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Best Friends You'll Ever Have
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in: Friends Forever series, Super Special books, Books with Multiple Narrators

Graduation Day

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Graduation Day is the second Super Special and last book in the Baby-sitters Club: Friends Forever series by Ann M. Martin. It concludes The Baby-Sitters Club series as the characters graduate from Stoneybrook Middle School.

Back Cover Summary[]

It's the day the members of the BSC had thought would never come – the day they graduate from Stoneybrook Middle School. Kristy is worried that this will mean the end of the BSC. Mary Anne realizes she has to set things straight with her ex-boyfriend, Logan. Stacey is stressed about her parents, and Claudia isn't sure she'll be allowed to graduate at all.

As graduation day comes closer, all the past and present BSC members come together to share their stories of Stoneybrook and the BSC. It's time for them to say good-bye. But their memories and their friendships will last forever.

Chapter Narrators[]

Summary[]

Well, the time has come: It’s the end of another great school year and this time, the older BSC members (save for Dawn and Shannon, whose schools have the 8th grade and high school in the same building) are actually graduating 8th grade and moving on to high school! They all feel a little differently about this, but each has their own emotional angst to deal with.

Meanwhile, Mallory and Jessi are moving to 7th grade. Kristy's brother Charlie is graduating from high school and going away to college. Janine will be a senior, the Pike Triplets and Jeff Schafer will be 6th graders, Andrew will start kindergarten, and Emily Michelle will start full-time preschool.

Mary Anne seems excited about graduation; however, she feels like she still has unfinished business with Logan. At the end, she and Logan talk and decide they don’t like avoiding each other all the time. They are still friends, though.

Meanwhile, Claudia’s worried about whether she’ll pass her finals. Ultimately, she passes everything except science. She is still allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony but will get a blank diploma and will have to go to summer school; her parents and Janine are still proud of her anyway.

Stacey’s worried about both her parents being at the graduation ceremony and thinks they’ll fight, or that things will be awkward with her mom and Samantha. However, they all manage to be mature about the whole thing. Maureen and Edward don't fight, and Maureen and Samantha are fine.

Kristy’s nervous and scared about change in general, but particularly about whether the BSC will stay intact and how much it will impact her life if it doesn’t. It’s clear that all the other girls don’t feel as strongly as Kristy about wanting to keep the club going. She is also nervous that Charlie's going to college and things won't be the same without him and things will be weird with Sam, but everything is fine. Finally, Kristy agrees to let the club disband for good.

The graduation ceremony starts. The older BSC members are all present with the graduating class. The ceremony was a huge success.

Afterwards, the final BSC meeting is held, with all (both current and former) members attending, and the BSC finally disbanded.

Meanwhile, the graduates are also writing letters to themselves, and they’ll get them back in four years. It’s this school tradition where they hand in these letters at 8th grade graduation and have them mailed back to them at high school graduation. They are handed in sealed, so no one else will read them, including their family, friends, and other people. This is really hard for everyone to do, but ultimately, they all write nice letters summarizing the big things that have happened to them and predicting the future. Charlie also receives the letter he wrote when he was in 8th grade.

Shortly after graduation, Claudia hosts a party at her house for the BSC. They talk about the changes high school will bring and share their hopes for the future.

Finally, the BSC all decide to reunite in 12 years when they become adults.

Subplot[]

All the kids in the neighborhood are putting together a time capsule about the neighborhood, and the BSC. The plan is to open it in seven years, because that’s when their oldest clients (the Pike Triplets) will be graduating high school. The time capsule was buried at Mary Anne's house.

The current BSC members wrote letters as well for the capsule. Mary Anne puts in a piece of burnt wood from the fire at her house, Stacey puts in the flier for the BSC talent show they did awhile back, Kristy puts in the original flier for the BSC, and Claudia puts in a flier about the upcoming celebration for Stoneybrook’s 250th anniversary (which Claudia is working on a float for).

Jackie Rodowsky puts in a softball and a note about how important Kristy is to him and the Krushers. Claire puts in her special teddy bear Baba, because she doesn’t understand what a time capsule is. Then the day after they bury it, she freaks out and they have to dig it up to get it back to her (but they rebury the capsule right away). Charlotte Johanssen puts in the Stoneybrook Elementary School newspaper, featuring an award-winning essay she wrote about Stacey (the most important person in her life).

Letters that Jessi, Mallory, Abby, and Dawn wrote are put in the capsule, along with the items where they talk about what Stoneybrook means to them. Jessi put in a newspaper article about racial intolerance a few towns over, Mallory puts in a pamphlet for the Stoneybrook Chamber of Commerce, Abby puts in pictures of the BSC, and Dawn puts in ads from the Stoneybrook town paper (to show how airline and other prices changed).


Characters[]

BSC Members

Kids

Pre-Teens

Teenagers

Adults

Locations[]

Pop Culture and Real Life References[]

  • Mallory says that she feels like Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz on page 58.
  • Stacey checked out Risby by Beverly Cleary to read at some point

Continuity and Inconsistencies[]

Continuity

  • Claudia recalls when she and Kristy lost David Michael at the beach, which was a chapter in Claudia's Book.
  • Stacey remembers the “Stars Of Tomorrow” talent show; this took place in Mallory and the Dream Horse.
  • Mallory recalls how she didn't love school from her time between Kristy in Charge and Mary Anne in the Middle.
  • In Kristy's letter for the time caspule, she remembers the Baby Parade and The Little Miss Stoneybrook Pageant along with the various activities the BSC did together on page 79.
  • Stacey tells Ethan that Claudia is afraid she’ll be held back again. She wasn’t held back; she was sent back in Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout.

Inconsistencies

  • Charlotte Johanssen is said to be going into fourth grade when it should be fifth.
  • Charlotte's age is stated to be nine, but it should be eight. Since her birthday is in June and the book is set in June, it’s unclear if she aged or if it’s closer to the end of the month.
  • Stacey narrates that Kristy insisted on the rule of two sitters for more then four kids. In Kristy and Mr. Mom the entire club agreed on this rule and sent out a flier with this as one of the rules.
  • On page 48 it's narrated that twenty-two kids showed up for the time capsule meeting. Only twenty-one are listed.
  • On page 80, Kristy says to look her up under the name Thomas. Since Elizabeth changed her last name, technically you would look her up under Brewer since Kristy doesn't have her own phone line.

Dear Reader Letter[]

Dear Readers,

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been almost fifteen years since Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, and Stacey formed the Baby-sitters Club. When I first began working on the series, I thought I was going to write four books, one about each of the girls. But to my surprise, a total of 213 books about Kristy and her friends followed. I’ve had a lot of fun working on the series; in fact, these have been fifteen fabulous years. But now it’s time to say good-bye to the members of the BSC.

The series wouldn’t have lasted so long without the support of many people, but especially without you — the loyal BSC readers. Over the years, I’ve felt a great connection to my readers. I’ve received thousands of amazing letters — letters with suggestions for plots, letters of thanks, and letters from kids who simply wanted to share their lives with me. I’ve met readers at book signings, at schools, and through contests. Of all the wonderful things that happened to me as a result of the Baby-sitters Club, getting to know my readers was one of the best.

I’ve been thinking a lot about decisions and choices lately. Often, making the right decision is easy. But sometimes a decision is difficult to make, even when you feel certain it’s the right one. That’s how I feel about the decision to end the series. I will miss working on the books, miss spending time with the characters, and especially miss my connection with the BSC fans. On the other hand, I have fifteen years of memories, many of them created by you. That’s why this last book is dedicated to my readers.

Thank you for your loyalty and enthusiasm.

Trivia[]

  • This book included a timeline of BSC book publications and other major events, starting in 1985 with the plan for the first few books, and ending in 2000 with the publication of Graduation Day.
  • The timeline has errors in it. It claims that in Spring 1991 the 90s TV series aired on HBO when in fact the TV series aired on HBO in November 1990, and ended in February of 1993. It also says that Kristy and Karen were bridesmaids when Watson and Elizabeth got married. Kristy was a bridesmaid, but Karen was the flower girl.
  • The Acknowledgements in this book reveal that one person, Holly Tommasino, created and executed all the handwriting for the characters.
  • The cover model for Claudia on this book is Emi Soekawa. She was 19 in the photo and was "clearly older than the other girls" because she was in high school, and they were in middle school. Soekawa only appears on the cover of this book; a different Claudia model is used for the remaining Baby-sitters Club: Friends Forever covers. [1]
  • In chapter 14, Stacey gets a notice that she has an overdue book from SMS. She checked out the book when she was in the seventh-grade before she made friends in Stoneybrook. In most school districts, you don’t get your report card if you have overdue library books. So it’s weird that nobody told her this before unless SMS is in a district that doesn't have this policy.
  • Charlie was applying for colleges late and is waiting to hear from some local colleges and eventually gets into Boiceville State. He hopes to into UCLA for his sophomore year or even transfer in the middle of his freshman year.
  • Emily Michelle will be starting full time pre-school in the fall.
  • The BSC is still friends with Jessi and Abby despite not being in the club anymore.
  • Sharon and Richard wrote letters to their future selves when they were in middle school. Both of them still remember their letters.
  • Mallory is back from Riverbend Hall Boarding School for the summer.
  • Stacey and Claudia's fight is behind them and Claudia invites Stacey to stay for dinner.
  • This is the first time instant messaging is used in the series.
  • The clients’ time capsule originally started as a Pike family time capsule.
  • Jessi's dance team is going to eight countries on a world tour.
  • Twenty-two kids participated in the time capsule.
  • Someone gave Mary Anne's family three gallons of popcorn when they moved into their house.
  • Mary Anne describes her relationship with Sharon as being similar to having a good friend living right in her house.
  • Abby's photo album includes a chart to identity everyone.
  • Stacey is not that great at science but still agrees to help tutor Claudia.
  • Dawn hopes that a couple of stores are still around in Stoneybrook including Merry-Go-Round, which eventually declared bankruptcy and went out of business.
  • Kristy was the first to cry when the ceremony was about to start.

Acknowledgements by Ann M. Martin[]

The Baby-sitters Club was conceived over fifteen years ago and would not have become a success without dozens and dozens of people who brought their time, energy, vision, and talents to it. To them, I am unendingly grateful. They may never know how much I appreciate them. I want to extend thanks to:

The Baby-sitters Club has many other Scholastic friends as well. Among them are Dick Robinson, Barbara Marcus, Ed Monagle, Craig Walker, Judy Newman, Maggie Kniep, Alan Cogen, Betsy Howie, and all those (currently and formerly) in the publicity department, the sales department, the marketing department, the book clubs, and the book fairs who have promoted the series.

In addition, I would like to thank Adele Brodkin, Lisa Pasquale, Beth Perkins, Debbie Jensen, Madge Christensen, Kirsten Hall, Becca Lieberg, Bonnie Black, Diane Muldrow, and especially Elisa Geliebter for their inestimable help over the years.

As always, I want to thank Laura Godwin.

And most of all, I want to thank Jean Feiwel, who came up with the idea for the Baby-sitters Club and who guided it from the very beginning to the very end. Without her, the series wouldn’t have happened at all. Thank you, Jean.

BSC History Timeline 1985-2000[]

Since this book concluded both the Friends Forever series and the Baby-sitters Club franchise, it included a timeline of BSC-related events starting when the series was conceived in 1985 and ending with Graduation Day in 2000. While the published book included this timeline, the eBook did not.

BSC Index and Acknowledgements[]

These appeared at the end of the published book.

References[]

  1. ↑ Paperback Crush
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