Book #18, Graphix #14
Original Book - Writer: Ann M.Martin
Graphix Book - Illustrator: Ellen T.Crenshaw
Basic plot
Stacy invites the BSC to New York to visit and help with a big babysitting job. Things don't go as great as she hopes.
Things that are kept the same
- Due to a big meeting happening and lots of parents wanting Stacey to babysit their kids, Stacey gets the idea to invite the BSC to stay for a long weekend with her in New York and help out with babysitting.
- Stacey goes to meet the BSC at central station, she is happy to see them, but is frustrated when they manage to miss the meeting point and Claudia bringing a huge bag means they have to bring it back to apartment before doing anything else.
- They go out for food and shopping, but at times Stacey is embarrassed by her friends, Dawn is scared of everything, Mary Anne keeps quoting tourist guide books and Kristy is being a loudmouth.
- The girls meet the clients, and get ready for party with Stacey's New York friends.
- Claudia is jealous of Laine and they start sniping at each other. The BSC find it difficult to mix with Stacey's New York friends but eventually loosen up. Mostly they have fun, but Mary Anne makes fun of Dawn's fears and Claudia cuts in on Kristy and a boy dancing.
- After the party things are tense between the friends, Laine decides not to stay the night. Stacy calls for truce until the babysitting job is done.
- The next day they take the kids to the museum, they lose one kid when he wanders off, which scares them, but luckily they find him again. Then they spend the afternoon in Central Park.
- Laine's producer father gets them all tickets for a broadway show, Claudia and Laine make up and the girls spend a great evening together.
- After a late night staying up talking, they say their goodbyes at the train station the next day.
Things from other books
- Nothing stood out as an addition from other books.
Things that are changed
- In the books Jessi and Mallory were Stacey's replacement when she left, so she didn't know them as well, but in the Graphix they joined beforehand, so they get invited to New York as well. They get a little bit extra to do, at the party they feelout of place being younger than everyone else.
- In the books the big meeting is about homelessness and there is minor homeless character Judy, who shows up somtimes. Instead in the Graphix it becomes a fundraiser for Rosensterns Players Community Theatre run by Ms Shah. Maybe the homelessness cause was considered too big and too vague to feasably have the parents be able to tackle it after one meeting.
- Due to this change there is also some other references to homeless people that is left out such as no Judy here and a conversation Dawn has in central park with Stacy about being nervous about muggers and homeless people is changed. During the updated conversation Stacey tries to see things from Dawn's point of view being nervous in the city which is nice, but misses out on Stacey's point that just because there are homeless people living in the park doesn't mean they're going to hurt you.
- The girls send postcards like in the original book, there are some minor changes to some, such as Claudia asks to go vintage shopping rather than to Bloomingdales.
- The biggest change is the chapter they go to lunch and shopping. In the original book they go to Hard Rock Cafe and Bloomingdales, in the Graphix they get lunch from a food truck in Union Square and go vintage shopping. Perhaps it is an issue of naming and depicting brands in the graphix that is the reason for the change.
- Instead of Stacey is getting embarrassed by the BSC making exclamations over the half cadillac in the Hard Rock Cafe building, she is embarrassed by Jessi dancing to a street band, especially when Kristy joins in too.
- In the graphix, at the shops Mary Anne as to buy a cardigan when security sees her accidentally rip it wile trying it on. In the original book, security guard confronts Mary Anne after she pockets some tester make-up thinking they are free to take.
Final Thoughts
This was one of my favourite books when I was younger, I thought of it as a mini-special as the BSC went on a trip and they each had some kind of subplot. It was fun to see Mal and Jessi here as well, even if it was more in the background. I like when there is some new things in the graphix which freshen things up. I do find the cover funny as it seems Laine and Claudia's fight will be a bigger part of the book than it is, but it really is a minor thing. I also like Laine's look she looks glam but still a young teenager not supposedy looking like a 19 year old as described in the original book. A very fun graphix.
