s. It was also nice to read the way Stacey had conflicting feeling about going to New York, on whether she should be excited, nervous, happy or sad, and I thought this was realistically written, especially with her relationship to Charlotte.

Probably the only aspect of the book that I did not enjoy was Kristy’s attitude in the book. Throughout the book, Kristy only thinks about herself and the Club, rather than Stacey’s feelings. When Stacey announces her move, Kristy only thinks about who will replace her in the Club, and when Stacey is having a yard sale to sell her items, Kristy only thinking about how much money Kristy is going to earn from the sale.

Apart from that, I really liked this book and I think anyone who likes Stacey’s character would like reading it too.

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