Stacey's Mistake (Graphic Novel)

This article is about the graphic novel. For the original novel see Stacey's Mistake.

Stacey's Mistake
series	BSC Graphic Novels
no. in series	14
Author	Ann M. Martin and Ellen T Crenshaw
Ghostwriter	None
Cover Art	Ellen T Crenshaw
Tagline	None
Publication information
Published on	October 3, 2023
Publisher	Graphix
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Stacey's Mistake is a graphic novel by Ellen T Crenshaw and the 14^th installment of the BSC Graphic Novels that was published on October 3rd, 2023 with an announcement on Instagram. It is based on the original novel Stacey's Mistake and is the 4^th book Stacey narrates. This is the first BSC graphic novel by Crenshaw.

Back Cover Summary

Stacey is so excited! Her friends from The Baby-sitters Club are coming to New York City for a long weekend. It's going to be perfect—a party and a sleepover on Friday night, a big baby-sitting job on Saturday, and lots of sightseeing throughout.

But it turns out that the baby-sitters are way out of place in the big city. Mary Anne sounds like a walking guidebook, Dawn is afraid of everything, Kristy can't keep her mouth shut, Claudia is jealous of Laine—Stacey's New York best friend—and Mallory and Jessi feel intimidated by Stacey's classmates. With ten kids to baby-sit and a full schedule of activities, how will Stacey keep the weekend from becoming a complete disaster?

Plot

Stacey has lived in New York City almost all of her life with the exception of the one year she lived live in Stoneybrook, CT. She loves everything from New York (except the vermin), but the one thing the misses is her friends from the Babysitters Club. She had been talking with Claudia about going to Stoneybrook to visit, but circumstances have changed. Namely, the Rosenstern Players community theatre, owned by Ms. Swati Shah, is holding a fundraiser to support the theatre. The theater--where non professional shows are put on and classes are held--is in financial trouble and low on funding to the point Ms. Shah has had to eliminate the afternoon classes. She and Stacey talk briefly, with Stacey worried that the afternoon classes are cancelled permanently and Ms. Shah saying they'll return if the fundraiser goes well. Stacey wishes she could help more, but she is babysitting the Walker children so their parents can bring their paintings to the auction that's part of the fundraiser.

Stacey gets home, greeting James, the doorman of her apartment building, and the phone rings soon after--it's a neighbor, Mr. Reames, asking if she'll babysit his four year old daughter, Leslie. She turns him down saying she's already booked and that she's had to turn down three other parents. She hangs up, then gets an idea. She goes to her mother and reminds her of when the BSC baby sat fourteen children during the preparations for Watson and Elizabeth Brewer's wedding. She points out there's ten children across five different families that need babysitting during the fundraiser, and that if her friends came into town, they could have enough people to babysit them all--they all have the Friday off from school both in New York and Stoneybrook and could stay for the long weekend. Maureen is skeptical of having six guests instead of just Claudia, but agrees if Stacey gets her father's permission. When her father gets home Stacey explains everything and he agrees, offering the suggestion that she also hold a party Friday night so her New York and Connecticut friends can meet each other.

Two weeks pass and the visiting weekend comes. The visit gets off to a rocky start, though; Stacey arrives at Grand Central Station and can't find them, because the others get lost in Grand Central Station, due to their train (New Haven) being late. it takes Stacey twenty minutes to find them. When she does, they happily reunite and Kristy explains they got lost. Mary Anne pulls out a city map. Stacey yells at her about what she's doing and to put the map away, saying it makes her look like a tourist--to which Mary Anne says she is. Stacey snatches the map way and says she's not, and people shouldn't know where they're going because they will be easy targets. Dawn then asks what they would be targets for, and Stacey almost says before saying never mind. She then asks why Claudia has such a large suitcase to which Claudia says it's her clothes for the next two days. Stacey, more irritated, asked where they went anyways and Kristy says they just kept following people after they disembarked; Jessi adds they went up the escalator and accidentally went outside. Stacey is upset they would have walked right by the information booth, but drops the subject and asks what they should do first.

Mary Anne starts rattling off factoids about various places around the city, sounding just like a tourist's guide; Kristy says she talked like that during the entire train ride. As Mary Anne mentions Union Square, Dawn worries if it's in a safe neighborhood, to which Stacey asks if she's okay. Dawn says she is but she's never been to New York before and a lot of things could happen--she was listening to the news and heard about two murders and a building collapse. Kristy mocks her by yelling that someone fell down a sewer and was then eaten by rats and alligators--and then at Dawn's panic has to say she made that up. Dawn is still fretful and lists various other problems such as vermin, pickpockets, and purse snatchers. Stacey nervously says they should go to Union square and hop on a bus to get there, but Claudia points out her suitcase. Stacey says they have to go back to the apartment and drop it off, and Claudia suggests putting in a locker to which Stacey says that can't be done; they'll have to take a cab to the apartment building--and pay the cab driver a huge tip for the luggage--and then take the bus back to Union Square. Claudia exhaustedly says she'll pay for the cab. While they're outside loading the suitcase Dawn sees a rat in the trash nearby and gasps, making everyone turn and everyone (but Stacey) scream at the sight. In the cab ride back Dawn looks ill, Mary Anne is staring out the window, and the others are exchanging nervous looks. Stacey starts to wonder if having the club visit is a big mistake.

After a quick stop at the McGills' apartment to drop off Claudia's over sized luggage, the girls take a bus back to Union Square. They make a big fuss over how cool the place is, which embarrasses Stacey and she asks them to be quiet. Jessi sees a busking band and starts dancing nearby, which makes Kristy start to dance her "antler dance" which Stacey hates. After the band finished playing a song, Stacey drags Kristy, Jessi, and the other babysitters off to get lunch at a food truck. Mary Anne talks them into buying I ❤️ New York shirts for each of them and one for Mary Anne's boyfriend, Logan Bruno, at a stand, to which Kristy says they can be their new club uniforms and Mallory agrees. Stacey--upset--asks if they can please get lunch now; since it's getting late she suggests a food truck since those aren't in Stoneybrook. Kristy leans in as they're ordering and gushes over the food truck, calling the owner an entrepreneur--to which the guy sarcastically says he's a real Rockefeller. Stacey whispers in irritation that Kristy doesn't have to say everything that comes in her head and Kristy apologizes.

As they eat, Mary Anne starts saying city facts again, and Dawn asks where they're going next. Mary Anne suggest several things but Stacey says they only have time for one more thing before the night's party with Stacey's classmates from school. Claudia and Mallory want to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but most of the others want to go shopping. Stacey takes them to an unnamed vintage store where Claudia gushes over fancy clothes, Kristy makes a scene about the prices, and where Mary Anne tries on a cardigan, rips it, and tries to put it back before she's caught by a security guard and sheepishly asks if she can pay for it.

The girls head back to Stacey's, where they make their way through her apartment building, meeting the ten children they'll be taking care of the next day, starting with four-year old Leslie Reames, who lives in the penthouse of Stacey's apartment, and hates dogs, the Walkers, whose parents are famous (Mrs. Walker illustrates books and Mr. Walker has his own art show), the Upchurchs, which the girls, (Natalie and Peggie) are both into Broadway, the Barreras, whose youngest child, Cissy, hates Leslie, to the Delucas, who just moved into New York, and Stacey made a mental note for the Deluca boys (Dennis and Sean) to stay away from Dawn since they never been to New York before.

Afterwards they go back to get ready for the party. Mary Anne insists that everyone wear what Stacey tells them (so they can blend in with all of Stacey's sophisticated New York classmates), but in the end, she herself is the only one who doesn't. Laine Cummings, Stacey's New York best friend, arrives early to help set up for the party, and she and Claudia get off to a bad start when Claudia points out Laine was nasty about Stacey's type one diabetes and Laine says Claudia had a fight with Stacey when their "little club" almost broke up. Before Stacey can intervene Mary Anne starts gushing tourist facts at Laine, asking if she's ever met anyone famous living in the Dakota (Laine's apartment). She mentions the late Beatles Member, John Lennon, and Claudia says Stoneybrook has a famous person, also (Laine doesn't even know who the famous person is). Stacey, stressed, assigns everyone to start prepping for the party.

The party doesn't go well. Stacey's New York and Stoneybrook friends aren't mixing, except for Mary Anne. She first irritates Stacey's classmates by blithely reciting her New York facts from her city map, and then entertains them by describing how terrified Dawn is of everything in New York, embarrassing Dawn. Kristy manages to make a love connection with Stacey's friend Coby Resse, the best basketball player in Stacey's school, but Claudia cuts in on them when they're just about to enjoy a nice slow dance. Mallory and Jessi are intimidated by the Stacey's "older" classmates, and they don't want to talk to them, due to Mallory and Jessi being sixth graders and Stacey's classmates are eight graders. By the end of the evening, Kristy and Coby then exchange their phone numbers, Dawn is mad at Mary Anne, Kristy is mad at Claudia, Claudia hates Laine, and Laine feels unwanted. There is a large fight, and Laine decides to go home rather than spend the night as she had planned and calls her father to pick her up. Stacey angrily assigns everyone to their sleeping spaces and calls a truce for the next day to get them through the babysitting job.

The next morning dawns bright and sunny. The children are dropped off at Stacey's apartment, some of them crying and others bickering. Stacey directs the sitters in groups to soothe the criers and separate Leslie from the Barerras. After the children have calmed down, Stacey suggests they travel together by walking in two lines like the book Madeline. They head to the Natural History Museum and start on the fourth floor with the dinosaurs, followed by the Oceanic exhibits. While there, Stacey counts nine children and realizes that Henry isn't there. After the babysitters call for him, Mary Anne suggests they break up into groups to each search one floor of the museum. Mary Anne finds him; he'd gone back to see the titanosaur again and got scared when he couldn't find the others (and will stay with the group from now on).

After lunch in the museum restaurant, they all head to Central Park, where Leslie Reames and Cissy Barrera have a fight in front of old men playing checkers, and Leslie is sick from eating too much of an ice cream and Dawn helps her (remembering that Stacey hates seeing vomiting). The children run to the boats to have fun; Dennis Deluca mentions Stuart Little, and Stacey is willing to talk about how Stuart Little had came to this very place in New York. The children ask to go on the merry-go-round, and the sitters do too, where they then look at the Alice in Wonderland Statue, after that, the children sing a song to thank the babysitters for having the time of their life they had, and Ms. Shah, the director of the rundown theater, applause them for a wonderful song, and the rundown theater is finally saved, much to the happiness of the Upchurch girls. The parents come and pick up the children, where all the children tell their parents about their exciting day.

The girls are resting--and Stacey's parents are telling her about the fundraiser--when Laine calls. Stacey tells her about her day, and Laine says she feels bad about how she acted last night and wants to start over by inviting them out for the night to see a show her father is producing (and picking them up in a limo). Stacey asks for permission and how her friends feel, and Claudia agrees to give Laine a proper chance. Stacey says for them to dress up in the fanciest outfits they brought Laine--dressed well herself--picks them up in a limo. They go to to dinner at a fine restaurant--where Claudia and Laine start to make up--and attend a Broadway show of Starlight Express (referred to as a show about a train race where every performer is on roller skates). The seats are very close to the stage, as Laine's father can get them for free. Laine and Claudia exchange stories about Stacey and, though Laine declines spending the night, she says she's glad that she got to know the real Claudia--a sentiment Claudia agrees with.

That night, an "emergency" meeting of the club is held, which is a catch up on all the members for Stacey on what's gone on since she's last seen them. Kristy confesses she feels like it's no longer "Watson's house" anymore and it's now the joint family home. Jessi mentions babysitting Matt Braddock, who is deaf and uses sign language. Dawn says she no longer worries about fitting in as she's more upset by the "Jeff thing": Jeff, her ten-year old brother decided to move back to California to live with their father after feeling homesick. The club prank calls him, since California is three hours behind in time zones. After laughing--and worrying if Jeff might call back to Dawn's home--the girls then all admit to their mistakes and missteps on the first night and the party not being a success.

On Sunday morning, Stacey wakes up and sees a note from her parents informing her they've gone to church. She preps a breakfast of bagels with lox and cream cheese with hot tea, then calls her friends to breakfast. Kristy and Mary Anne are skeptical about the Lox, but Dawn dives in and says it's good; the others follow suit. Stacey's parents return home from church and find them reading the newspaper with their matching I ❤️ New York shirts. They are then visited by the Walker children who have brought the sitters drawings from yesterday for them to keep. There's enough time for the BSC to go say goodbye to the other children in the building. Afterwards they head to to the Grand Central Station and after a tearful farewell, Stacey says goodbye warning her friends, like her mother does with her, to "have fun and be careful". She decides maybe the weekend wasn't so bad after all.

The book ends with a montage of images from the trip's events.

Characters

McGill Family Members

• Stacey McGill
• Maureen McGill
• Edward McGill

BSC Members

• Kristy Thomas
• Claudia Kishi
• Mary Anne Spier
• Dawn Schafer
• Mallory Pike
• Jessi Ramsey

Children

• Leslie Reames - Stacey's New York sitting charge
• Henry and Grace Walker
• Natalie, and Peggie Upchurch - Stacey's New York sitting charges
• Carlos, Blair, and Cissy Barrera - Stacey's New York sitting charges
• Dennis, and Sean Deluca - Stacey's New York sitting charges

Teenagers

• Laine Cummings
• Jim Fulton
• Read Marcus
• Coby Reese
• Carl Bahadurian

Adults

• Ms. Swati Shah - Owner of a community theater in Stacey's area
• Mr. and Mrs. Reames - clients of Stacey's
• Martha - the Reames' maid
• Mr. and Mrs. Walker
• Mr. and Mrs. Upchurch - clients of Stacey's
• Mr. and Mrs. Deluca - clients of Stacey's
• Mr. and Mrs. Barrera- clients of Stacey's
• James - Doorman of Stacey's apartment building

Locations

• Stacey's Apartment (and building)
• Upchurch Apartment
• Deluca Apartment
• Reames Penthouse
• Walker Apartment
• Barrera Apartment
• Union Square
• Vintage Clothing Shop
• Natural History Museum
• Central Park
• Restaurant
• Broadway theater

Pop Culture and Real-Life References

• The musical Starlight Express (referred to Laine as a show about a train race where every performer is on roller skates).
• Talking Heads
• David Byrne
• Chubby Checker, John Lennon, Elvis Presley (singers)
• Yoko Ono
• The Doors
• Edna St. Vincent Millay
• Madeline, Stuart Little, and Alice in Wonderland (books)
• Sesame Street
• Mary Poppins
• The New York Times
• John Lennon
• Various musicals including The Lion King, Wicked, Hamilton, The Phantom of the Opera, Hadestown, Into the Woods, and West Side Story

Continuity and Inconsistencies

• The wedding of Watson and Elizabeth Brewer is mention to help Stacey convince her mother to invite the BSC as babysitters for the weekend.
• Jessi mentions babysitting Matt Braddock, from Jessi's Secret Language.
• In chapter 4 when the BSC meets all the children, Natalie Upchurch has red hair while her sister, Peggie with dark brown hair. The babysitting job starts in chapter 8, and Natalie is now shown with red hair when she and Peggie are dropped off at Stacey's apartment, but in chapter 10 when they're at Central Park, Natalie has blonde hair in one panel, but it's possible that Natalie has strawberry blonde hair.
• In chapter 4, the Reames' maid (Martha) has on a green shirt when the BSC meets her. But in that same chapter when they're leaving, Martha is wearing a blue shirt.
• Stacey mentions that she doesn't like seeing people getting sick (throwing up), which was first mentioned in Boy-Crazy Stacey.

Differences Between the Book and Graphic Novel

• In the original novel, the parents of the ten children need babysitters because their parents are going to a meeting to try to help discuss the homeless population and get them housing. In this version, the meeting is a fundraiser to support a local community theatre in financial trouble.
• Mallory and Jessi come on the trip in the graphic novel. In the original novel, they didn't go because Stacey barely knew who Mallory was (she was still considered a babysitting charge before Stacey moved, and joined after Stacey left) and she hadn't yet met Jessi (she had moved to Stoneybrook after Stacey's leaving and they don't meet until Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise). In the graphic novels, Mallory and Jessi are already friends with Stacey and have been club members since before Stacey moved (as Mallory has been a member since right after Dawn joined and Jessi joined the same time as Logan), so it makes sense that Mallory and Jessi get invited to New York.
• In the original novel after Stacey meets her friends at Grand Central, they eat lunch at the Hard Rock Café. In the graphic novel, they get lunch from a food truck in Union Square (after going back home briefly to drop off Claudia's large suitcase).
• In the original novel, the girls get matching Hard Rock Café shirts. In the graphic novel, since they don't go to the Hard Rock Café, they all get I Love New York shirts from a souvenir stand (with a red heart (❤️) in place of the word love).
• In the original novel, Mary Anne accidentally pockets a free sample of makeup at Bloomingdale's. In the graphic novel they go to an unnamed vintage store where she tries on a cardigan, rips it, and a security guard catches her before she can put it back, so she sheepishly asks where she can pay for it instead.
• Laine has braces. There's no mention of this in the original novel. This also appears in The Truth About Stacey.

Trivia

• Mary Anne says she has been to New York two other times in her lifetime.
• Pages between several chapters have postcards from the BSC members back to their families.
• Laine's design seems to moderately fit the grunge look when in the original books she dresses in all designer wear.
• This is the first book where the BSC goes to New York.
• Stacey thinks the Upchurch girls were like her when she was younger.
• Stacey has been friends with Coby Reese since they were a year old and their mothers are friends.
• Mary Anne mentions going to the American Museum of Natural History before.
• Mr. and Mrs. Reames live in the penthouse of Stacey's building. Mr. Reames is the only other person to call Stacey by her full name, Anastasia, and the babysitters are surprised by this.
• There is not an alarm system in Stacey's building.
• Stacey has never lost a child while babysitting before.
• Stacey fantasizes about having a brother or sister.
• The secondary plot from Little Miss Stoneybrook ...and Dawn where Jeff moves back to California is only briefly mentioned as having already happened, and part of the reason Dawn is in a poor mood.

Gallery

Ellen announcing that she'd be illustrating Stacey's Mistake

Preview of Grace Walker on Ellen's Instagram

Cover

External Links

These are all links to Ellen T. Crenshaw's Instagram account.

• Preview image of community theatre scenes by Ellen T. Crenshaw prior to official announcement.
• Ellen T. Crenshaw announcing that she'd be adapting Stacey's Mistake.
• Preview images of Grand Central Station and release date.
• Grace Walker and a goat at central park in a preview image.
• Cover reveal.