macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Feb 12, 2006 17:08:33 GMT -5
Just finished this one and couldn't help feeling sorry for Stace. Although there were WAY too many coincidences in this book for my liking. A diamond ring just happened to go missing the night Stacey was babysitting after she'd been bitching non stop about her mother not buying one for her ... and the Gardellas, who knew their cat had a habit of hiding things around the house, didn't even think of looking in all his hiding places. Also, the Gardellas didn't end up actually telling anyone about the "theft", it just happened to be a quiet period for the BSC. Also, WTF was up with Claudia searching Stacey's room?! Nice.
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jen
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,156
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Post by jen on Feb 12, 2006 22:04:25 GMT -5
I thought Stacey had some really "WTF?" moments in this book. She wanted her friends to be more supportive and say that she "deserved" a diamond ring?!?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Feb 12, 2006 23:55:20 GMT -5
^Ugh, yeah. Who the hell expects their mother to buy them a diamond ring for no apparent reason?!
I guess it's typical of a 13 yr old girl to expect her friends to support her as opposed to her mother, but come ON!
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Post by sotypical42483 on Feb 13, 2006 15:30:03 GMT -5
oh God that was hilarious when Claudia was oh so stealthly searching Stacey's room! haha. Yah way too many coincidences. Stacey randomly NEEDS a diamond ring, then out of all things to go missing, oh! a diamond ring it is!
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Post by buffykay70 on Feb 15, 2006 8:01:38 GMT -5
mrs gardella was a b*tch. and how mean were the club, thinking that she stole the ring. esp. claudia trying to search her jewelery box, hah
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Feb 15, 2006 17:00:55 GMT -5
^ I was impressed with most of the girls, actually. It was only Claudia - Stacey's supposed best friend - who really suspected Stacey. And word on Mrs Gardella. If you know your cat has a habit of hiding things around the house, it seems very cruel to automatically assume your babysitter is a thief.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Apr 5, 2006 16:32:01 GMT -5
I never thought about the fact that Mrs. whatever KNEW her pets hid things. That is really messed up of her to automatically accuse Stacey, knowing that.
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Post by booboobrewer on Apr 5, 2006 18:37:18 GMT -5
Mrs. Gardella said about finding the ring "we've practically turned the house upside down" or something to that effect. I guess that didn't include checking under rugs?
Although, I wonder if this scenario occurred to the Gardellas: Stacey did take the ring, decided her time with it had been enough, came back to sit for them, and placed it under the rug herself. When they came home she merely showed it to them, leading them to assume the cat put it there. In any case, the Gardellas seemed like all-around airheads.
Pretty mediocre stuff, this book was. Although I do enjoy their shopping trip at the beginning (that pink fountain in the mall! Dibble! Oh yes, and once again Charlie is available to pick them all up and drop them off), and Stacey and her mom having fun cleaning before they get into a snit about the ring.
One thing I always remember about Stacey's first job at the Gardellas: she can't find a doorbell and wonders if she will have to stand out there until someone happens to open the door...ever hear of knocking?!
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Apr 5, 2006 18:41:43 GMT -5
If I were the Gardellas, that would have been my automatic assumption. I would have assumed "guilty concience" (sp)... it makes more sense than the ring just happening to turn up when Stacey was in their home, after they'd apparently turned the house upside down.
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Post by aln1982 on Apr 24, 2006 16:25:43 GMT -5
I just read this one and liked it pretty well until the end. Then it just seemed to end - like they ran out of pages and had to wrap things up. Found the ring, sorry Stacey, okay, the end. I actually felt pretty bad for Stacey in this one. I know what it is like to be falsely accused (not of a crime or anything and not have your best friends support you - an awful feeling. I was really glad that most of the girls seemed to believe her, especially Kristy. I thought it was good the way she went with Stacey to the Gardellas. And I also know that you usually can't defend yourself against accusations. It's horrible so I guess I can relate to what Stacey was feeling and that might be why I liked the book. I agree that she didn't "deserve" a diamond ring. Also, another point on this one - the Gardellas were really weird with the pets. The cat on the table eating liver made me almost sick. I am NOT a fan of animals in the house anyway (as I said in the Tigger thread) and this just really grossed me out. My aunt and uncle have a cat that drinks out of their kitchen sink faucet and it is so disgusting.
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Post by hitzpink on Apr 25, 2006 21:57:18 GMT -5
I thought this book was kind of weak, especially since it opened up the Mystery series. The set-up was way too contrived and unrealistic, and I agree with aln1982, it seemed to end rather abruptly. The shopping scene in the beginning was fun, though, and I also liked the beginning parts with Stacey and her mom. They seem to have a really good relationship. I love reading about all the random day-to-day stuff in the girls' lives that don't involve solving mysteries and one-week vacation romances.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2006 5:34:27 GMT -5
I finally read this book today - was in my library and saw it on the shelf as I stealthily checked out the small BSC section. I know all the BSC books they have, so was surprised to see this one there, but (I'm not sure if this will make sense) my library is the main branch of a group of libraries that share books around a bit, as the rest of the libraries are very small. So this book actually belonged to one of the other libraries, but ended up on the shelf at ours. So I was finally able to read it. I felt a wee bit weird reading a BSC book in Public, but I took it down into the Large Print section figuring only old people would see me. Anyway, I too thought that if I were the Gardellas I would have assumed Stacey had put the ring there herself. And in regards to them not finding it despite their cat's habit of hiding things, Mrs Gardella did say that under the rug wasn't a hiding place they knew of. So maybe they had looked in all the other ones?
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macca
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,084
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Post by macca on Apr 30, 2006 7:34:20 GMT -5
haha, you're obviously not used to cats. There's nothing unusual about that - it seems no matter how hard you try to keep your cats away from things, they're just determined little scavengers! My parents cats drink water from the bottom of the shower which is kinda gross. Our cats are locked out of the room while we're eating dinner, otherwise they jump onto the table and try to steal food from the plates!! No amount of training or discipline seems to help! One of my cats, Austin, even knew instinctively how to use the human toilet. I went into the bathroom one night and there's the cat perched on the toilet peeing like it was nothing unusual. Crazy. At the time, our cats didn't go outside, so I didn't mind too much - one less litterbox change ;D
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inge
Junior Sitter
Posts: 767
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Post by inge on Apr 30, 2006 7:58:40 GMT -5
Aww, your cat sounds really cute, Macca. I don't have a cat myself but I always wanted one - I've always been jealous of Mary Anne. Or my actual real life friends with cats, for that matter.
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Post by lovelylemontree on Apr 30, 2006 15:04:38 GMT -5
This is actually one of the reasons I love Stacey. She has the same entitlement issues my friends and I had in middle school. In eighth grade, I decided I deserved a Gucci watch and talked about it obsessively for months.
One thing I liked about this book is that most of the other girls were supportive of Stacey after she was accused. Only Claudia doubted her and I wish that would have been developed more. If my best friend thought I was a thief, I would have held a grudge longer than to the end of the book.
The Gardellas weren't very bright, were they? Since they truly believed Stacey had stolen the ring, why would they let her back into the house so she could steal more stuff? And bringing along a friend doesn't necessarily help. Together, they could steal twice as much stuff! Did the Gardellas plan to strip search them at the end of the night?
I really liked that the Prezziosos stood up for the BSC. At least crazy Mrs. Prezzioso is good for something.
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