Ah, Tory does a Stacy book.
I don’t think I ever really got into Stacy as a kid; I was more of a
Kristy girl. Maybe I was turned off by
the “NYC sophistication” that was in every book. She’s a bit more palatable in the earlier
books…that seems to be the mantra with this series.
This book begins with the four girls of the BSC planning
what to do when Mrs. Newton has her baby.
Yeah, because, you know, they’re on her speed dial….I think this might
have been written before speed dial…anywho, Janine runs into the room and
shoves a flier at the girls advertising a new babysitting agency. The agency has older sitters who can stay out
later and lower rates...dun, dun DUN! Kristy
immediately turns the meeting into an emergency meeting. (Which I don’t get –
you’re already meeting, why make it an emergency?) They call the agency pretending to need a
sitter just to see how things work and they find not only do they have older
sitters, but they have boy sitters as well.
Stacy heads home and we get a synopsis of how she found out
about her diabetes. Continuity: This
book actually does a really good job depicting type 1 diabetes. It talks about how Stacy can eat sweets, but
she has to eat on a schedule and be very careful. Later, the writers start saying she can’t eat
sweets at all and distorts diabetes a lot. Her parents found out they couldn’t have any
more children just before the diagnosis and suddenly have become over
protective, which I can understand. They’ve
also started dragging Stacy to all kinds of different doctors trying to cure
the diabetes. I’m impressed by how many
doctors they can find in a pre internet era.
Anyway, they hid the diabetes from friends, including Stacy’s former
best friend Lanie Cummings. The illness
drove a wedge between them and by the end of the 6th grade year,
Stacy was pretty friendless. Mommy Moment: I think the
McGills actually did something smart by moving out of the city and finding a
new place for Stacy to start over. Where
they were a little dopey was dragging her from doctor to doctor instead of just
getting her diabetes under control and letting her adjust to having a disease.
So on top of competing with the Babysitter’s Agency, Stacy’s
parents announce that they’re taking her to another doctor. She flips, of course, because she’s tired of
being sick and hauled around from doctor to doctor, but her parents stand
firm.
The next day there’s another BSC meeting to plan on how to
compete with the Agency. Here is the
birth of the kid kit, which is a pretty neat idea. Then we have offering to do housework,
special rates for good clients, lower rates, and asking Janine and Charlie to
help out. The last one trips Claudia’s
trigger and she puts her foot down and they end up starting with special deals
and kid kits.
Stacy goes to sit for Charlotte Johanssen the next week with
her kid kit. Miss Charlotte is having
trouble in school socially, setting up an additional subplot.
Mrs Newton has her baby, a girl named Lucy. Jamie stays at the Thomas house and they have
a big brother party for him. At the
party, he lets slip that Mrs. Newton is going to hire the Agency to take care
of Lucy because she’s so little. Mommy Moment: Honestly, I would want an older sitter for my newborn as
well. I didn’t leave my son with anyone
under the age of 20 until he was a year old.
The Agency ramps up the war by recruiting more kids from the
middle school, so the BSC fires back.
The girls walk around school wearing sandwich boards recruiting new
sitters for the club. Kristy gets two recruits, who “used to be part of the
agency, but got sick of Liz and Michelle.”
Common sense moment: Really girls? That doesn’t strike you as the least bit
suspicious? Of course, they are assigned
BSC jobs and don’t show up for them.
Kristy is crushed (or should I say Krushed) and starts thinking up new
ways to advertise.
Meanwhile, Jamie Newton is sad about his new sitters and
even shows Stacy a cigarette burn mark on a chair Mommy Moment: Seriously? I get
you’re sleep deprived, Mrs. N, but you couldn’t smell the smoke in your house? Charlotte too continues to be sad and even
lashes out at Stacy, since her new sitters don’t really like her; just hang out
with her for the money. Stacy advises
her to talk to her parents about not liking her sitters and about being upset
at school. Stacy has also talked to Doc
J about the doctor her parents are taking her to. Stacy’s plan is to go to their doctor and
then to go to one of her own choosing.
She’s asked Doc J to help her find a good doctor and make an appointment
with him/her.
Stacy then takes charge and calls an emergency meeting of
the BSC. She tells them about Jamie and
Charlotte and they decide to encourage the kids to tell their parents what
their new sitters have been up to. This
is cemented when they’re heading home and find Jamie Newton wandering around by
the road with no hat or coat (it’s December in Connecticut). The girls actually talk to their parents
(GASP!) about what to do and they decide to talk to Mrs. Newton after that one. They tell her about everything that has been
happening and encourage her to talk to Jamie about it.
The next day the BSC take on Liz and Michelle and show them
what good babysitters are like. They
just end up ticking them off and nothing is really resolved at that point.
The next day Stacy leaves for NYC and her new doctor. Guess who they’re staying with? The Cummings! Dun, dun DUN! People we never hear from again: The Spencers: Aunt Beverly and Uncle Lou, parents to
Jonathan and Kirsten and the McGills: Aunt Carla and Uncle Eric, parents to
Cheryl, who is apparently a pain.
The first day with the new doctor is fairly unexciting. Stacy goes through a bunch of tests, never
even sees the doctor. She and her parents
go out after the day is over and she hands them a letter from Doc J announcing
she has an appointment with a very good doctor.
Her parents are a bit miffed (as well they should be) but they go along
with it and head out to the doctor. All
he really does is tell the McGills to calm down where Stacy is concerned and
let her have a little more control over her body. Ed and Maureen agree and schedule an
appointment with Stacy’s regular doc just for a check up before they go home.
That night they go out to the movies with the Cummings’ and
Lanie and Stacy are stuck next to each other.
Stacy goes to get a snack (which, might I add, is $1.75 for 1 small
popcorn and 1 small soda) and realizes she doesn’t have enough money. Lanie covers her and suddenly they’re talking
again. Stacy explains what happened,
Lanie explains her side and then the movie is over and they are friends
again. YAY!
When Stacy gets home, she finds out the Agency is kaput and
gets to sit for Lucy Newton, while Mrs. Newton is at home, but still, it’s a
start. Then she goes home and Lanie
calls to talk. Everything is resolved! The BSC is safe! Stacy is happy! The End!
Best Quote Ever
- “For one thing, I wouldn’t trust them farther than I could throw a truck,” said Claudia. “They have smart mouths, they sass the teachers, they hate school, they hang around at the mall. You know, that kind of kid.” I didn’t realize being a bad kid meant hanging around the mall. If that were the case, I should have been in juvie by the time I was 11.
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