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Post by aln1982 on Jun 6, 2007 9:49:21 GMT -5
Again, surprised not to see a thread for this one. I like it pretty well, though I only read it for the first time a few years ago. I actually enjoy books about Stacey's illness because I think they tend gloss it over and downplay it (I think in real life she would face a lot more obstacles like being tired and feeling crummy more) but realize that they don't want to scare kids. I know that many kids can relate to having a chronic illness, though, so think this book is good for them and to try to help others understand a little bit of some of the things they go through. Same with Stacey's Emergency. Anyway....I really like the plot in this one about Stacey and her parents with the new doctor – can relate to Stacey. Also like watching her relationship with Charlotte grow and watching Char slowly starting to come out of her shell. She seems like such a different llittle girl than later in the seires. Can also relate to her as I was made fun of for doing well in school and skipped a grade at about that age. For some reason, I can’t stand the plot wtit the Baby-Sitters Agency. I did like some parts of it – like how they found Jamie playing alone and worried aobut him – but the whole “competition” thing seemed really… I don’t know, childish maybe. I know that this is just the girls being normal 12 year olds instead of the mini-adults that they become later in the series but I actually prefer reading about the mini-adults (just pretend they are much older – like 17). The sandwich boards that Kristy makes the girls wear! No way would I ever do that – I would have been mortified and I do not embarrass easily at all. It just seems so immature and foolish (though I know it’s probably very normal for 12 year olds) how they react to the whole thing. Like usual, I tend to enjoy the later books more than the first few but I think this is my favorite of the first 3 and I can really relate to a lot of the things in it.
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starrynight
Sitting For The Kuhns
The Royal Diner of Pizza Express
Posts: 4,004
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Post by starrynight on Jun 6, 2007 10:01:46 GMT -5
I can't BELIEVE that there was no thread for this one!!! When I was growing up, my best friend and I could never figure out what exactly the "Truth About Stacey" was. She thought it referred to her crush on Sam Thomas. I've always liked this one, and it might even be my favorite of the first four. Not sure, though.
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inge
Junior Sitter
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Post by inge on Jun 6, 2007 13:27:07 GMT -5
I can't believe there's no thread for this one, either! I like it. I like the main plot as well as the subplot - I think it's kind of funny. Although I did feel really bad for the girls when the two older girls didn't make it to their jobs (come to think of it - didn't one of the parents miss out on a concert because of that? Another example of how AMM hates live music ) and left them with a bad reputation, even though it wasn't a good idea to just 'allow' people in to the club just like that. I also liked how Stacey asked for help from Mrs Johanssen and stood up for herself. I understand how all those docters with different views would make her crazy.
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Post by aln1982 on Jun 6, 2007 16:10:57 GMT -5
I was also shocked with there not being a thread - I probably am just missing it. Agree with you, Inge, on feeling bad for the girls (love the concert reference and wonder if this experience factored into their reaction to Wendy (I just read Jessi and the Bad Baby-Sitter a few days ago) and why they were so strict with letting Mal join. As for Stacey's parents, I can totally see there motives in wanting to "cure" their daughter and can understand this but what a terrible pain for a kid to be dragged to dr after dr searching for a "magic solution" that just isn't there. I always love the statement that Stacey makes in her narration that "I'm not going to be 'all well'" when little kids tell her to get better soon. I know Charlotte told her this in Stacey's Emergency and Mark in Baby-Sitters on Board. I think kids with chronic conditions and anyone with diabetes (my aunt has had it since she was a teen) or any other life condition like that can really relate to this statement and knows just how true it is. And starrynight, also have always wondered what "The Truth" is. Maybe you're friend is right since I would assume it would be something with her diabetes but she revealed this to the other girls in Kristy's Great Idea.
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alula
Sitter-In-Training
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Post by alula on Jun 6, 2007 16:46:19 GMT -5
When I read the graphic novel last year, I was really amazed at how much more I related to Stacey and her struggled with her parents. I had a bunch of health problems when I was too little to remember, and then I was mostly okay through my childhood until I developed fibromyalgia right at the end of high school. (Fibromyalgia is literally a word that means you're in all kinds of pain and tired all the time--"pain in the bones and fibers" and no one knows why.) Anyway, it took about 18 months just to get a diagnosis, and then my mom spent the next three years constantly dragging me off to every new doctor or treatment she could find--acupuncture, magnet therapy, hypnosis (actually, I'm kind of a fan of hypnotherapy now though), weird massage treatments, weird diets, everything. Over the summers she didn't want me to apply for jobs or internships or anything because she thought I was too sick and she wanted me home so we could go to all these things. But once I got diagnosed and put on some kind of medication to make it a little more manageable (part of the problem with chronic pain is balancing the use of long-term pain medications--especially as a young person, everyone treats you like a potential addict or drug dealer), I really wanted to just concentrate on school and figuring out how I was going to live with this, and it was really frustrating not to be able to communicate about that. I actually got kind of emotional rereading those parts after having experienced that dynamic.
/end of long, boring personal stories
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magentanation
Sitter-In-Training
The girl with colitis goes by
Posts: 424
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Post by magentanation on Jun 6, 2007 20:06:19 GMT -5
I love this book. I used to read it religiously around Thanksgiving time every year. I liked how when she went to NY she finally told Laine about her diabetes and they were friends again (at least for awhile, lol). Also I love the bit at the movies where she orders a Tab and a popcorn and it's only like, $1.95 and she makes a huge deal out of that being soooo expensive. ;D
I hate the Baby-Sitters Agency plotline, it's just boring.
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Post by booboobrewer on Jun 6, 2007 21:51:01 GMT -5
Reading the graphic novel version of this was great! (Seeing the Candy Kane and Winston Churchill scenes in graphic form - awesome.) It's one of my all-time favorites. The "truth" about Stacey...how she really feels about her disease and her parents, since she's all introspective throughout the book? Remember the tagline: "Stacey's different...and it's harder on her than anyone knows." I really liked the Babysitters' Agency storyline. I was always so shocked that Kristy let Janet and Leslie in just like that, and identified with Kristy's and Stacey's hyper-protective feelings about the club. Their "showdown" in the end is worth it just for Kristy's line..."You're dirty businesswomen!" or something like that. Ah, the sandwich boards! I love how Kristy was just not embarrassed by that at all, how the others wanted to die, and that they all wore them for her anyway.
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Post by aln1982 on Jun 6, 2007 23:22:19 GMT -5
^ I don't think the "cool" Stacey from the later books and probably Claud, either, would have worn the boards. I'm really shocked that they did but also liked how Kristy wasn't at all embarrassed. Can't believe I would be as usually I am like her in this - maybe it's because this reminds me of some little boys at the horse shows (who were always so dirty) whose mothers made them wear boards like that to advertise their ponies for sale. I always thought this was kind of tacky and felt for the kids and that was the first thing I thought of when I read about the girls in this book. Also thought the competition with the Baby-Sitters Agency was kind of stupid so to me, the "end" didn't justify the "means." But that's just me and I can totally see how Kristy felt the need to do this - the club is everything to her, obviously to the other girls too. Sad that Stacey gives it all up for the "Bad Girls" in a later book.... Loved Kristy's line, booboo, but had forgotten about it (can't remember the exact words, either, but it was funny ;D) I definitely liked this one a lot better than the first two. I will always have a special fondness for MA Saves the Day (probably for nostalgic reasons as it was one of the first five or so BSC books I owned) but this one is at close second as my favorite of the pre-Dawn series (Impossible Three will also always be a favorite and really like Kristy's Big Day, Boy Crazy Stacey, and the Ghost at Dawn's House)
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lilafowler
Sitting For The Johanssens
Posts: 1,163
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Post by lilafowler on Jun 7, 2007 14:31:25 GMT -5
^I think a lot of the reason Stacey wore the sandwich board was that she had just moved to Stoneybrook, and the BSC members might have already been her closest friends. Never a good idea to piss them off when you're in middle school
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Post by hitzpink on Jun 7, 2007 19:49:38 GMT -5
Gosh I haven't read this book in probably two years. So I don't have much to add to the discussion other than this shallow thought:
Did anyone think Stacey looked kind of chubby on the (original) cover? Like, not fat or anything, but they make such a big deal about how she's so thin because of her diabetes, and on the cover she looks like she hasn't lost any of her baby fat yet. Even though I do think she looks really adorable. Charlotte, too.
Refresh my memory about the sandwich boards.. they wore them to school, right? To advertise the BSC? Errr.... why were they advertising their club to a bunch of middle schoolers? Were they counting on their classmates going home and informing their parents in case their little brothers/sisters needed a sitter?
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Lauren
Sitting For The Newtons
Posts: 2,026
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Post by Lauren on Jun 7, 2007 20:15:12 GMT -5
^ She does look a little chubby on the cover. I also found it strange how she looked so happy to be in a candy store knowing she couldn't eat any of it.
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magentanation
Sitter-In-Training
The girl with colitis goes by
Posts: 424
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Post by magentanation on Jun 7, 2007 22:59:11 GMT -5
The point of the sandwich boards was to recruit new members for the club, if I recall correctly.
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Post by aln1982 on Jun 7, 2007 23:36:50 GMT -5
^ I also found it strange how she looked so happy to be in a candy store knowing she couldn't eat any of it. I guess I didn't find this strange but actually kind of liked it because have seen it first hand - an example being my dad can't eat bacon or fried chicken any more (cholesteral city! ;D) but every day at the campground at Disney, he liked walking past the restaurant to smell them. And I love the smell of barbeque and fried chicken but hate the taste. Magentanation, yes the signs were to recruit members I think. Either that or clients but since it was at school, I'm pretty sure it was members. Wonder if Claudia made the signs? Did it mention this? I'm imagining the spelling errors now... ;D
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Post by sugarmonkey on Jun 8, 2007 13:47:17 GMT -5
They were trying to recruit members because they tried out two girls that ended being spies for the Babysitters Agency.
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Post by sotypical42483 on Jun 17, 2007 13:47:39 GMT -5
Stacey hanging out in the candy store just reminds me of how I've always, since I was a kid, thought it was so odd that Stacey was SO okay with her diabetes. I mean she rarely ever slipped up and they always made sure to let us know that Stacey was happy to munch an apple while the rest of the girls (except Dawn, of course!) chowed down on Snickers and Doritos. I always just found that to be weird because Stacey was only diagnosed at the age 12 right? I think if I was 13 and couldn't eat sweets, I'd have been going nuts and would've complained about it nonstop, especially if my friends were gorging themselves right in front of me.
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