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Post by greer on Oct 25, 2011 7:30:14 GMT -5
it would be one thing if she never chose a boyfriend over claudia, or did it once and learned from it, but this wasn't the first time. i know she's only thirteen and that's a hard age no matter what. but she knew what she was doing wasn't okay, and that's why she was searching for validation from rachel the whole way through. I don't know if she was searching for "validation" from Rachel. I think she and Rachel may have just been more similar than Stacey and Claudia. Like the thing about heels and boys' heights, and how Stacey felt that Claudia would've thought it was shallow. "Friends first, dudes second" is NOT an easy lesson to learn. |
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Post by virgoscorpio on Apr 4, 2012 23:30:58 GMT -5
^ Funny how Rachel, her new bestie, is hated by Claud, her old bestie. There is parallels there with Laine and Claud. I didn't really care that Rachel was from London. To me, it was obvious that they were trying to stress a commonality (omg we're both urban girls!) So I've accepted that Stacey is one of those girls who will put boyfriends over girlfriends. There's tons of girls like that. I think a lot of girls can relate to her, too, because they have been that "bad" friend. Not saying that Stacey was a bad friend entirely, but the chips fell in some pretty awkward ways. Claud wasn't able to separate her anger at being rejected and Claud and Stacey must not have had that strong of bonds initially to know that they other wouldn't be purposely trying to cause pain.
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Post by greer on Apr 5, 2012 12:52:31 GMT -5
^ Funny how Rachel, her new bestie, is hated by Claud, her old bestie. There is parallels there with Laine and Claud. I didn't really care that Rachel was from London. To me, it was obvious that they were trying to stress a commonality (omg we're both urban girls!) So I've accepted that Stacey is one of those girls who will put boyfriends over girlfriends. There's tons of girls like that. I think a lot of girls can relate to her, too, because they have been that "bad" friend. Not saying that Stacey was a bad friend entirely, but the chips fell in some pretty awkward ways. Claud wasn't able to separate her anger at being rejected and Claud and Stacey must not have had that strong of bonds initially to know that they other wouldn't be purposely trying to cause pain. I think it's something a lot of girls do when they're younger, and then they break up with said boyfriend and are like WOW where did all my friends go? and learn that friends>boyfriend. Aaaand I just realized I just posted the same thing in the post before. Whatever, it's an important point! And I think it's one we need to remember before we judge Stacey too harshly. |
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Post by virgoscorpio on Apr 5, 2012 15:30:02 GMT -5
^ Agreed. Even though I don't condone it necessarily, lots of people do it. I guess the whole emotions/romance/love take over and become the most important thing, especially when you're 13.
What I found interesting is that I read Stacey's Broken Heart about a week ago and Ethan was so glamorized in it. But in this one he's like an annoying puppy or something. The perspective really changes. And all of a sudden Stacey is the hot commodity. (What am I saying? She always has been! LOL). But Stacey and Ethan must have had some serious communication problems if Ethan showed up out of no where. I guess he wanted to surprise Stacey, but it's weird considering they were on a break.
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Post by greer on Apr 5, 2012 15:32:27 GMT -5
^ Agreed. Even though I don't condone it necessarily, lots of people do it. I guess the whole emotions/romance/love take over and become the most important thing, especially when you're 13. What I found interesting is that I read Stacey's Broken Heart about a week ago and Ethan was so glamorized in it. But in this one he's like an annoying puppy or something. The perspective really changes. And all of a sudden Stacey is the hot commodity. (What am I saying? She always has been! LOL). But Stacey and Ethan must have had some serious communication problems if Ethan showed up out of no where. I guess he wanted to surprise Stacey, but it's weird considering they were on a break. I think maybe he didn't realize HOW hot a commodity Stacey was... hahaha. But they get back together eventually! Ethan is my favorite out of all the guys they dated in the BSC. |
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Post by virgoscorpio on Apr 5, 2012 16:41:04 GMT -5
I didn't think that Ethan was in the wrong for signing up for an art class on the weekend?
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mallorypike
Sitting For The Papadakis's
If I were thirteen instead of eleven, life would be a picnic...
Posts: 1,636 
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Post by mallorypike on Oct 26, 2013 19:21:21 GMT -5
What's with Claudia's spelling? Even a six year old could spell better than her! I understand that some people struggle with spelling but it seems like Claudia is just plain lazy. When she was in first grade, she couldn't even spell her own name (in Super Special #11: Babysitters Remember, Claudia writes her name as 'Caludia'). How pathetic! I don't blame Stacey being frustrated with Claudia's spelling (:
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mallorypike
Sitting For The Papadakis's
If I were thirteen instead of eleven, life would be a picnic...
Posts: 1,636
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Post by mallorypike on Oct 26, 2013 19:34:05 GMT -5
I don't like how Stacey always seems to choose a boy or another friend who isn't her friends over Claudia (like Stacey vs. the BSC, Stacey and the Bad Girls, and Stacey's Lie). I don't think Stacey is a true friend towards Claudia and the BSC but she IS a good friend most of the time. I think when Claudia and Stacey made up they just remained friends instead of best friends. That's pretty realistic since it happens to most girls at this age.
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celaeno
Sitting For The Papadakis's
I have to share a room with Vanessa
Posts: 1,514
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Post by celaeno on Aug 27, 2014 16:31:19 GMT -5
Everything that Rachel did was nice and likable, but because of the way she was introduced and described, I felt like there was a really ominous mood whenever she came into a scene. If this were a movie, I feel like there would be villainous music playing in the background whenever she came on screen, which Stacey would be completely oblivious to.
I half expected the book to end with Stacey finding out Rachel was a pathological liar who had never lived in London. Now I'm really interested to find out what role she plays in the future books, because I feel like she was introduced for some sneaky and malicious purposes.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Oct 2, 2014 20:33:29 GMT -5
When I was in 8th grade, my teacher said how most of your friends now you won't have when you're an adult. When you go to university and college, that's where you'll usually meet your friends you have for life. Of course, there are many exceptions to the rule. I thought of this when I was reading this book. (Also, it's funny how many of the people I was friends with in elementary school are still friends!)
Anyway, like most of us I was saddened to see Claud and Stacey's relationship break down because of a boy. I'm trying to remind myself that it's popular for kids that age.
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andrew
Sitter-In-Training
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Post by andrew on Sept 1, 2019 0:24:15 GMT -5
I think short and focused and well-done. It was a big change but a good one and overall pretty smooth, not too jarring to have so little focus on baby-sitting (though that was kept and acknowledged as a big part of the characters' lives, just not focused on).
Good development of both the story and characters, with Stacey acting not badly but controversially and admitting that. Claudia just saying and feeling she didn’t believe Stacey (or knowing that it was true that Jeremy just wasn’t interested in her but not fully admitting or caring that it was true) and that him preferring Stacey was so terrible, ruining her life, after a few days, seemed pretty childish-but pretty consistent with her general/previous character.
Really nice and believable that Stacey felt bad about the fight without feeling too guilty, feeling more angry than guilty, and also having a lot of fun with Jeremy and Rachel. Rachel was a good, interesting character and Stacey's gradual growing friendship with her was also nice.
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andrew
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 353
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Post by andrew on Sept 1, 2019 8:26:08 GMT -5
I do side with Stacey, she seemed honest and pretty well-meaning (and initially reluctant and conflicted), she and Jeremy (and Rachel's advice) reasonable and Claudia just outraged and bitter that she didn't get what she wanted (while what everyone else wants shouldn't matter). Stacey had acted selfishly a few times (I think rarely) in the past but Claudia had often fought/feuded with a lot of people, also pretty much just for them not acting as she wanted or demanded. And it was also understandable that Stacey would be bothered by Claudia's spelling, the characters are always saying that Claudia just doesn't put effort into school, into anything other than art and baby-sitting, and it was about time that someone, maybe especially Stacey, became annoyed by that.
I also think Stacey was right to be upset that Ethan added a regular weekend art activity when he already is focused and busy with art during the week and they can basically only have weekends which she already has to share with her father (Ethan did seem reminiscent of Ed and it's understandable Stacey would perceive Ethan to be even more reminiscent of him).
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Post by LadyDruscilla on Jun 19, 2020 9:11:37 GMT -5
I'm so glad to have finally read this book. I really don't side with anyone here. It was frustrating to read about Stacey's thought process of why she was resentful of Claudia liking Jeremy, but other than that, I say kudos for carrying out what she knew she had to do, even if the results were not as she anticipated. I feel she could have told Ethan she wanted to break up from the outset and Jeremy should have told Claudia his true feelings himself..I think Claudia was wrong to be more possessive than she had the right to be, considering Jeremy never liked her like that...so saying "backstabber" was inaccurate since Jeremy was never hers in the first place. Viewing the situation in a neutral way, the issue is very realistic and no matter what was done, there would be hurt feelings. Even if Stacey decided she had better not date Jeremy because of what Claudia said and call Ethan back to work things out, Claudia would have still blamed Stacey for Jeremy not returning her feelings and hold a grudge. The fight between them reminds me of a huge fight I witnessed between a group of friends that became physical, particularly when Stacey called Claudia brainless..then again, there are ppl well into adulthood who spell horribly, too..
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cnj
Sitting For The Papadakis's
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Post by cnj on Jun 25, 2021 8:14:04 GMT -5
This was one of the worst BSC books ever...fighting over a guy...really?
😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩😩
That's something that is far more of a Sweet Valley or a Fabulous Five plotline, not a BSC plotline.
If they wanted to have a huge fight, why not have Kristy and Claudia fight over a BSC job?
Or maybe akin to the fight Dawn and Sunny had over Sunny's impulsive running away and Sunny resenting Dawn for spending lots of time with Betsy?
Perhaps have Kristy and Claudia have a fight with Mary Anne and Stacey over maybe a group of other friends.
Now, that would be a more realistic fight between good friends.
And of course, reunite them...the entire Stacey vs Claudia fight dragged on for far too long and grew annoying and tiresome.
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Post by CharlotteTJohanssen on Jun 25, 2021 9:47:42 GMT -5
Didn’t Stacey become friends with Rachel in this book? The fight was so-so but I did like Stacey making some non BSC friends that weren’t “bad girls”.
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