The Truth About Stacey

My full review can also be found on my blog:
My Forest Library

I started reading The Babysitters Club When I was about 6 or 7 years old and it quickly became my favorite series. Many other elder millennials like me have written articles about the impact these books had on their childhoods, and my experience was similarly positive. While Asian-American children had representation in Claudia Kishi and budding lesbians had a role-model in Kristy Thomas, I was a chronically ill child who saw a character like me when I read about Stacey McGill. Stacy is a character with an invisible chronic illness: type 1 diabetes. I am calling this an invisible illness because other people don't necessarily know about the illness unless they are told, and show more in Stacey's case, she keeps her diagnosis a secret from her friends at first. The tagline on the cover of the book says, "Stacey's different... and it's harder on her than anyone knows." This line felt comforting to me as a child because I was chronically ill but I didn't receive a chronic diagnosis until I was 16 years old. It was incredibly difficult to explain my illness to other kids at school when I was a child, and often I had to resort to gross-out tactics when they asked me questions about my illness. I was different and I struggled to explain this to my classmates.

While I didn't have type 1 diabetes as a child, I identified with Stacey for two reasons: first, her experience with chronic illness was extremely similar to mine, even if our specific diagnoses or symptoms were different. Second, my family has a genetic pre-disposition for type 2 diabetes, so I already had family members who had diabetes and I was used to the concept of insulin shots and glucose regulation. In fact, now that I'm an adult I have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes.

The plot of The Truth About Stacey follows both her struggle for agency when it comes to choosing her own doctors and a secondary story about the entire Babysitters Club's encounter with a rival babysitting organization. I appreciate that the entire story does not revolve around Stacey's illness as she clearly has things going on in her life that are not about having diabetes. With that said, however, Stacey's fight for agency against the wishes of her parents and the sketchy doctors they want her to see feels really familiar. Many disabled people face unsolicited advice from both family members and strangers on a regular basis, and this story portrays that struggle well, and comes to a happy conclusion in which Stacey's parents finally listen to her and agree to let her be a major decision maker in her own healthcare journey.

While The Truth About Stacey gives readers a pretty accurate representation of childhood disability and chronic illness, I can't speak on later books in The Babysitters Club series. I haven't read most of the series since I was a child, but I have heard that some of the later books (many of which were written by ghostwriters) are less accurate when they describe Stacey's condition. The Truth About Stacey, however, stands out as a good individual story with accurate disability representation -- something that was really lacking when I was growing up in the late 80s and early 90s. Aside from this book, most of the representation I saw in children's literature described children as being "sickly" or similar, and didn't give accurate and specific details about the character's illness. Most of the self-representation I saw as a kid was in books like The Secret Garden and The Borrowers where the protagonist went to live in the countryside due to some sort of undefined illness that made city life too hard on them. Seeing details about a chronic illness like Stacey's meant everything to me as a kid. show less

Stacey moved to Stoneybrook, Connecticut from New York City. Her friends in New York abandoned her when she discovered that she had diabetes, and until she met Claudia, she didn't have any friends in Stoneybrook, either. But, she was invited to the Baby-Sitters Club, and now she's friends with Kristy and Mary Anne, too.

Life's settled into a pleasant pattern of baby-sitting and hanging out with her friends, when the members of the Baby-Sitters Club learn that a new group, the Baby-Sitters Agency, are moving in on their territory. On top of that, Stacey's parents want to take her to yet another doctor, hoping for a miracle cure to her diabetes, when all she wants is to go to school and stay with her friends. What's Stacey to do?

The Truth show more About Stacey is the third book in Ann M. Martin's The Baby-Sitters Club series. This time, the story is told from Stacey's point of view.

I like the story in this one very much--both major plotlines are well-done and have good messages. The Baby-Sitters Agency, in the persons of Liz and Michelle, provides a good 'villain' for the story, and when the members of the Baby-Sitters Club begin to suspect that their rivals may not be such responsible baby-sitters as they make themselves out to be, it provides a good lesson about what's really important: to be responsible and ethical, even in the face of a challenge. To beat their rivals not through trickery, but by being better baby-sitters.

The second plotline, with Stacey's parents dragging her about the country in search of a cure for diabetes is well done, too. As Dr. Graham points out at the end: "Stacey seems incredibly healthy . . . and that comes from one thing only: regulating the amount of insulin in her body." Seeking miracle cures for diseases is not productive, and I hope that children who read this book will grow up to be skeptical of such things. If everyone were as sensible as Stacey, the world would be a better (and healthier) place.

I must say, I really like the technique of writing each of these books from a different character's point of view. It both gives us insight into how the characters feel about themselves and one another, and prevents the repetition of the premise in each book from getting too stale. Rather than Kristy telling us three times that she had the great idea for the Baby-Sitters Club, we get to hear instead how the formation of the club affected each of the members. Very well done, indeed.

The Truth About Stacey is, like the other books in the series, a great middle grade book, with both excellent story and characterization, and I'd recommend it without reservation to anyone looking for middle grade fiction.

Also like the other books in the series, The Truth About Stacey is now available as an ebook for the Kindle, so ebook readers can join in the fun, too.

This review also appears on Barba Non DB. show less

In this installation, the BSC faces a rival: the Baby Sitters Agency, staffed by middle- and high-school students who can stay out later. Kristy has plenty of ideas to compete, but the ones the club agrees to are the "kid kits" (boxes of toys, books, and art supplies) and a discount for regular customers. Still, the BSC doesn't get as many calls as before - until the girls start hearing from their former charges about the new babysitters, who aren't nearly as attentive or responsible.

Meanwhile, Stacey wins a battle with her parents over managing her diabetes: they keep finding new doctors, despite the fact that Stacey is doing well with her insulin shots and diet. Finally, Stacey finds a doctor who agrees with her and can help reassure show more her parents that they can back off a little and give her more control over her own health.

All panels are black and white, no color. show less

My Review: A sensitive and honest look at how Stacey faces the challenges of living with diabetes and the fear of letting friends down. A powerful story about truth, friendship, and strength.

The third book in the series brings a new first-person narrator and further adventures in babysitting. This story is told from Stacey's perspective, and since it is only the third book in the series, it is the first time that the reader can truly understand Stacey's unique outlook on her life. The author focuses quite a bit on Stacey's diabetes, which is not too surprising, as it is a prominent feature in Stacey's life. We learn some more of her background in New York, and what happened to her former friends. We see Stacey struggling to understand her parent's opinion on her disease, and trying to convince them to let her learn to live with it instead of always seeking a cure. This book also throws Stacey's ex-best friend, Laine, back show more in her path, and the two have a chance to reconcile once they both know the whole truth about Stacey's diabetes.

The other half of the plot involves the Babysitter's Club, of course. A Babysitting Agency has sprung up overnight and is doing its best to woo customers away from the four heroines. Their main advantage is that the owners - two girls who are clearly attempting to piggyback on Kristy's successful idea - have hired older teenagers who have much more flexible schedules. They are not afraid to play dirty, either, as the Babysitters Club soon discovers. Kristy, Stacey and the gang try one tactic after another - without stooping to the underhanded methods that the other business adopts - to keep their customers; but in the end, their superior sitting skills shine above the mediocre babysitters that the agency hires, and the girls have the joy of watching the nefarious agency disappear.

I liked this installment in the series. My reaction to the book is very similar to my feelings when reading the first two. I must say, despite the small flaws I see in the writing, I still find myself compelled to jump in to the next book as soon as I finish reading the one that I have. Despite the fact that I am now a thirty year old mom, I continue to feel the draw of this series aimed for young girls and teenagers. Nostalgia certainly plays a role in this, but creating an addicting series requires interesting characters and fun story lines. Clearly these books possess the required traits. I am already working on the fourth book. show less

Back then when this book came out, people didn't know much about diabetes. Heck, when I read this book I didn't even know there were two different types of diabetes. This book offers a bit of info on diabetes, but not much, as it's a kid's book and focuses more on Stacey's trying to hide it from her friends, but of course, the truth has to come out.

This graphic novel is about a teenage girl named Stacey who struggles with diabetes and is trying to fit in with the new community she just moved into. I support the fact that this graphic novel included someone who has diabetes because many students don't really understand how it works and how it can affect a persons life. It would be a great read for pre-teen girls because they can probably relate to many parts of Stacey's lifestyle for example, finding true best friends that will support you no matter what.