- This article is about the original novel. For the graphic novel, see Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye (Graphic Novel).
Good-bye Stacey, Goodbye is the 13th book in the original The Baby-Sitters Club series. Stacey moves back to New York. Claudia has a hard time saying good-bye.
Back Cover Summary[]
Oh, no! Stacey McGill is moving back to New York! That means no more Stoneybrook Middle School, no more Charlotte Johanssen, and worst of all...no more Baby-sitters Club! Stacey's friends are crushed when they hear that Stacey's moving, Claudia most of all. Stacey was her first best friend.
How will the Baby-sitters cope without Stacey? What kind of going-away present is good enough for someone as special as she is? But most important...
...Who is going to the be the next member of The Baby-sitters Club?
Summary[]
Stacey is babysitting Charlotte Johanssen, and Charlotte tells Stacey she's been invited to Vanessa Pike's sleepover party. Shortly after Charlotte's mother comes back, Stacey goes to a BSC meeting early, where her best friend Claudia tells Stacey that Howie Johnson is heading to the library with Dorianne Wallingford. Stacey tells Claudia that Howie was supposed to dance with Stacey, but Claudia assumes that they are working on a project together. The other members soon arrive and Stacey got a job for Charlotte, and Stacey could not wait to see her favorite kid. Mary Anne tells Stacey what's going on with Howie and Dorianne, Stacey tells Mary Anne not to remind her that, and Claudia tells Mary Anne she's still processing. When it was time for the meeting to end, the phone rings, which makes the members suspicious. Kristy tells everyone it's a good thing they are still here, and Stacey picks up the phone. To her surprise, her mother called her to come home early, and Stacey tells everyone that there's something going on with her parents, and she has to come home right away.
Stacey comes home, and her parents tell her to sit down for dinner. Stacey wonders if she has to see a doctor or her mother is going to have a baby. Her father then tells Stacey that his company is sending him back to New York in four or five weeks, and Stacey is surprised to see that she is moving back to New York, since she'll miss her best friends and the BSC. Her parents then tell Stacey about all the places they've been to in New York, and tells Stacey that she could come visit Stoneybrook any time to see Claudia. They will buy a new apartment, and they will see a Broadway show once a month. Stacey then tells her New York best friend Laine Cummings the news, and Laine becomes excited. Laine then tells about the kids who made fun at her at school, and Stacey is not sure if she wants to return to New York. Stacey then calls Claudia the news that she is moving away, and Claudia tells Stacey that she can't move, but Stacey has no choice.
At Claudia's, her family appears and expresses their sadness over Stacey's news. Claudia's mother offers her some tea, but Claudia tells her mother that they are going to her room. At Claudia's room, Claudia tells Stacey that they can still visit each other, but Claudia tells Stacey it won't be the same. Stacey has the great idea of her father finding a new job in Stamford, but it's too late. Or maybe Stacey's father could communicate to New York, so her family could stay there, but it's too late. Stacey then has another idea, she could stay at Claudia's house in the summer or holidays. Stacey and Claudia tell their parents that, but they refused. Stacey then calls Kristy to hold a emergency meeting in the lunchroom.
At school in the lunchroom, Stacey then tells everyone about what's going to happen and how it will change the BSC. Dawn tells her that is she sick, and Mary Anne tells her dose she have to go to the hospital, and Kristy guesses that Stacey's parents are having a divorce, but Stacey tells them all no. Stacey then tells everyone the truth, and the club is surprised in their own ways. Kristy says she can't move, Dawn tells why she has to move, and Mary Anne loudly cries telling Stacey that she is joking. Stacey tells everyone about the move, then she pauses and tells that she has to talk to Mr. Zizmore about math, and she has to go.
Subplot[]
Characters[]
Stacey's Family
BSC Members
Kids
- Mallory, Jordan, Adam, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, and Claire Pike
- David Michael Thomas, Karen and Andrew Brewer
- Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie Barrett
- Hannie and Linny Papadakis
- Amanda and Max Delaney
- Jenny Prezzioso
- Charlotte Johanssen
- Suki, Merry, Valerie Namm - friends from Charlotte's class (mentioned)
Teenagers
- Laine Cummings (in a call)
- Howie Johnson
- Dorianne Wallingford
- Allison Ritz (mentioned)
- Val Schirmer - girl who teased Stacey at Parker (mentioned)
- Trevor Sandbourne (mentioned)
- Pete Black (mentioned)
- Rick Chow (mentioned)
- Emily Bernstein (mentioned)
Adults
- Miss Chardon - teacher at Parker Academy
- Mr. Zizmore
- Tabitha Porter (Morbidda Destiny)
- Madeleine Prezzioso
Locations[]
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Johanssen House
- Kishi House
- McGill House
- Schafer House
- Brewer/Thomas House
- Barrett House
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- The Borrowers, Iggy's House, The Cricket in Times Square (books)
- Boggle, Operation (games)
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- Sitting jobs from Boy-Crazy Stacey and Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls are brought up in the cafeteria in chapter 4.
- Jeff Schafer is acting up with culminates into him moving back to California in Little Miss Stoneybrook ...and Dawn.
- Charlotte is in the fourth grade since she skipped which first happened back in The Truth About Stacey.
Inconsistencies
A chapter where Claudia is babysitting at the Pikes' (and Stacey is not there) is briefly written in first person.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
After this book was first published, I received thousands of letters from readers wanting to know why I moved Stacey back to New York City. Stacey was — and still is — one of the most popular members of the Baby-sitters Club, and readers were disappointed that she had left. I never intended to write Stacey out of the series, and in fact planned to feature her in upcoming books. But readers wanted Stacey back!
I decided that Stacey would return to New York because it seemed natural that among any group of friends, one might eventually move away. I get lots of letters from kids telling me how difficult it is when a friend moves or asking me for a story about a friend who moves. Also, I thought it would be fun to write about Stacey’s very different life in New York — her friends, her school, her baby-sitting charges. And you’ll have a chance to read about them in BSC #18, Stacey’s Mistake.
Trivia[]
- Claudia's face angle in the cover picture changes from the 1988 original to the 1996 reprint. In the first she is looking toward Stacey and in the reprint she is looking more toward the viewer. The ebook cover uses the picture on the reprint.
- On the dedication page it says "With love to peanut butter from jelly."
- Dawn got to be vice president when Claudia was busy meeting with Ashley.
- Claudia and Stacey decide that Howie Johnson and Dorianne Wallingford are jerks.
- Stacey mentions her grandfather at the beginning of chapter 2.
- Maureen and Ed tried to have another baby after Stacey before discovering that Maureen can't.
- In second grade Stacey was friends with a girl called Erin Tuki. In kindergarten her best friend was Missy Manheim.
- Mary Anne and Kristy gave up dressing their stuffed animals recently.
- Claudia never had a best friend before Stacey.
- On page 28 Kristy guesses Stacey's parents are getting divorced, which does happen fifteen books later.
- The people who lived behind the Pikes were the Congdon family and then a French couple.
- Nicky is the only Pike kid who has ever broken a bone when he fell out a tree.
- Dawn has spider plants.
- Kristy thinks that she never even pet Boo-boo.
- There's a family in Stoneybrook called the Berks' where Charlotte got her dresser.
- The Newton, Perkins, and Marshall family all came to the garage sale.
- Stacey had a doll for ten years called Amelia Jane which was sold to Jenny.
- Mary Anne says she had barely turned twelve when the BSC started. Kristy got the idea for the BSC on the first Tuesday of their seventh-grade school year, and the first official meeting was on a Friday. Mary Anne’s birthday is in late September. So when the BSC began, she would have been eleven.