BSC #3: The Truth About Stacey

Written by Ann M. Martin. Published December 1986.

Stacey is looking awesomely 80's here.

The BSC has some competition. Two eighth-grade girls have started The Baby-Sitters Agency. They recruit even older kids, who can stay out later than the BSC girls. This is also a problem because Jamie Newton’s sister, Lucy, was just born, and Mrs. Newton thinks the BSC is too young to take care of her. How often are parents of newborns running off on their kids, anyway?

The girls try to do their best to compete with the new agency, but in the end The Baby-Sitters Agency take care of their downfall on their own. They turn out to just watch tv, smoke cigarettes, invite their boyfriends over, and let a three-year-old play out next to the street. The girls encourage the kids to tell their parents about how unhappy they are with the new sitters, and they tell Mrs. Newton themselves when they find Jamie out by the street. Mrs. Newton calls around to the other parents and badmouths The Baby-Sitters Agency, and all is well again.

Away from the club, Stacey’s parents are unnecessarily freaking out over Stacey’s diabetes. She really seems to have a pretty good handle on it. But they insist on taking her to a new doctor in New York, even though she already has a doctor in Stoneybrook and another in the city. But they want to take her to this new one, making her miss out on school. This doctor is a holistic doctor, who’s been on tv and had interviews in magazines, which impresses Stacey’s parents.

Stacey is wary of this new guy, and thinks it should be discussed with her current doctors first, but her parents don’t agree. What Stacey does do is talk to Dr. Johanssen when she’s there to sit for Charlotte. Dr. Johanssen has heard of him, and pretty much calls him a quack.

Stacey comes up with a plan, with a little help from Dr. Johanssen. She goes to her first day at the new doctor’s as planned, but then has a surprise appointment at yet another doctor’s, that Dr. Johanssen set up for her. This guy has a lot of degrees, and Stacey’s mom has heard of him, so that goes a long way with her parents. Dr. Graham seems like a nice guy, and just asks Stacey a lot of questions. He figures out that Stacey’s only true problem is that she doesn’t feel like she has enough control over taking care of her diabetes, and he says the other doctor is a “load of bunk.” Which turns out to be ok with her parents, they were starting to feel a little uneasy with what they had seen earlier that day.

While in the city, The McGills are staying with their old friends, the Cummings. Which means Stacey has to share a room with Her Royal Meanness, Laine. At least Stacey’s parents have FINALLY told their closest friends about Stacey’s diabetes. Took you long enough. Things are frosty between Laine and Stacey at first, but eventually they do make up. But don’t worry, that won’t last all that long.

o   At the beginning of the book: “The author would like to thank Dr. Claudia Werner for her sensitive evaluation of the manuscript.” I think that’s a bit much. Dr. Werner is also the name of Stacey’s legit New York doctor.

o   Kristy starts to come into her own in this book. While she’s not in director’s chair quite yet, she does start rocking the visor and clipboard during one of their many emergency meetings.

o   Stacey forgets how much more expensive things are in New York. A small Tab and popcorn cost $1.75 compared to $0.95 in Stoneybrook. Oh, 1986. You’re adorable.