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Post by rabbitbongo on Dec 31, 2018 6:50:01 GMT -5
I’ve just re-read this one and really enjoyed it! Loved the bitchiness of the cheerleaders, especially when Stacey overhears them when she’s in the toilet cubicle! I can completely believe that she wasn’t chosen for the cheerleading team as she was better than the existing members.
However, as a non-US reader I’m really shocked by how members of sports teams and cheerleaders are portrayed as being treated differently to other students - does this actually happen?! Also I thought cheerleading was generally for older students (15 yrs+), is it normal to have cheerleaders in middle school?
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,254
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Post by oldhickory on Jan 2, 2019 11:21:15 GMT -5
At my high school there was definitely this aura surrounding the athletes, but middle school sports wasn't really a thing. At my school you had to be in 8th grade to join a team and I don't remember cheerleaders at all back then. I did do cheerleading for Pop Warner though(a youth football league that starts at a really young age) and that was totally unaffiliated with school. It was for kids who didn't have access to school teams (either too young to join, or if their schools didn't have teams) and still wanted to play.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jan 2, 2019 15:43:19 GMT -5
I've never wanted to bring it up, but why does Ann always seem willing to go into Judisim and things like explaing the Bat Mitzvah and almost Jewish religous customs but almost refuses to mention Christianity or even have any of the characters be very religous? She makes it out like Christmas is all Santa and Easter is all the Easter Bunny but talks about Jewish traditions that almost seem religous. I know this is a controversial subject so I better not say too much more about it but this is something that always bugged me. Is Ann Jewish or just trying to be very politically correct? She's part Jewish...and Stoneybrook has a huge Jewish population. And Santa/Father Christmas is a large part of the Christmas holiday, especially for young kids.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jan 2, 2019 15:46:39 GMT -5
stacey kind of grosses me out in this book. there are mentions of her burping, nearly throwing up, pimples erupting on her face.. all sorts of stuff. peter's writing style is definitely funny, but it works better for some characters than for others. this book for me is where stacey goes from sophisticated to desperate, and i feel like another ghostwriter (really any other ghostwriter) could have handled the book better. Welcome to real adolescence! In my BSC high school stories, ALL the BSC have acne and oily hair.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jan 2, 2019 16:01:13 GMT -5
I feel like it's regional, maybe? The US varies WIDELY from one part to the next. Both cheerleading and religion are things that have never been popular where I've lived, which is the Philadelphia area and New York City. The stereotype of America's supposed love for cheerleading, I think, is a result of teen movies like Bring It On. How true. And the BSC is right next door to NYC, where I live. I think that lack of ultra-religious conservative Christians is Ann's own life sort of shining through, too...she grew up open-minded and free-thinking. I think it's perfectly fair, especially in New England/New York City. Most Americans are NOT ultra-religious conservative right-wingers and it would not be right for the series to have a conservative/Protestant bias. Ann meant for Stoneybrook to be largely diverse, progressive, mostly non-religious. I've never cared for books that make it seem like "all" Americans are church-going, conservative, right-wing Protestants. I'm glad Ann didn't fall into that trap with the BSC series. Some people forget that Christmas was started as a pagan holiday celebrating the winter solstice, not a conservative Christian holiday. And Stoneybrook does have a large Jewish population.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Jan 2, 2019 16:16:14 GMT -5
I've noticed the Jewish traditions also. It never bothered me, but it did make me wonder the same things as you. Why would it make you 'wonder' about Jewish traditions being abound in Stoneybrook? Would you wonder if Protestant, conservative traditions had been prevalent in Stoneybrook? Also, I think the reason the media makes cheerleading out to be such a big deal in the U.S. is because the men that run the media think cheerleaders are sexy. The fulfill fantasies. How true! Lots of sexism in the media and even in some other series. The Sweet Valley series and The Fabulous Five series were the worst with going overboard with the cheerleading. Even more sexist was that both of these series largely ignored girls' sports teams and had the cheerleaders cheering only the boys on...in the Sweet Valley High series, the all-boys' teams get the bulk of the attention. I'm so glad the BSC series didn't go down that dastardly route...the Girl Talk series largely avoided that route also.
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Dec 30, 2019 11:09:14 GMT -5
Let me get this straight. Tiffany is eleven, same as Mallory and she needs a baby sitter! Does anyone find this weird??
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Post by Sideshowjazz1 on Dec 30, 2019 16:17:28 GMT -5
Let me get this straight. Tiffany is eleven, same as Mallory and she needs a baby sitter! Does anyone find this weird?? Especially as book 11 said that Tiffany likes to babysit. In "Abby and The Best Kid Ever", Abby is hired to sit not just for Lou, but for her brother Jay, who is also eleven. And between that, Dawn and Mallory's ten-year-old brothers actually try babysitting themselves! This just makes no sense.
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Post by sparklymouse on Dec 30, 2019 17:23:40 GMT -5
Not every kid is automatically ready to stay home alone just because they reach a certain age. Or maybe they're ready but the parents don't allow it. I can definitely see the Pikes trying to make their kids more independent as quickly as possible.
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,708
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Post by cnj on Mar 2, 2020 14:54:04 GMT -5
Not every kid is automatically ready to stay home alone just because they reach a certain age. Or maybe they're ready but the parents don't allow it. I can definitely see the Pikes trying to make their kids more independent as quickly as possible. True...ideally, the average ten-year-old can stay home without a baby-sitter for a few hours...especially if the parents have taught them how to handle an emergency.
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Post by sparklymouse on Mar 23, 2022 16:05:54 GMT -5
She looks like Emma Stone.
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Post by oldmeanie on Nov 16, 2022 15:47:12 GMT -5
Something about this book is a little off. The "popular" group seems so random. Like many, I got the impression that Stacey and Claud WERE part of the popular crowd. My guess is that they were, particularly in seventh, but that hangingwith the BSC sort of separated them from the popular crowd. But it's just weird that we didn't know quite these kids (aside from Sheila) until this book.
Plus, it's very clear that by this point they should be in high school, especially since Logan works as a busboy. Wtf he's 13! Plus, sports weren't a big deal until high school, at least in my experience. I don't think the favoritism was as rampant either. Idk, sometimes I think the BSC should have aged a bit more (and Graduation Day should've been high school graduation and not middle school), but sometimes I think there's a charm to the sitters being perpetually 13 or 11. What do y'all think?
I echo the opinion they Lerangis doesn't suit Stacey well. I think he writes Claudia very well, along with Logan, Sunny and Ducky. He can write Kristy and Abby well, too, but sometimes he makes them a tad obnoxious (especially Kristy). I do think she's still likeable, I just don't think cheerleaders suits her. Like, I didn't fully "get" why she wanted it so badly and why she was so good at it (this also happened in Jessi's Gold Medal). It's just sort of random, isn't it?
Despite all this, I did enjoy this book. I like Stacey and Robert in this book (I think this is the only book where I really like them), I liked the subplot (BTW, Tiffany is 10 in here, because Shannon says, “She missed the Terrible Twos. Instead she’s having the Terrible Tens. Even her teachers are complaining.” I know this isn't a Kindle update, either, because I distinctly remember reading that quote), and the infamous "ARE YOU COMING TO THE SLEEPOVER" quote is iconic. I hope this isn't weird, but I kind of like that Stacey isn't perfect-looking in this book, like she has a bad hair day and gets acne. That feels realistic, especially for a teenager.
There's a bit of foreshadowing to the Bad Girls arc during the basketball game, when Stacey is embarrassed by the BSC (Claudia's outfit, Kristy's lecturing Mary Anne on sports, and Jessi acting excited about staying up late).
A few weird quotes:
"I always thought Watson was bland and serious, but I guess everyone has a goofy side." I guess this is just honest and realistic, but it feels a bit harsh.
The thing about cheerleading not being a thing in New York is weird. Is this legit?
Mal attends the cheerleading tryouts while still recovering from mono. Idk why this feels so weird to me, but it does. I guess it's nice that she's so supportive? On this note, I think Mary Anne's comment about not being able to watch the game if Stacey was a cheerleader was really sweet (and actually in character according to Chapter 2).
“You’re not going to like this, Stacey.” She sighed. “The reason you didn’t make it was because you were too good. You’re so talented, so pretty, so smart, so nice. I think a lot of the girls felt, well, threatened by you. So we took Kathleen.” Yeah right. Also, why does Stacey have to be heart at cheerleading? Before this book, she doesn't seem to be athletic at all (I guess she does like dancing, though). Well, in Baby-sitters Remember, she was going to try out for the soccer team, but other than that, not at all.
I did like this, it was just a little off.
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,254
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Post by oldhickory on Nov 17, 2022 12:34:03 GMT -5
BTW, Tiffany is 10 in here, because Shannon says, “She missed the Terrible Twos. Instead she’s having the Terrible Tens. Even her teachers are complaining.” Tiffany's age is so inconsistent. I personally read this as she's in the decade of her tens, like someone in their 20s might be older than 20.
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livvy
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 394
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Post by livvy on Jul 8, 2023 5:56:13 GMT -5
I find it really disturbing that a grown man like Peter L writes about a thirteen year old kid on a date and cheerleaders unless he's been a thirteen year old girl himself how does he know how thirteen year old acts and feels? I find Stacey really occ in this one. It's the beginning of the end of Stacey when she gets a boyfriend.
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Post by fernmariposa919 on Aug 15, 2023 21:37:46 GMT -5
This is a book I haven't read since it was first released so there was a lot of things I forgot or misremembered. For instance, when she goes out with RJ, I was thinking he was Robert. I knew she had a boyfriend in the series named Robert and was just thinking he went by RJ by his friends and she called him Robert. IDK! But once she's not having a good time on her date, I knew it wasn't Robert! Also, "Mall Warriors II" sounds exactly like "Home Alone" in a mall.
Another thing I misremembered was that Stacey did NOT make the cheerleading squad. This whole storyline with Stacey being friends with the cheerleader (that's who she becomes friends with, right? And I misremembering that too?) and quits the BSC is really interesting and kind of a nice change, to be honest. I like a little drama in my BSC series, I won't lie! "Stacey's Lie" was one of the last BSC books I read in real time. At that time, I was 13 and knew I was getting too old to read these so I stopped reading. Fast forward to the mid-2000s where I was on e-bay and bought a bunch of BSC books (sadly, my mom gave my collection away to someone with a young daughter). Most of these were early books, but there were a few later ones including "Stacey vs the BSC" and "BSC in the USA". You can imagine how confused I was when I read "BSC in the USA" and Stacey's talking about meeting a guy she liked named Ethan in Seattle. I had no clue what was going on and what had happened to Robert!
Back to "Stacey and the Cheerleaders." These cool kids seem to come out of nowhere! I also thought Stacey was one of the coolest kids at SMS. She's from NYC! I feel like if there was another student from the City, we would know about it. Maybe hanging out with the BSC lost Stacey some cool points, heh. I have to admit I felt Stacey's embarrassment when Kristy whistled really loudly after the basketball game to remind Stacey about the sleepover. I would be embarrassed too. Why does Kristy need to announce that in public? I wouldn't want people knowing my plans! Although, I don't think having a sleepover when you're 13 is that bad, that seems pretty normal for 13 years old girls to do. But I totally get why Stacey was embarrassed. It was also funny when she thought Claud's outfit (with the bell bottoms spandex pants or whatever) looked odd. Heh! Finally, someone admits Claud's outfits can be a little weird at times.
Also, uh, wasn't Tiffany Kilbourne eleven when we first met her? I would need to fact check that, but I'm pretty sure she started off the series as being eleven. So why is she ten in this book?
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