Reviews

Boy-Crazy Stacey by Ann M. Martin

dannic99's review

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

sarahcoller's review against another edition

1.0

Ugh. I didn't like this one at. all. Funny because I remember it being one of my favorites as a kid---but I was boy crazy too. Now I'm just imagining my 11 year old reading it and cringing... skimpy bikini, 13 year old trying to get the attention of a man (not to mention the cover art man looks at least 35. Ew.)

bibliotequeish's review against another edition

As a kid my best friends sister had the whole BSC series on a book shelf in her room. I thought she was so grown up. And I envied this bookshelf. And would often poke my head into that room just to look at it.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.

blondetheoneandonly's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

savthehorrorgal's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Stacy wasn’t her best in this book. She treated Mary Ann poorly. She should have watched the kids better. Scott definitely uses girl I don’t see how Stacy could be forgiving. I’m glad she apologized to Mary Ann 

lberestecki's review

lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

danakinsw's review

funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This is a sorta weird book but anyone who is boy crazy would like it I guess. 

aftanith's review against another edition

3.0

I wasn't expecting that reading this as an adult would be such an uncomfortable experience. It's not as bad as the cover makes it seem (the boy is supposed to be eighteen, not 30+ like the man the cover artist for some reason chose to depict), but Stacey's naivety and immaturity, coupled with Scott's obvious manipulations, makes for a story that I genuinely can't tell if I'm more disturbed or amused (albeit in a bit of a black comedy sense) by.

Full review to come.

hannahreadslotsofbooks's review

funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Finished up Stacey’s little love story on Valentine’s Day! Boy-Crazy Stacey is just what you’d expect. Stacey goes on vacation with the Pike family and falls “in love” with a life guard named Scott; however, while she is putting all her time and effort into creating a relationship with him, he just uses her for errands and ends up breaking her heart. It was a cute story as all of the Baby-sitters Club books are. It also really shows the strong emotions preteens seem to have and how girls can sometimes be “boy-crazy.” 

liralen's review against another edition

3.0

Curiosity compelled me to see what a graphic novelisation of this series would look like. The art is quite nice, but even with updates that better reflect current reality (e.g., Stacey—who I think would have been twelve in the original series? Twelve or thirteen—is thirteen and falls for a fifteen-year-old instead of, eurgh, an eighteen-year-old), some of it...begs some questions. I feel for Mary Anne here—Stacey really does cast off all responsibility the second she sees a cute boy. I'd also like to know: where is Mallory in this book? She's introduced in the beginning as a junior officer (which in the original series wasn't the case until a bit later, but it makes sense that the whole series wouldn't be adapted and some things would be condensed), and she's there the whole time with Stacey and Mary Anne...but as far as I can tell, now that they're on baby-sitting duty, they completely ignore her to wrangle younger kids (Mary Anne) or chase after boys (Stacey). Poor Mallory. Seems safe to say that the older girls don't consider her much of a friend/equal.

I'm not going to be too appalled by how much responsibility Mary Anne and Stacey have over their charges, because if I remember correctly (it's been a long time since I was in the right age group for these books!), part of the appeal was that they're quite independent/responsible—aspirational, I guess, for tweenage readers? But there is a GLARING oversight here:

Spoiler

The one rule the Pikes set for babysitting is that the kids are not allowed in the water, not even to wade, when the lifeguards aren't there—they can swim all they want, but they have to be in full view of the lifeguard station. Sensible enough. But when Stacey has her little heartbreak and starts to actually pay attention to the kids again, what does she do...? She takes one of them off to a separate, no-lifeguard-around part of the beach and they wade happily away.

Maybe this doesn't seem like a big deal—it's wading, not, say, swimming out past the breakers. But the fact is that Stacey has no idea whether that part of the water is safe, she's certainly not a lifeguard, and this was the single safety rule that the parents set. And it's completely ignored—it doesn't occur to Stacey that it's a problem, the parents don't find out, it's never acknowledged or mentioned. I don't know if this happens in the original too (cannot be bothered to hunt it down), but it's not a good look.

Anyway, I'm amused that this is still around and has gotten an update. Curiosity satisfied...and now I see that there'll soon be a graphic remix of [b:Sweet Valley Twins|60012959|Sweet Valley Twins Best Friends (The Graphic Novel)|Francine Pascal|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651252703l/60012959._SX50_.jpg|94604964], and I will wait with interest to see how that pans out. Is Jessica still a budding sociopath? Is Elizabeth still the most boring little goody-two who ever did shoe? Perhaps I'll find out someday.