Boy-Crazy Stacey (RS#8)

Original Publication Date: 1987

Ghostwriter? No

Synopsis:

Stacey and Mary Anne go on a trip to Sea City, New Jersey with the Pikes to act as mother's helpers. While there, Stacey falls in "luv" with an eighteen-year-old lifeguard who basically flatters her so she'll run errands for him. And Stacey thinks this is a privilege. Even after she spots him making out with (presumably) his girlfriend, she thinks that he did like her as a friend.

Mary Anne seems little more in touch; she knows right away that he's too old for Stacey, and resents Stacey leaving her with all the Pikes, and we get to see pissy Mary Anne for the first time. But it does give her a chance to get to know another mother's helper, Alex. Mary Anne and Alex pair up with Stacey and Toby (Alex's cousin) for a double date on the last night in Sea City, during which Stacey gets her first kiss.

There's also a chapter involving Kristy, who's the only one staying home during this time (Dawn's in California and Claudia is in New Hampshire). She's babysitting Karen and Andrew, who are washing Watson's old truck, when David Michael comes home with an injured Louie. While Kristy's trying to find someone to take them to the vet (and it's pretty serious, Louie needed three stitches in his paw), Karen grabs some steel wool and strips some of the paint off the car. Watson puts some blame on Kristy, which I know a lot of people disagree with, because she was dealing with a crisis. But she should have halted the car washing. After all, Karen can't be trusted.


Established or continued in this book:


The Girls:

Stacey has one hole pierced in each ear.

Stacey reads Agatha Christie...and does needlepoint.

Stacey can't stand people throwing up.

Stacey may be good at math, but she's not good at geography. Since when does a location having a bay mean it's an island? If it's a body of water that divides two land masses, it's a strait, Stacey.

Kristy has moved to Watson's mansion by this book.

Kristy reads People magazine...really? Not Sports Illustrated?

Mary Anne first has the idea for everyone to exchange postcards if they won't see each other for a brief time. It's her fault!

Well, maybe. Kristy turns the postcards into Club notebook entries.

Mary Anne still likes yellow.


Their Families: nothing new


The Club:

Stacey makes a point of clarifying that the parents calling the BSC reach five qualified sitters...possible reference to RS#3?

She briefly mentions the playgroup from RS#7 and gets the details right.


SMS: Summer vacation!


PSA time:

To quote Mrs. Pike: "As you know, Mr. Pike and I don't believe in making rules for the children or forcing them to do things they don't want to do." Of course, that's contradicted in a few pages when the parents tell their kids to do things. Which is good, because having no rules is dumb. Sure, let your kids make some mistakes so they don't make bigger ones later in life, but NO rules? What happens when Claire decides she doesn't want to have an adult with her to cross a busy street?

Don't put butter on burns; it seals in the heat. If you're clumsy in the kitchen like I am, keep an aloe vera plant on the counter.

There's no such thing as a seagull. It's just gull, or Heerman's Gull, California Gull, etc. You will not find "seagull" in any respectable field guide.


Misc:

The cover picture is really accurate. Stacey and the Pikes had put on sweatshirts by the time Claire cut her foot, and the Pikes' beach house in the background looks good.

I think this book is the first to contain the phrase "not too long ago..." Watch out, time warp's coming!

You know, instead of "un-inflated" you can say "deflated." It doesn't have to mean that the beach ball has a hole poked in it.

Byron loves to eat and is sensitive, Margo gets carsick, Claire is silly, Vanessa rhymes and is a slowpoke, Mallory is romantic, Nicky is overlooked, we already know Jordan plays piano (from RS#5), and Adam's only trait is that he's a triplet.

Does New Jersey have white sand beaches? The sand I saw in Maine and North Carolina was brown.

Will someone please explain about processed cheese to me? Stacey can't have pizza or omelets, but most pizza has mozzarella and I always make omelets with cheddar. Does Stacey mean things like Cheez Whiz, which in reality is not terribly different from regular cheese?


The numbers:

BSC Fights: 2

Teachers: 4 (3 7th grade, 1 elective)

Students: seventeen 7th graders, four 8th graders

Clients: 9

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 16 (bubble gum, butterscotch candy, a chocolate bar, Ding-Dongs, gumdrops, Ho Hos, jawbreakers, licorice, licorice whips, peanut M&Ms, regular M$Ms, Ring Dings, root beer barrels, salt water taffy, Snickers, Twinkies, Lifesavers)

Crushes: Claudia-1 (Trevor Sandbourne), Mary Anne-1 (Alex), Stacey-4 (Toby, Pete Black, Scott Foley, Sam Thomas)


Thanks to Emily at BSC Chronologically (http://bscchronologically.blogspot.com/) for the award! I'm supposed to first list ten things that make me happy, so...
1. Dinosaurs
2. The color blue
3. Pole vault
4. Eucharist
5. Learning about how different traditions came about (e.g.; why do we have Christmas trees?)
6. Proper grammar
7. Being warm
8. Knitting
9. Drawing and/or painting
10. Animals, except bears (too many are capable of eating me)

And list ten other blogs to receive the award:
1. Regretsy (http://www.regretsy.com/) finds the worst of the worst on Etsy
2. Cakewrecks http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/) finds the worst cakes
3. Dibbly Fresh (http://dibblyfresh1.blogspot.com/) is always hilarious
4. BSC Revisited (http://bscrevisited.blogspot.com/) is great nostalgia
5. Psyched on the Prairie (http://psychedontheprairie.blogspot.com/) is great because she's a good writer and I like seeing her reactions to reading through the Little House books for the first time
6. Stoneybrookite (http://blog.stoneybrookite.org/) has funny insights
7. Travel Rambling (http://mytravelrambling.blogspot.com/) goes fun places
8. Children of the 90s (http://childrenofthenineties.blogspot.com/) is always golden
9. Apostrophe Abuse (http://www.apostropheabuse.com/) makes me cringe, but I'm glad someone else notices the mistakes
10. Passive Aggressive Notes (http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/) is just plain funny