“Was I becoming a New York snob?”…..BSC # 18: Stacey’s Mistake

Memory Reaction

This is another one where I remember hearing about it in other books more than actually reading it. But, I know that in the other books that have the girls going to NYC, they reference the time the girls visited Stacey and they got in a fight.

Revisited Reaction

The people in Stacey’s building decide to have a meeting to decide how to help the homeless. I guess that is generic an issue as you can get. And I am sure you can do so much for the homeless in New York City in one afternoon meeting. But anyway, this makes a bunch of families call Stacey to baby-sit that day. Since Stacey can’t sit for five families by herself, she invites Claud, Kristy, Mary Anne, and Dawn to come help. The girls also think this is a good excuse to visit.

When the BSC gets there, they act like….well, like 13-year-olds who have never been to New York without their parents. And Stacey acts like a stock up snob. She keeps getting embarrassed that Dawn is afraid of mice and that Mary Anne keeps quoting travel books. Then, she has a party to introduce her New York friends to her BSC friends. It doesn’t go well, especially between Claudia and Laine, who are clearly jealous of each other.

The girls agree to call a truce for the sake of their sitting job. They almost lose a kid at the Museum of Natural History, but find him (obviously). They end up getting along again by the end of the job. Then Laine calls with free tickets to a Broadway show, complete with a limo ride there. They go and have a great time, etc, etc. And they manage to enjoy the rest of their weekend together.

High/Lowlights

• I hate when they start the book with a character in the middle of a thought – then switch to, “You must be confused.” It just seems so unnecessary.

• Stacey equates Mary Anne’s feelings on New York as “having a crush on it.” Which….may actually be accurate.

• Stacey is surprised that Claudia brought a huge suitcase with her for one weekend. Uh, has she met Claudia? Stacey also gets annoyed that they have to bring the suitcase back to her apartment before they can go out to lunch. What did she expect?

• Stacey thinks having a suitcase with wheels is embarrassing. She claims only grandmothers have suitcases with wheels on them. Personally, I would never buy a suitcase without wheels. I’ve traveled along and the wheels are a lifesaver.

• This cracked me up. In the Hard Rock Café, they see a “Save the Planet” sign, and Dawn says, “That’s kind of 1960s isn’t it?” Guess they hadn’t written “environmental nazi” into her character yet, huh?

• Stacey gets embarrassed because Kristy orders filet mignon, “fill-it mig-nun.” The waitress knew what she meant, but Stacey is all embarrassed that it makes them look uncool. Believe me Stacey, the waitress is just thinking about how she got stuck with a table of five teenagers who aren’t going to tip well. She doesn’t care if you’re cool.

• Mary Anne gets stopped by a security guard in Bloomingdale’s because she puts a tester compact from the make-up counter into her purse (thinking it was a free sample to take). I really….can’t see Mary Anne doing that. Claudia, yes. Mary Anne, no.

• Claudia actually writes a letter to her parents saying Mary Anne almost got arrested, but “don’t tell her father.” Why would she tell her parents if Mary Anne didn’t want her dad to know. The Kishi’s are pretty strict, I think they would tell Mr. Spier something like that.

• Mary Anne insists that everyone listen to Stacey when getting dressed for the party. Then she totally ignores Stacey’s advice and wears, “a ruffly white blouse, a long paisley skirt, and these little brown boots.”

• All we hear about Claud’s outfit is that she wore “her black outfit.” How disappointing.

• Dawn’s party outfit: “An oversized peach-colored sweater dress, lacy white stockings, and black ballet slippers.

• Stacey’s party outfit: “A short yellow dress that flared out just above my hips, white stockings, yellow push-down socks, and these new shoes [her] parents hate.”

• Just so you don’t think I am leaving Kristy out, she wore jeans, a turtleneck, and a sweater.

• Laine’s outfit (which Stacey claims makes her look 19): “A short black dress, black stockings, and simple black flats. On one wrist, was a single silver bangle bracelet. One her dress was one of those silver squiggle pins.”

• At the party, Kristy is actually pretty into this guy friend of Stacey’s and ends up chatting and dancing with him all night….until Claudia cuts in, which leads to more bitch-fighting. However, the reason Kristy is so into the guy? Stacey tells her he is a sports fan. I think it was Tiff who first pointed out that is not really a rare thing in a guy. So, it is weird to talk about how Kristy is not interested in guys, except for the “rare time” she finds one who likes sports.

• I know they do this to do the “notebook style” into in each chapter, but I HATE when they write letters to their families when they go on a two night trip. Dawn even writes a letter to Jessi on the train ride HOME. She even says how dumb it is in her note. Seriously, no one writes that many letters on such a short trip (at least no one I know).

• Claud is kind of bitchy when she meets Laine. She’s all: “You’re the one Stacey had that huge fight with over her diabetes.”

• Mary Anne is pretty bitchy too….when she realizes that blabbing travel stats isn’t impressing Stacey’s friends, she tries making fun of Dawn (for being so scared of the city). I am usually up for trashing Dawn, but I’m not her best friend.

• This book is called “Stacey’s Mistake,” implying that she made a mistake inviting her friends to New York. But really, her friends are the ones acting normal. She is the bitchy, annoying one.

• I can’t even be bothered to learn the names of the kids they sit for in New York. Two of them are Henry and Grace, who we see in at least one other Stacey book. But the others? Will never be heard from again.

• At Central Park, the girls see, a guy with a long white beard riding an adult-sized tricycle…and pulling along a wagon of kittens. It just strikes me is so bizarre, I wonder if it was inspired by something real.

• The BSC ends up giving a bunch of the kids piggy-back rides as they walk home from the park. How long do you really think a 13-year-old could carry a four or five-year-old around like that?

• The kids all decide to sing “For they are jolly good sitters” because they just love the BSC sooo much. I just don’t see kids doing stuff like that. Especially when they have only met most of them that day.

• I know it is just a plot device to give the girls a sitting job, but it seems so dumb for the adults to all be having a meeting to help the homeless.

• Apparently no one had told Stacey until this book that Jeff moved to California. Glad they are keeping their friend in the loop.