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The Baby-Sitters Club #119
Stacey's Ex-Boyfriend
Stacey and Robert had a stormy breakup. Months later, Robert is moody and depressed, and the only person he'll talk to about it is Stacey.
120 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1998
67 people are currently reading
569 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,098 books3,047 followersAnn Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 16, 2025
estos libros están empezando a agarrar temas pesados.
November 14, 2018
this is my first time reading this book.
in this unofficial sequel to the robert plotline of Stacey and the Stolen Hearts by ghostwriter Suzanne Weyn, stacey’s ex robert is depressed. of course, they never use the d-word, but he is withdrawing from almost everything in his life including things he used to enjoy, isn’t spending time with his friends or family anymore, says he doesn’t see the point in anything anymore, is failing out of school, and just generally is exhibiting signs of suicidal behavior. his sister reaches out to stacey to guilt trip her for not spending time with him anymore, so stacey tries to save him. she talks to andi (the girl he left stacey for in Stacey’s Broken Heart and who has since broken up with him) and his friends, and none of them have been hanging out with him because he is super withdrawn. she talks to logan who is on the baseball team with him, but logan tells her robert quit the team. when she finds out he’s failing out of school, stacey decides to tutor robert every day, neglecting her own social and academic responsibilities. further complicating the issue is the fact that stacey is really happy with her new boyfriend ethan and is worried that robert might have feelings for her, especially when he tells jacqui (one of the titular bad girls from Stacey and the Bad Girls) that he and stacey are back together. he claims it’s to get her to leave him alone, but stacey isn’t so sure when he says the only thing he stills enjoys is talking to her. at one point robert says he regrets quitting the baseball team, so stacey convinces him to apologize to the coach. the coach takes him back but then he doesn’t show up for practice. finally stacey calls a phone-in radio show to ask for advice, and the host tells her that some people have chemical imbalances and stacey should talk to an adult. she finally convinces robert to talk to someone. he chooses his former baseball coach, who isn’t resentful about being screwed over and is sympathetic. and then robert seems fine. because depression is curable as long as you have a conversation about it exactly one time with exactly one adult who is not a licensed mental health professional. that’s the message here, right? anyway, the subplot is that all the bsc charges have been picking strawberries and everyone has too many strawberries so the bsc host a strawberry festival.
highlights:
-I like stacey overextending herself books. it’s like Stacey’s Choice and and Stacey McGill, Super Sitter all over again.
-stacey thinks she’s the only one who can reach robert since he’s shut everyone else out. which is scary. nobody should feel that way about someone who is super depressed. but it makes sense that if she feels that way she would then overextend herself to help him.
-robert says he doesn't see the point in college because people at his dad's company were laid off after 20 years on the job and that's what their college degrees did for them. he’s not wrong. I mean, I have a masters but I don’t necessarily have job security.
-stacey narrates that if you accept robert's basic idea that everything is pointless, then what he’s saying makes sense, but she can't accept it because she’s a do-gooder.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-one day robert doesn’t show up at school and doesn't answer the phone so stacey is worried and pictures him moping around the house too tired to get up and answer the phone. are these books really too scared to say that she is scared that he killed himself? because this is clearly a euphemism for that. and yeah, I think it would be safe to be scared that he did, based on how he’s been acting.
-it’s extremely harmful to depict a teen grappling with a serious depressive episode suddenly being okay because he talked to one adult about it. in actuality he should be seeing a mental health professional regularly and should consider medicine, since he may have a chemical imbalance.
-the strawberry festival. everyone’s sick of strawberries, so they host a strawberry festival to get rid of them, and everyone is excited about it. but why would they be excited about it when they’re sick of strawberries?
claudia outfit:
-"Today, for instance, she was dressed entirely in animal prints. She was wearing a long-sleeved zebra-print leotard under leopard-print overall shorts. A tiger-stripe scarf was tied around her neck and her hair was caught up into a ponytail with a lizard-print scrunchie. Her earrings were two orange-spotted giraffes."
no snacks in claudia’s room.
in this unofficial sequel to the robert plotline of Stacey and the Stolen Hearts by ghostwriter Suzanne Weyn, stacey’s ex robert is depressed. of course, they never use the d-word, but he is withdrawing from almost everything in his life including things he used to enjoy, isn’t spending time with his friends or family anymore, says he doesn’t see the point in anything anymore, is failing out of school, and just generally is exhibiting signs of suicidal behavior. his sister reaches out to stacey to guilt trip her for not spending time with him anymore, so stacey tries to save him. she talks to andi (the girl he left stacey for in Stacey’s Broken Heart and who has since broken up with him) and his friends, and none of them have been hanging out with him because he is super withdrawn. she talks to logan who is on the baseball team with him, but logan tells her robert quit the team. when she finds out he’s failing out of school, stacey decides to tutor robert every day, neglecting her own social and academic responsibilities. further complicating the issue is the fact that stacey is really happy with her new boyfriend ethan and is worried that robert might have feelings for her, especially when he tells jacqui (one of the titular bad girls from Stacey and the Bad Girls) that he and stacey are back together. he claims it’s to get her to leave him alone, but stacey isn’t so sure when he says the only thing he stills enjoys is talking to her. at one point robert says he regrets quitting the baseball team, so stacey convinces him to apologize to the coach. the coach takes him back but then he doesn’t show up for practice. finally stacey calls a phone-in radio show to ask for advice, and the host tells her that some people have chemical imbalances and stacey should talk to an adult. she finally convinces robert to talk to someone. he chooses his former baseball coach, who isn’t resentful about being screwed over and is sympathetic. and then robert seems fine. because depression is curable as long as you have a conversation about it exactly one time with exactly one adult who is not a licensed mental health professional. that’s the message here, right? anyway, the subplot is that all the bsc charges have been picking strawberries and everyone has too many strawberries so the bsc host a strawberry festival.
highlights:
-I like stacey overextending herself books. it’s like Stacey’s Choice and and Stacey McGill, Super Sitter all over again.
-stacey thinks she’s the only one who can reach robert since he’s shut everyone else out. which is scary. nobody should feel that way about someone who is super depressed. but it makes sense that if she feels that way she would then overextend herself to help him.
-robert says he doesn't see the point in college because people at his dad's company were laid off after 20 years on the job and that's what their college degrees did for them. he’s not wrong. I mean, I have a masters but I don’t necessarily have job security.
-stacey narrates that if you accept robert's basic idea that everything is pointless, then what he’s saying makes sense, but she can't accept it because she’s a do-gooder.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-one day robert doesn’t show up at school and doesn't answer the phone so stacey is worried and pictures him moping around the house too tired to get up and answer the phone. are these books really too scared to say that she is scared that he killed himself? because this is clearly a euphemism for that. and yeah, I think it would be safe to be scared that he did, based on how he’s been acting.
-it’s extremely harmful to depict a teen grappling with a serious depressive episode suddenly being okay because he talked to one adult about it. in actuality he should be seeing a mental health professional regularly and should consider medicine, since he may have a chemical imbalance.
-the strawberry festival. everyone’s sick of strawberries, so they host a strawberry festival to get rid of them, and everyone is excited about it. but why would they be excited about it when they’re sick of strawberries?
claudia outfit:
-"Today, for instance, she was dressed entirely in animal prints. She was wearing a long-sleeved zebra-print leotard under leopard-print overall shorts. A tiger-stripe scarf was tied around her neck and her hair was caught up into a ponytail with a lizard-print scrunchie. Her earrings were two orange-spotted giraffes."
no snacks in claudia’s room.
December 27, 2024
This had after school special all over it. I expected to have the if you or a friend are struggling please call this number at the end of the book. In this book Stacey gets tangled I ex boyfriend Robert's problems. He's broken off with his current girlfriend his grades are slipping and he says life just feels pointless. In the end it makes her sick with the flu. But Stacey does tend to take on things and throw herself full blown into it. Then Robert quits the baseball team and everyone is pissed at him especially Kristy who has all the subtlety and tact of an elephant stampede. The book basically dances around the topic of suicide without actually mentioning the word like when Robert doesn't show up to school and refuses to answer the phone. I guess this series really doesn't want to go to dark like California Diaries which just throws everything out there. The b plot involves a new farm Strawberry Fields Forever like the Beatles song. Everyone picks a bunch of berries until they are sick of them and they hold a Strawberry festival. I remember the blueberry festival we had as a kid. Wild blueberries are the best. Anyway it's okay meant to be a bit of comic relief. But I did have some issues with the main plot. Why didn't Robert's parents get involved? How could they not know what was going on with their son? Why didn't the teachers pick up on any of this? Have a parent teacher meeting? Get him to a guidance counselor? None of this makes sense. Only one 13 year old girl who he broke up with actually cares about him. I also don't buy that one talk with the baseball coach made it all better. As someone who has chronic depression and anxiety that goes from mild to severe depending on the day it does nit get better like that. It takes medication therapy, hard work like CBT and just trying to get out of your own head so that wasn't very realistic but they have to keep a positive light tone in this series I guess.
July 6, 2011
this is a serious contender for all-time most boring babysitters club book. as established in stacey & the stolen hearts, stacey's ex-boyfriend robert seems depressed & stacey is concerned about him. she reaches out to him & he opens up a little bit about how he doesn't really like any of his friends, nor does he see the point in doing schoolwork or continuing with extra-curricular activities (he's on the baseball team). stacey tries to be a friend to him without sending any messages that she wants to get back together. eventually she realizes that robert's problems are more than she can handle on her own, & she convinces him to reach out to his baseball coach. he does, & he starts feeling a little better. that is literally the entire plot.
the B-plot is about some stupid u-pick strawberry field outside town called strawberry fields. the club's charges all go there with their families & soon the whole town has gone strawberry-crazy. but the kids are a lot more interested in picking the berries & eating them right out of the fields than they are in doing anything with the berries once they are home. after numerous descriptions of assorted charges gorging themselves on strawberries & then puking, kristy eventually has a brain wave & organizes a strawberry festival. it's an opportunity for families to make strawberry-themed dishes, swap recipes, & play games. it's about as exciting as it sounds, which is to say, i have now fallen into an irreversible coma.
the B-plot is about some stupid u-pick strawberry field outside town called strawberry fields. the club's charges all go there with their families & soon the whole town has gone strawberry-crazy. but the kids are a lot more interested in picking the berries & eating them right out of the fields than they are in doing anything with the berries once they are home. after numerous descriptions of assorted charges gorging themselves on strawberries & then puking, kristy eventually has a brain wave & organizes a strawberry festival. it's an opportunity for families to make strawberry-themed dishes, swap recipes, & play games. it's about as exciting as it sounds, which is to say, i have now fallen into an irreversible coma.
April 29, 2014
I got married the year this came out, so it was long past the time I stopped reading these but I really wish it had come out when I was younger. The four stars is an adult rating, not nostalgia. I suffered through depression quite a bit as a teen (still do), and would have appreciated a book like this at that point in my life.
June 9, 2023
A few months after Stacey and Robert broke up, she notices that he is acting strangely: quitting baseball, pushing away friends, failing classes, and getting grounded. Her attempts to help him take over her life until she realizes she can't do it alone. Meanwhile, the BSC plans a strawberry festival.
October 5, 2021
Good not great
Stacey is one of my favorite characters but in this story, she takes on too much to try and pull a student out of a depressive slump. It didn't seem very realistic.
Stacey is one of my favorite characters but in this story, she takes on too much to try and pull a student out of a depressive slump. It didn't seem very realistic.
January 12, 2018
Stacey's Ex Boyfriend
PLOT: Stacey's ex-boyfriend Robert starts to become distant to friends and then starts to pull away from his school work and activities he's involved in. Stacey decides to be a friend and help him out but nothing she does seems to be working. After calling up a radio Doctor she figures out the best thing to do for Robert is to suggest he talk to an adult. The subplot is Kristy gets inspired by the opening of a Strawberry Field to have a festival centered around strawberries because all the parents are sick of berries and want to find ways to get rid of them.
MY THOUGHTS:
*And Claudia is wearing.. Check this out a long sleeved zebra print leotard-which might be cute if it wasn't paired with-short overalls in leopard print. A tiger strip scarf tied around her hair, a lizard print scrunchie, and giraffe earrings. It's so much WTH in that outfit. But she looks amazing in it. SURE she does!
*Wait a minute could this be the infamous Robert Kardashian formally of Keeping Up With The Kardashians? He's down? He sits in his room all the time? Has he also gained weight? Stacey you didn't tell us you dated a Kardashian. And then Andi was probably Adrienne. Or was it Adri?
*I kind of know something about having a friend that thinks something is overly important that you just don't care about anymore. In Robert's case its baseball. In mine its Facebook.
*And I also kind of get what it's like to grow out of your friends because they're doing the same old stuff and you well you're just somewhere else and no one gets that and you can't even explain it. It's just a dark, empty, area. And half the time you just wanna be by yourself.
*"Doesn't it bother you to do the same things day after day year after year?"
*Project Strawberry is DEFINITELY one of Kristy's better ideas! I'm loving the thought of all those strawberry recipes and products, maybe they can sell like lotions and candles and scented pens and journals! Now I feel like Kristy.
"It just hurts inside me all the time. I can't make it stop."-Robert
*Hmm .25 cents seems kind of low
RATING 10: The highest I usually give series books is a high/low B. The reason this book rated so high was because I could so strongly relate to the subject . Sadly enough the book is kind of inconclusive because all though out the book it questions what made Robert get to this point and it points him in the right direction but it's tells us what the cause was. I've found in my own case I can pin point it. Maybe it's not always that easy tho. I doubt it'll ever pick back up on this again. A lot of things that Robert experiences I've experienced. I experienced the pulling away from friends and the why even try if its gonna fail (pointless) state of mine. I've experienced the hurt inside and have even though on therapy so I understand a little what Robert's going through. I thought Stacey came on a little strong when he decided to quit baseball. Clearly there's more going on. Unless they experience it for themselves it isn't always easy to try to vocalize these feelings to friends. Even if they have the best of attentions. You still feel like something just isn't right inside you and your just not happy. Actually I'm a little surprised a BSC book touched on such a dark subject matter. Even though it claimed the message was don't take on a friend's problems so much that you neglect stuff around you. Especially if you have an illness-which I also do and it's the same as Stacey's-. And it's advised to people like us not to stress out so hard it throws our body out of whack. But this was a very serious book that shows the topic of depression and how you should seek out people to talk to. Which is the REAL message. The Festival was a nice touch that so much other than the selling of food could have been done with.
PLOT: Stacey's ex-boyfriend Robert starts to become distant to friends and then starts to pull away from his school work and activities he's involved in. Stacey decides to be a friend and help him out but nothing she does seems to be working. After calling up a radio Doctor she figures out the best thing to do for Robert is to suggest he talk to an adult. The subplot is Kristy gets inspired by the opening of a Strawberry Field to have a festival centered around strawberries because all the parents are sick of berries and want to find ways to get rid of them.
MY THOUGHTS:
*And Claudia is wearing.. Check this out a long sleeved zebra print leotard-which might be cute if it wasn't paired with-short overalls in leopard print. A tiger strip scarf tied around her hair, a lizard print scrunchie, and giraffe earrings. It's so much WTH in that outfit. But she looks amazing in it. SURE she does!
*Wait a minute could this be the infamous Robert Kardashian formally of Keeping Up With The Kardashians? He's down? He sits in his room all the time? Has he also gained weight? Stacey you didn't tell us you dated a Kardashian. And then Andi was probably Adrienne. Or was it Adri?
*I kind of know something about having a friend that thinks something is overly important that you just don't care about anymore. In Robert's case its baseball. In mine its Facebook.
*And I also kind of get what it's like to grow out of your friends because they're doing the same old stuff and you well you're just somewhere else and no one gets that and you can't even explain it. It's just a dark, empty, area. And half the time you just wanna be by yourself.
*"Doesn't it bother you to do the same things day after day year after year?"
*Project Strawberry is DEFINITELY one of Kristy's better ideas! I'm loving the thought of all those strawberry recipes and products, maybe they can sell like lotions and candles and scented pens and journals! Now I feel like Kristy.
"It just hurts inside me all the time. I can't make it stop."-Robert
*Hmm .25 cents seems kind of low
RATING 10: The highest I usually give series books is a high/low B. The reason this book rated so high was because I could so strongly relate to the subject . Sadly enough the book is kind of inconclusive because all though out the book it questions what made Robert get to this point and it points him in the right direction but it's tells us what the cause was. I've found in my own case I can pin point it. Maybe it's not always that easy tho. I doubt it'll ever pick back up on this again. A lot of things that Robert experiences I've experienced. I experienced the pulling away from friends and the why even try if its gonna fail (pointless) state of mine. I've experienced the hurt inside and have even though on therapy so I understand a little what Robert's going through. I thought Stacey came on a little strong when he decided to quit baseball. Clearly there's more going on. Unless they experience it for themselves it isn't always easy to try to vocalize these feelings to friends. Even if they have the best of attentions. You still feel like something just isn't right inside you and your just not happy. Actually I'm a little surprised a BSC book touched on such a dark subject matter. Even though it claimed the message was don't take on a friend's problems so much that you neglect stuff around you. Especially if you have an illness-which I also do and it's the same as Stacey's-. And it's advised to people like us not to stress out so hard it throws our body out of whack. But this was a very serious book that shows the topic of depression and how you should seek out people to talk to. Which is the REAL message. The Festival was a nice touch that so much other than the selling of food could have been done with.
August 26, 2023
Really important story, about how to deal with a friend who's experiencing depression. I like how realistic Robert's words and actions felt for representing a character going through depression (rather than just feeling low).
I sympathize with Stacey's desire to help him, and her sense of helplessness that nothing she does seems to be working. I like how she eventually realizes that she's actually hurting herself by worrying so much about Robert, to the point that her emotional exhaustion lowered her immunity and she caught the flu. I think caregiver burnout is super real, and not always talked about, and I'm so glad the BSC series tackled this.
I feel for Robert having most / all of his friends stop hanging out with him because of how he was acting, though I can kinda understand his best friend (Alex?) being pissed off that Robert wasn't there to help him through his parents' divorce. I'm glad Robert decided to talk to Alex about what was actually going on at the end, and also to apologize for not being there when Alex needed him.
I also feel for Robert having his moods dismissed by his parents as just regular teenage angst. I hope they realize what's actually going on and step in to help.
And I very much like the core message near the end that Stacey really shouldn't be handling this alone, and that Robert needs to talk to a trusted adult. I'm glad Robert felt he could trust his coach, and I hope the coach helps Robert get the professional help he needs.
I sympathize with Stacey's desire to help him, and her sense of helplessness that nothing she does seems to be working. I like how she eventually realizes that she's actually hurting herself by worrying so much about Robert, to the point that her emotional exhaustion lowered her immunity and she caught the flu. I think caregiver burnout is super real, and not always talked about, and I'm so glad the BSC series tackled this.
I feel for Robert having most / all of his friends stop hanging out with him because of how he was acting, though I can kinda understand his best friend (Alex?) being pissed off that Robert wasn't there to help him through his parents' divorce. I'm glad Robert decided to talk to Alex about what was actually going on at the end, and also to apologize for not being there when Alex needed him.
I also feel for Robert having his moods dismissed by his parents as just regular teenage angst. I hope they realize what's actually going on and step in to help.
And I very much like the core message near the end that Stacey really shouldn't be handling this alone, and that Robert needs to talk to a trusted adult. I'm glad Robert felt he could trust his coach, and I hope the coach helps Robert get the professional help he needs.
January 13, 2024
I had never read one of the most recent books in the Baby-sitters Club series so I picked one with one my fave characters and decided to give it a try.
And I must say I enjoyed Stacey's Ex-boyfriend. It deals quite smartly with the topic of teenage depression, something that wasn't all that common in pop culture aimed at a younger audience back in the 1990s and I thought it was an important theme to cover. It does it pretty well too. Sure it would have been even better if someone had told Robert to go see a doctor but still, talking to an adult you trust was pretty good advice. I also like how the book insists about how it's nice of Stacey to want to help but she mustn't forget to take care of herself in the meantime.
Stacey's Ex-boyfriend is pretty much all Stacey and Robert with just some short appearances of Claudia and hardly any of the other BSC members. I didn't mind, but it it matters to you, maybe choose a different book.
I really didn't care about the secondary plot centered on Kristy's Strawberry Festival but it's often the case when it comes to the storylines about the little kids, they just feel oversimplified. I'm pretty sure I would have felt the same if I had read them as a tween.
And I must say I enjoyed Stacey's Ex-boyfriend. It deals quite smartly with the topic of teenage depression, something that wasn't all that common in pop culture aimed at a younger audience back in the 1990s and I thought it was an important theme to cover. It does it pretty well too. Sure it would have been even better if someone had told Robert to go see a doctor but still, talking to an adult you trust was pretty good advice. I also like how the book insists about how it's nice of Stacey to want to help but she mustn't forget to take care of herself in the meantime.
Stacey's Ex-boyfriend is pretty much all Stacey and Robert with just some short appearances of Claudia and hardly any of the other BSC members. I didn't mind, but it it matters to you, maybe choose a different book.
I really didn't care about the secondary plot centered on Kristy's Strawberry Festival but it's often the case when it comes to the storylines about the little kids, they just feel oversimplified. I'm pretty sure I would have felt the same if I had read them as a tween.
August 30, 2020
Stacey's ex-boyfriend, Robert, was depressed. He stopped participating in activities he used to enjoy, stopped hanging out with his guy friends, stopped dating, stopped caring about his grades, and viewed everything as hopeless or worthless. Robert's sister accused Stacey of abandoning Robert. (The truth was that Robert had abandoned Stacey by two-timing her before dumping her.) Stacey felt guilted into hanging out with Robert and caring for him.
While caring for Robert, Stacey neglected her own needs. As a result, Stacey's immune system suffered and she learned a valuable lesson about the importance of self-care.
While caring for Robert, Stacey neglected her own needs. As a result, Stacey's immune system suffered and she learned a valuable lesson about the importance of self-care.
Dealing with Robert had made me sick ... I’d been so emotionally drained that I didn’t have the strength left to fight the flu bug when it hit. This experience had taught me not to lose myself in someone else’s problems. Sure, I could care. And I could help. But not at the expense of my own health and my own work.While I appreciated the lesson on self-care, I did not like how the plot about Robert's depression was wrapped up. He had a short conversation with his coach (not a mental health professional) and immediately his depression was cured. I wished that Robert had at least talked to a mental health professional.
January 19, 2021
(LL)
I think this book attempted tackling mental illness, but didn’t get it quite right. Depression isn’t something that gets resolved by one conversation with someone. It is much more complex than that. Robert should have gone to a therapist to talk about why he feels empty all the time and doesn’t care about anything. Those are some red flag words that shouldn’t have been handled the way they did. Moreover, based on the super specials we know that Robert and Stacey don’t stay as close like they appear at the end of this book. It’s not to say this series shouldn’t try and tackle mental illness, but it didn’t do it even remotely well, and it’s problematic because it doesn’t accurately depict the aftermath of a depressive episode. I know it’s for kids (8-13), but it wasn’t done in a realistic way, so I don’t think they should have bothered to try.
I think this book attempted tackling mental illness, but didn’t get it quite right. Depression isn’t something that gets resolved by one conversation with someone. It is much more complex than that. Robert should have gone to a therapist to talk about why he feels empty all the time and doesn’t care about anything. Those are some red flag words that shouldn’t have been handled the way they did. Moreover, based on the super specials we know that Robert and Stacey don’t stay as close like they appear at the end of this book. It’s not to say this series shouldn’t try and tackle mental illness, but it didn’t do it even remotely well, and it’s problematic because it doesn’t accurately depict the aftermath of a depressive episode. I know it’s for kids (8-13), but it wasn’t done in a realistic way, so I don’t think they should have bothered to try.
October 24, 2017
While it's interesting to see something like depression brought up in a BSC book, it was brought up in a pretty terribly boring way. This is not Stacey's shining moment, that's for sure.
The book centers around Stacey's ex-boyfriend, Robert, who is struggling with depression but doesn't know how to express what hes feeling. Hey, I sympathize with that! However, it just sort of drags on, and on, and on. Sprinkled into the depression plot is the B-Plot, which is terrible. It's some nonsense about a strawberry field, called (shocker) Strawberry Fields opening up in Stoneybrook. They take the charges there to pick strawberries and it's even more dull than the rest of the book.
The book centers around Stacey's ex-boyfriend, Robert, who is struggling with depression but doesn't know how to express what hes feeling. Hey, I sympathize with that! However, it just sort of drags on, and on, and on. Sprinkled into the depression plot is the B-Plot, which is terrible. It's some nonsense about a strawberry field, called (shocker) Strawberry Fields opening up in Stoneybrook. They take the charges there to pick strawberries and it's even more dull than the rest of the book.
July 1, 2020
"Talking to Robert was so maddening! If you accepted his basic idea - that everything was pointless - then he made perfect sense. But I couldn't accept that idea. To me, things are worth doing. Sometimes you do things just for fun, to enjoy life. You do other things to help the people around you. To show your love and respect for them. And the rest of what you do is to build a good life for yourself in the future. That was clear to me. But then, I still felt connected to people and events in my life. I wasn't floating around all by myself."
October 8, 2024
Another one with pretty heavy subject matter. Honestly, I'm not very interested in Robert and his trials and tribulations, but it's an important topic (with an admittedly silly and lackluster sub-plot). I love Stacey but she has a tendency to be an awful friend in her books. She's great to Robert, which is nice, but she doesn't treat her other friends (especially Claudia) very well and the book didn't go far enough into exploring that. It also felt like the ending wrapped up with artificial cheeriness.
Overall, not my favorite Stacey book.
Overall, not my favorite Stacey book.
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July 29, 2020As 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.
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.
March 18, 2023
When I was 10 I joined a readers club/group where we got a new book every week. I chose The babysitters club.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.
July 12, 2023
It's been ages since I read this one, and although I appreciate that Robert found an adult to talk to, I wish more had been said about him having depression. Maybe Mary Anne could bust out the number for her therapist. Then again, this book was released in 1998, so it's shocking that they even did a book about mental health at all.
January 3, 2024
This has got to be my age showing, but I'm getting so tired of hearing about these basically pre-teens dating! And having exes?! What in the world. I think I'm finally reaching a point where I'm too old for the Babysitter's Club books. The topic was decent, and I get the moral involved, but I was irritated the whole time.
November 27, 2019
Review on www.audible.com must listen to mentions teenage depression.
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April 11, 2021Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/stacey...
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November 9, 2023Wow the BSC novels really became dark in the later days, didn't they?
November 25, 2024
BSC tackles depression (and unhealthy relationships. Is this gaslighting?)
December 19, 2025
good book
I did NOT like that Robert was depressed but I did like that Stacey helped him feel better I love Stacey’s books I hope I can read ALL the books about Stacey
I did NOT like that Robert was depressed but I did like that Stacey helped him feel better I love Stacey’s books I hope I can read ALL the books about Stacey
May 1, 2013
Fantastic books for young girls getting into reading!! Great stories about friendship and life lessons. The characters deal with all sorts of situations and often find responsible solutions to problems.
I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.
The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.
Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!
I loved this series growing up and wanted to start my own babysitting business with friends. Great lessons in entrepreneurship for tweens.
The books may be dated with out references to modern technology but the story stands and lessons are still relevant.
Awesome books that girls will love! And the series grows with them! Terrific Author!
November 1, 2013
In which Robert is depressed and I sympathize because been there done that, but of course, being the BSCult, things are wrapped up too neatly.
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