The Baby-Sitter’s Club #13: Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye

Stacey’s mom and dad sit her down for some big news. She thinks that they’re having another baby, but they’re actually moving back to New York. Her dad got a promotion and they have to move back soon. She can’t decide if she should call Laine and celebrate or call Claudia and cry.

At first she calls Laine and they excitedly talk about her coming back. Then Laine reminds her of the mean girls and how they teased her and she gets sad. She calls Claudia, they cry and then she rushes over there. The whole family is actually waiting, but they give the girls some time together. They decide that she should move into the Kishi house, but both sets of parents say no.

Mrs. McGill starts packing things up and realizes they have way too much stuff. Stacey points out that they moved from an apartment into a house and needed to buy stuff to fill up the house. They won’t have as much room in the apartment, so she decides to have a yard sale. She tells Stacey that the club can keep the money they make from the sale, but they’re responsible for the whole thing.

Meanwhile the club wants to give Stacey a going away party, but don’t have any cash in the treasury. Plus they’re worried that if they use that money, it will seem like they’re making her pay for her party. They decide to use the money from the yard sale to throw her a party. They think about doing a boy-girl party, but in the end realize that a party with all their charges is a much better option.

Claudia makes the signs for the yard sale and it’s a huge hit. Someone wants to buy the shutters off the house and her dad has to intercede. Someone else wants to buy their car. They even make a sale from someone who wants to buy a piece of rope from the garage, which they planned on throwing away.

The club throws her the party, but tell her to dress down. It turns out that they have a bunch of games and events planned for the kids and plan on getting messy. The kids all make her a mural of Stoneybrook as a going away present and she promises to keep it forever. She then has touching goodbye moment with Charlotte.

The next day they have to eat a fast breakfast. This cracks me up because they’re constantly on her about eating right, but then they eat whatever they have leftover. Her dad makes her put everything in bags and give it to the neighbors.

The whole club shows up to say goodbye and she passes out “business cards” that have her new phone number and address on them. She shares a special moment with Claudia before they hop in the car and leave. All she can think about is how excited she’ll be to get back to NYC.

*I find it weird that they move away and move back in a single year, without it affecting her schoolwork at all.

*I’m actually a diabetic and sometimes wince when I read about the descriptions of diabetes. My dad and two grandparents are all diabetic too and I have a cousin who uses an insulin pump. None of us are nearly as anal retentive with it as she is.

*Stacey doesn’t want anyone to tell Charlotte that she’s moving until she can do it herself. By the time she gets around to calling their house, Charlotte’s mom already knows, but she still has to tell her.

*The girls decide to ask Mallory to join their club because they need extra help now. They come up with the idea of a junior officer, who works afternoon jobs. Kristy suggests finding someone else Mallory’s age and everyone’s all confused about who they’d ask. Thank goodness Jessi moved to town…and moved in fast.