Club-Read: The Baby-Sitters Club #18: Stacey's Mistake

Stacey McGill left Stoneybrook for New York in book #13, Goodbye Stacey, Goodbye. While it no doubt frustrated readers at the time for a central character to be up and removed from the series, Ann M. Martin has stated that her intentions weren't to remove Stacey from the series entirely. Which given she gets another focused book a whole five books later, adds credence to that claim. But we're still a bit away from her returning to Stoneybrook (Spoilers I guess). And we really haven't had a chance to see how life in New York has treated her, so why not invite the girls for a trip to New York City? What could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot apparently. It's time to talk about Stacey's Mistake.

Once again, we have some varied covers here. But all three set up the basic gist of the plot. That Stacey's idea to invite the girls to New York turned out to be a big mistake, especially with Claudia, which makes sense given she's Stacey's best friend in Stoneybrook. The first cover feels the blandest, but you definitely get the feeling things aren't going well, while the second cover adds the other girls who are also not feeling all that great being in New York. But it's the graphic novel cover that I think wins out as best cover as it sets up that the prevailing issue is between Claudia and Stacey's friend Laine Cummings in particular. The two of them angry with a confused Stacey makes for a more interesting cover to me. All three sell the book well, but I give the graphic novel the nod this time.

We open with Stacey seeing a cockroach in her room, which she in hindsight sees as an omen given how things are about to go in this book. She's been in New York for a while now and things are going okay. But she's more concerned about Judy, an old homeless woman that's always seen around the area. The homeless rate in New York is on the rise and the families in Stacey's neighborhood are trying to come up with a way to handle it. So while the families are due to be out for their meeting, it means someone needs to watch their kids. Stacey had set up her own baby-sitting service, but none of her New York friends seemed too interested in joining in. So Stacey's big idea is to invite the Baby-Sitters Club to New York. They'll see the sights and be able to help baby-sit. What could possibly go wrong? Well, practically everything, but we're still super early to get to the full chaos. As Stacey takes a cab to Grand Central Station, we get the normal preamble and we learn that it'll be the core girls coming, not Mallory or Jessi.

Stacey arrives at the station, but doesn't find the girls. She soon does, as they arrived earlier and sort of wandered around. Everybody's happy to see one another, with Stacey trying to tell them how to handle themselves in New York, namely not to look like an easy mark by carrying around tour books. Dawn's the least comfortable, as she's never been this far from home, not even when she went back to California for a bit. She's heard about murders in New York, pickpockets, roaches and worse things that a book for preteens in the 80s can't really get into. But Stacey tries to calm them down as they hail a cab to the Hard Rock Cafe. They eat, with Kristy not knowing how to pronounce fillet mignon, which embarrasses Stacey. They get Hard Rock Cafe shirts and make their leave. They pass by a homeless man asking for change. Kristy almost obliges, but Stacey stops her, saying an open purse is one of the easiest ways to get ripped off in New York. They then head to Bloomingdale's as the girls are caught off guard by how much everything costs, even for 80s money. Also Mary Anne accidentally takes a jar of eye shadow, thinking it's a free sample. An hour in New York and Mary Anne almost has a criminal record. That's quick.

The group arrive at Stacey's apartment building and meet with the other families whose kids they'll be watching. This includes Leslie Reames, a kid who was born premature and has a wheat allergy, Henry and Grace Walker, children to a pair of artists, Natalie and Peggie Upchurch, who live with their father after the divorce, Carlos, Blair and Cissy Barrera, and Dennis and Sean Deluca, whose family just moved to New York. Now that we have the crew, it's time for the party Stacey planned for her friends. Both her Stoneybrook and New York friends. Including Laine Cummings, her best friend in New York, who is completely different than Claudia in terms of tastes, so you know, they'll get along juuuuuuust fine. Laine arrives and pretty much off the hook both Claudia and Laine go after each other. Claudia for Laine ditching Stacey after learning of her diabetes and Laine bringing up the the big fight Claudia and the girls had back in book #04. Oh, we're holding some big grudges aren't we? 

So yeah, things don't go so well. Mary Anne, the wide eyed tourist, notes the apartment building is the same one that Rosemary's Baby was filmed. And that this was also the building John Lennon lived in. The other guest arrive, many of them boys which bothers the club, and it just continues to be really awkward. Made no better, again by Mary Anne being more interested in places where famous things are or happened or once resided at, Kristy running her mouth a lot and Dawn being paranoid about everything. The party comes to a close with the BSC and Laine still in the apartment. In the opening chapter note for Chapter 8, Kristy writes to her family that everything went just great and that Laine and Claudia especially don't want to murder one another and leave the body in a ditch somewhere. Just a bunch of friends makin' friends, they are. Laine notes that Claudia in particular started this by sniping at her in the beginning, to which even the other girls are like "Yeah, you are being a jerk, Claudia". I mean, this is a kids book, I don't think JERK would be the actual word used. Dawn then goes after Mary Anne for blabbing about her being so paranoid. Laine leaves, the girls are all frustrated, but Stacey sets things straight. Call a truce now until the next night, take care of the kids they have to baby-sit, THEN they can kill each other.

The next day arrives and while the girls still want to kill one another, they still hold their truce. The kids all arrive and the group heads to the Museum of Natural History. Things go well... until one of the kids, Henry, gets lost in the museum. But they quickly find him so thankfully this didn't result in another almost-kidnapping. They all head to Central Park and visit the zoo, Dawn still afraid of muggings and concerned about homeless people, which even Stacey tells her to relax on the homeless. Then they see a man with a white beard riding a tricycle. Everyone is caught off guard, but Stacey isn't since she's sort of used to New York being weird as hell. Stacey sort of starts to think maybe she is so used to New York that she's becoming a bit of a snob, but seeing that the kids are all having fun and the girls seem to finally be back on the same page, she chalks things up to at least being somewhat better. Although the kids are all confused when one of the kids mentions Stuart Little and E.B. White. After Stacey tells them the story, they all head back from Central Park in one piece.

That night, Laine calls Stacey and says that she has tickets to see Starlight Express on Broadway since her father's a producer, so the girls can call come with in a limo. She wants to patch things up with the girls and Claudia, and Claudia decides that yeah, time to bury the hatchet, not literally in each other's back. They all spend the night together and get along, mainly with the girls recapping Little Miss Stoneybrook ...And Dawn, without, you know, calling a child not pretty. So now everybody's happy, Laine and Claudia are friends, the parents have found solutions to help the homeless with shelters and churches, the kids all give the girls gifts to remember them by, and we end the story with the girls heading back to Stoneybrook after one weird few days. In other words, we got our mega happy ending.

This book was, like last book, better than I expected going in. It's not the deepest plot ever, and it's safe to get what the main issue is going to be early on if you've read these books. Stacey remains a great lead. And I like that we're not focusing on her having diabetes, or in a weird crush, or leaving Stoneybrook. It's Stacey in New York and she feels like someone who has lived there most of her life. How New York works, what's smart to do and what's absolutely not smart to do while being on the streets. And the book even tries to make it clear that maybe she's been in New York so long that she's too used to it, unable to fully grasp how the others are feeling in the situation, namely Mary Anne and Dawn. Both have differing attitudes during their trip. Mary Anne more of the big tourist who is so excited about everything around her. Dawn being more cautious and paranoid about everything, which does feel like it goes overboard in the story, but I don't blame her. Stranger in a strange land. A young girl not used to being so far away. She gets a bit too over the top, namely in her opinion on the homeless, but again, it's far from the worst portrayal of such.

The conflict between Laine and Claudia is definitely the strong point of the book, but honestly, it feels rushed. I think we get a good argument on both sides, but Laine is 100% in the right. Yeah, she did abandon Stacey after learning of her diabetes, but they patched things up. Laine managed to grow and be a better person out of it and it strengthened their friendship. The girls aren't ones to talk about abandoning anyone given how easily their friendships collapsed at one point. Hell, we just had a book where Claudia was deciding to choose between her friends in the Baby-Sitters Club and her new artist friend, so that definitely feels hypocritical from Claudia of all people to drag Laine for everything. Doesn't make what Laine did right, but she at least feels like someone who wanted to atone for her actions while Claudia feels like she's holding petty grudges that should have been resolved already. And Laine being the one to patch things up is good stuff, making her feel like a friend that Stacey can rely on in New York. Someone who has matured and is more level headed than even the Baby-Sitters Club who have had a history of immaturity. I do wish we had more of a chance to build to a more interesting resolution other than "you gave us tickets to Starlight Express so I guess you're not so bad." 

If you want baby-sitting stuff, you get a little bit. Obviously the focus of the book is the trip to New York, so that takes precedent. But the series is still called the Baby-Sitters Club, so there has to be some baby-sitting added. And it's fine. It feels similar to Kristy's Big Day but more truncated than even that was. And it at least doesn't feel like it takes up more space in the story over other what could be more interesting elements to focus on like with Kristy's Big Day. You want a book about New York? You get most of the notable places mentioned, even the World Trade Center. I was worried, obviously, that HE'D be mentioned. That even with an Ann M. Martin book in New York that I couldn't escape him. But thankfully he's nor his building is ever mentioned, so points to that. 

Overall, this book is good. It does feel rushed in plot, in conflict, even when it comes to page length as it's definitely among the shortest mainline books we've covered for this series to this point. But there's some good character work, it's great to have Stacey back for a book and the book does a good job in feeling like it's a book in New York. So it's an easy recommend. BSC back on a quality hot streak again. I really hope that's not going to end soon. Knowing my luck I just jinxed it. Ah well. Call that MY mistake. Stacey's Mistake gets a B+. 

Bloomingdale's

Batman

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

Central Park West

Grand Central Station

Disney World

Hard Rock Cafe

Disneyland

Cadillac

Chubby Checker

Elvis

The Museum of Natural History

Little House on the Prairie

Rosemary's Baby

John Lennon

Yoko Ono

The Empire State Building

The World Trade Center

Sears Building

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Nancy Drew

Naturemax Theater

Sesame Street

Friedman Memorial Carousel

Delacorte Clock

Alice in Wonderland

Mary Poppins

Stuart Little

E.B. White

Starlight Express

Gershwin Theatre

The House That Jack Built

Popeye the Sailor Man