this probably isn't really a two-star book, but i am marking it down due to the conceit of the premise: stacey is living on the upper west side of new york city with her parents. they live in a fancy apartment building with a doorman. a homeless woman lives on the street outside their building. her name is judy. sometimes she's friendly & nice & calls stacey "missy" (stacey says this like it's a nice thing, but it makes my skin scrawl that this 40-something homeless woman would use a term of respect like that to refer to a spoiled 13-year-old). other times, she doesn't seem to recognize anyone & screams & insults people. i think the implication is that maybe she is schizophrenic. the adults in stacey's building decide to have a meeting to discuss the "homeless situation" & figure out "how to help". WTF? classic ann m. martin: acknowledge a social issue like homelessness & then give it the most worthless possible band-aid treatment. anyway, the adults all ask stacey to babysit their kids while they're at this very important meeting. she can't possibly watch all the kids on her own...so she gets permission from her parents to invite the BSC to visit & help take care of the kids. & all of their parents okay it (except for the pikes & the ramseys, because mal & jessi are only eleven...which doesn't explain new york, new york!, super special #8, but...sure).stacey's mistake was that she did not foresee that maybe having all of her friends visit new york wasn't a great idea. mary anne is obsessed with new york & embarrasses stacey by constantly spouting off guide book factoids like how many acres are in central park & shit. kristy is kind of a dumbass tourist who does things like whip her wallet out on the street with no thought of being mugged, & mispronouncing "filet mignon" in a restaurant (not a fancy restaurant though--it's just the hard rock cafe, what's the problem?). claudia brought too many suitcases, as usual, & doesn't get along with laine. apparently both laine & claudia are jealous of the other's friendship with stacey & all they do is snipe at each other. & dawn is terrified of the big, bad city & seems to be convinced that she's about the be besieged by murderers, muggers, cockroaches, & CHUDs every time she turns around. first, the babysitters get kind of lost in grand central station & are late meeting stacey. then they have to take a cab back to stacey's apartment to drop off claudia's nine million bags. then kristy has her "filet mignon" incident, & the wallet thing, & mary anne starts embarrassing stacey. dawn acts scared of everything. then they go to bloomingdale's (which stacey actually refers to as "bloomie's"--how undignified) & mary anne is collared by security for stealing an eye shadow sample. which is really weird because i don't think richard really lets mary anne wear make-up yet. but anyway. they go back to stacey's house to get ready for the party that mr. & mrs. mcgill charitably allowed stacey to throw. laine comes over to help & this is when she & claudia start getting into it. when the party starts, kristy meets a boy she likes & then claudia cuts in & hurts kristy's feelings (as if kristy thomas wouldn't cut right back in if she was that invested in the dude). mary anne bores stacey's sophisticated new york friends by spouting trivia at them, but wins them over by making fun of dawn & her phobias. stacey hulks out on everyone & it's a big mess.the next day, they start their babysitting job. they are watching ten kids, & the parents have provided money for entertainment & food. the girls take the kids to the museum of natural history, which is walking distance from stacey's building. they lose one of the littlest kids when he goes back to see the brontosaurus (not a real dinosaur--if i recall, the "bronto" skeleton was renamed a brachiosaurus by the time i was at the museum in 2004). mary anne finds him again & all is well. they have lunch at the museum cafeteria, which always makes me think of that episode of "friends" where ross gets joey a job as a tour guide at the museum, but won't eat lunch with him until joey leads everyone in a confessional trust exercise. sadly, nothing like that happens in this book.next they hit central park, which is right across the street. they ride the carousel & see the alice in wonderland statue & no one gets mugged, murdered, lost, or eaten by wolverines. they have snacks & buy balloons & the baysitters start having a really nice time together. they decide to stay together for the kids. or...they make up. they take the kids home, & laine calls to invite the babysitters to a broadway play. her dad is a big-time broadway producer who gets comped free tickets all the time & can have a limo pick them up. the babysitters are all over it, claudia agrees to give laine a chance, & they all have a great time. the play involves actors on roller skates. what? stacey invites laine to spend the night again, but laine says stacey should enjoy her quality time with the BSC. so stacey does, everyone is happy, the end. oh, & the grown-ups get a church to help them start a soup kitchen to help out the homeless. fab.u.lous.a CHUD really would have spiced this book up a little.
Stacey, now living in New York City (her old hometown), has an opportunity to see her Stoneybrook friends again: all the parents in her neighborhood are having a meeting on the same night, and there's no better group to watch them all than the BSC. The Stoneybrook gang gets to see New York and meet Stacey's best friend, Laine, but their lack of worldliness is embarrassing to Stacey and she's worried about strained relationships. Can the group still do what they do best despite their differences?Sometimes these books absolutely stretch credibility to get babysitting into the plot. I can't believe for a moment that thirteen-year-olds from a small Connecticut town would be invited to New York City to babysit for children they've never met before. Who are these parents who would be cool with such a thing? And even if for some reason they all trusted Stacey so much that they were willing to take her word for it that these strange babysitters were responsible, I can't believe they'd let tourists lead their children around OUTSIDE THE HOUSE (well, the apartments) and take them to museums and parks and . . . it's just a nightmare. Especially since these kids keep demonstrating how clueless they are--how would they protect kids? It's ludicrous. Really bothered me. I was about their age when I was reading these and I couldn't imagine in a million years that anyone would let me and a couple friends take a bunch of kids around in one of the most dangerous cities in the nation when I didn't even know my way around.Some of the girls' oblivious behavior is warranted, but it was jacked up to make them look like ridiculous immature hicks, which embarrassed Stacey and made her want to bury herself in a hole. That actually made me think less of Stacey rather than of her friends, because how snotty is that?
What do You think about Stacey's Mistake (1996)?
Stacey is embarrassed by her BSC friends when they visit her in GlAmOrOuS New York City.Knowing that a lot of kids will need babysitters when her building holds a meeting of the homelessness task force, Stacey invites the (senior) BSC to visit for a weekend of sitting and sightseeing.The trip is a disaster from the start. The Stoneybrook girls embarrass Stacey by acting "touristy." Stacey throws a party to get her sets of friends to mix, but the Stoneybrook friends alienate the New York friends by trying too hard to impress them (or actively antagonizing them, as a jealous Claudia does to Laine). (view spoiler)[The girls re-bond over sitting, though, and Laine makes a grand gesture and basically buys the Stoneybrookites’ affection. By the end of the second night, the girls are getting along famously, and they’re sad when they have to leave. (hide spoiler)]
—Laura Hughes
Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!
—April
We thought Stacey had left us for a while... well, not, she makes us readers (and the BSC 13-year-old members) to New York), where she acts pretty snobby with her friends. In her benefit, her friends act really weird when thy aren't home. Highlights were Kristy flirting with a boy, just to be blocked by Claudia and Mary Anne badmouthing Dawn. That was quite out of character :S But these little episodes were actually interesting because the girls seemed more human. It kind of leaves us sad that Stacey won't be able to spend more time with this flawed but endearing friends.
—Natalí
