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The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries #22
Stacey and the Haunted Masquerade
Someone is trying to stop Stoneybrook Middle School's Mischief Night Dance, someone who suffered humiliation and horror at that dance long ago.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
10 people are currently reading
382 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,114 books3,061 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 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 24, 2018
in this ACTUALLY CREEPY MYSTERY (I know, who woulda thunkkit?) by ghostwriter Ellen Miles, sms is having their first halloween masquerade dance in 28 years. stacey is on the decorating committee for the dance along with perennial bsc enemy cokie mason and her best friend grace. mr. wetzler, the crotchety old man who always writes op eds in the local paper about how school funds are being allocated improperly, writes another op ed about the same thing but references some sort of tragedy that happened at the last halloween masquerade. the decorating committee’s materials start getting trashed, and seriously creepy graffiti ends up spray painted on the posters for the dance: “Will you still love me tomorrow?” in red paint, dripping down. *shudder*. anyway, this is a truly interesting and creepy mystery, the resolution of which is sort of a she’s all that-type situation (though this of course was before she’s all that): while the whole mystery is kind of unrealistic, it is legit mysterious and legit creepy and doesn’t read like a bsc book at all but I don’t mind because it’s GOOD.
highlights:
-all of the bsc kids are obsessed with ghostbusters. it’s such a minor subplot but I love it.
-there's a quiz at the beginning to see who dressed in what costume at the dance. it’s like an interactive test to see who is likeliest to wear what costume. see the results below.
-they use red and purple as the color scheme at the dance. that's my favorite color combo! I wonder if I got my love for it from this book. also they use addams family-style portraits. this dance sounds aesthetically awesome!
-introduction of cary retlin and the mischief knights. a new boy starts at sms and is immediately popular due to his charisma and mischievous manner. at the same time that he starts, a “group” called the mischief knights start pranking the school (what an interesting coincidence that a new boy starts and immediately a string of pranks start…). people’s items in their lockers are swapped, a teacher’s gradebook is replaced with a blank one, etc. essentially, they’re making mischief
-stacey describes cokie as unscrupulous and says "that's one of mr. fiske's vocabulary words. it means 'without scruples.'" I love the idea that someone wouldn’t know what unscrupulous means but would know what scruples means.
-the band that played the masquerade 28 years ago was called groovy tangerine. the band was called groovy tangerine. GROOVY TANGERINE. I can’t get over this. GROOVY TANGERINE. I mean, I know it was the late 60s but could this name be any more on the nose?
-the resolution. michael rothman goes to the dance with another teacher at the school who is dressed as a robe-clad vampire. stacey goes into the bathroom and sees that teacher in her underwear and asks what happened. she says that another person stole her robe when she was in the bathroom. stacey goes back into the dance and sees a robe-clad person dancing with mr. rothman. then it’s time for the masquerade reveal, when everyone takes off their masks. the robe-clad person takes off the robe and it’s liz wearing A PINK FLUFFY FAIRY COSTUME LIKE SHE WORE 28 YEARS PRIOR. eeeeeek!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-cokie is also on the decorating committee but only wants to do cheesy stuff and everyone is mean to her. kind of a bummer.
-I love this book, but it is super preposterous and unrealistic and problematic. liz was embarrassed by a popular kid in 8th grade and it led to her having a meltdown and being institutionalized for 28 years and then sabotaging the dance and revealing herself to mr. rothman there? I don’t buy it. there’s a line where stacey narrates that it’s obvious that “liz connor was very, very crazy.” it promotes the (problematic and harmful) idea that there’s a binary of crazy vs. sane people, as opposed to the reality that countless people have severe struggles with mental health but seem totally normal, lucid, etc. and that many people who seem weird or crazy might be totally mentally healthy.
the halloween masquerade costumes:
-mallory: ballerina (she and jessi exchange costumes)
-abby: lucy ricardo
-mary anne: dorothy from the wizard of oz
-kristy: amelia earhart
-stacey: morticia addams (robert is gomez)
-jessi: cowgirl (see above -- she and mallory had exchanged costumes)
-claudia: giant twinkie
kristy outfit:
-"That day, she was dressed (as usual) in jeans, a turtleneck, and running shoes, with a baseball cap plunked over her brown hair."
cary retlin outfit:
-"He wore a blue denim shirt and khakis."
grace outfit:
-"She was wearing thermal leggings and a blue plaid flannel shirt."
mrs. arnold outfit:
-"She looked elegant in her black velvet skirt and white satin blouse...she touched one of her dangly orange earrings, which was in the shape of a tiny pumpkin. She also wore a necklace with a pumpkin pendant, and a bracelet with dangling pumpkins."
snacks in claudia’s room:
-hershey's miniatures in her bureau drawers
-twizzlers (n.s.) - NOTE: they are described as having the strands pulled apart and braided, which means they must be twizzlers pull-and-peels, but they are only called twizzlers
-peanut m&ms (n.s.)
highlights:
-all of the bsc kids are obsessed with ghostbusters. it’s such a minor subplot but I love it.
-there's a quiz at the beginning to see who dressed in what costume at the dance. it’s like an interactive test to see who is likeliest to wear what costume. see the results below.
-they use red and purple as the color scheme at the dance. that's my favorite color combo! I wonder if I got my love for it from this book. also they use addams family-style portraits. this dance sounds aesthetically awesome!
-introduction of cary retlin and the mischief knights. a new boy starts at sms and is immediately popular due to his charisma and mischievous manner. at the same time that he starts, a “group” called the mischief knights start pranking the school (what an interesting coincidence that a new boy starts and immediately a string of pranks start…). people’s items in their lockers are swapped, a teacher’s gradebook is replaced with a blank one, etc. essentially, they’re making mischief
-stacey describes cokie as unscrupulous and says "that's one of mr. fiske's vocabulary words. it means 'without scruples.'" I love the idea that someone wouldn’t know what unscrupulous means but would know what scruples means.
-the band that played the masquerade 28 years ago was called groovy tangerine. the band was called groovy tangerine. GROOVY TANGERINE. I can’t get over this. GROOVY TANGERINE. I mean, I know it was the late 60s but could this name be any more on the nose?
-the resolution. michael rothman goes to the dance with another teacher at the school who is dressed as a robe-clad vampire. stacey goes into the bathroom and sees that teacher in her underwear and asks what happened. she says that another person stole her robe when she was in the bathroom. stacey goes back into the dance and sees a robe-clad person dancing with mr. rothman. then it’s time for the masquerade reveal, when everyone takes off their masks. the robe-clad person takes off the robe and it’s liz wearing A PINK FLUFFY FAIRY COSTUME LIKE SHE WORE 28 YEARS PRIOR. eeeeeek!
lowlights/nitpicks:
-cokie is also on the decorating committee but only wants to do cheesy stuff and everyone is mean to her. kind of a bummer.
-I love this book, but it is super preposterous and unrealistic and problematic. liz was embarrassed by a popular kid in 8th grade and it led to her having a meltdown and being institutionalized for 28 years and then sabotaging the dance and revealing herself to mr. rothman there? I don’t buy it. there’s a line where stacey narrates that it’s obvious that “liz connor was very, very crazy.” it promotes the (problematic and harmful) idea that there’s a binary of crazy vs. sane people, as opposed to the reality that countless people have severe struggles with mental health but seem totally normal, lucid, etc. and that many people who seem weird or crazy might be totally mentally healthy.
the halloween masquerade costumes:
-mallory: ballerina (she and jessi exchange costumes)
-abby: lucy ricardo
-mary anne: dorothy from the wizard of oz
-kristy: amelia earhart
-stacey: morticia addams (robert is gomez)
-jessi: cowgirl (see above -- she and mallory had exchanged costumes)
-claudia: giant twinkie
kristy outfit:
-"That day, she was dressed (as usual) in jeans, a turtleneck, and running shoes, with a baseball cap plunked over her brown hair."
cary retlin outfit:
-"He wore a blue denim shirt and khakis."
grace outfit:
-"She was wearing thermal leggings and a blue plaid flannel shirt."
mrs. arnold outfit:
-"She looked elegant in her black velvet skirt and white satin blouse...she touched one of her dangly orange earrings, which was in the shape of a tiny pumpkin. She also wore a necklace with a pumpkin pendant, and a bracelet with dangling pumpkins."
snacks in claudia’s room:
-hershey's miniatures in her bureau drawers
-twizzlers (n.s.) - NOTE: they are described as having the strands pulled apart and braided, which means they must be twizzlers pull-and-peels, but they are only called twizzlers
-peanut m&ms (n.s.)
July 7, 2020
While I actually started reading around age 3 (thank you, my Granny's Dick and Jane books!), this series is what I remember most about loving to read during my childhood. My sister and I drank these books up like they were oxygen. I truly think we owned just about every single one from every one of the series. We even got the privilege of meeting Ann M. Martin at a book signing, but of course little starstruck me froze and could not speak a word to my biggest hero at that time. Once in awhile if I come across these at a yard sale, I will pick them up for a couple hour trip down memory lane, and I declare nearly nothing centers and relaxes me more!
March 31, 2011
far & away the best thing about this book is that it introduces my all-time favorite tertiary babysitters club character, cary retlin. i fully intend to name my first child cary if he is a boy, after cary retlin. seriously. i already have my boyfriend on board with this plan. cary is a new eighth grader in stacey's homeroom. he's pretty gregarious & a bit of a class clown type. stacey finds him somewhat inscrutable, & also "hunky". even though she is still dating robert, with whom she is in "luv". shortly after cary starts attending stoneybrook middle school, a wave of pranks starts happening. someone breaks into stacey's locker & switches all her books with sabrina bouvier's. someone swipes one of the english teacher's grade books. all the cars in the teachers' parking lot have their windows soaped. someone smears peanut butter on the door handles. every prank is accompanied by a card that says "mischief knights". no one knows exactly who or what the mischief knights are, but stacey suspects cary. it does not escape her that the pranks started soon after he became a student. none of the pranks are really all that evil or anything--just inconvenient & sometimes aggravating. most of the kids at school think the mischief knights are awesome.
halloween is around the corner, yet again, & the administrators at SMS decide to have a halloween masquerade dance. stacey joins the decorating committee. she's really excited to help out with the dance & dress up in costume with robert. the committee is being overseen by a new teacher named mr. rothman. stacey thinks mr. rothman seems like a cool guy. he mentions something about having attended a halloween masquerade many years before, & the principal said something about how SMS has not had a halloween masquerade in 28 years, & how he is hopeful that the dance will go smoothly so everyone can forget the painful memories of the past. i don't know what principal that is halfway competent at his job would say something so cryptic to a bunch of tweens, but whatever. the decorating committee overrules cokie mason's suggestions of pumpkins & cut-out witches & opts for an addams family reunion theme. i think the pumpkins & witches sound way cooler, but maybe i don't have my finger on the pulse of the youthquake anymore. stacey decides to dress up as morticia addams & have robert dress as gomez.
but then weird things start happening with the dance preparations. someone rips up the advertising posters claudia makes. one of the decorating committee kids brings in some streamers & colored light bulbs, which are duly destroyed by an unknown person. someone scribbles "will you still love me tomorrow?" in blood red spraypaint on one of claudia's posters, & writes "$10" in huge numbers on the wall of the gym. stacey doesn't know what the fucking is going on, but she has a few suspects:
1) the mischief knights. their pranks thus far have not been this creepy & destructive, but maybe they're upping the ante.
2) grace blume. she's been talking about how she's dating a cute boy from another school, & he is accompanying her to the dance. her best friend, cokie, doesn't believe the dude exists & is worried that grace is going to look & feel stupid when she doesn't really have a date. stacey wonders if grace is trying to sabotage the dance to cover up the fact that she doesn't have a date. yeah, that theory is exactly as crappy & belabored as it sounds.
3) a local crackpot community member who has been writing angry letters to the newspaper over how the school is wasting its budget on school dances instead of educational fundamentals. his letters keep alluding to some tragedy that befell a previous halloween masquerade 28 years before.
4) mr. rothman. who is he? where did he come from? would he have a reason to sabotage the dance?
the babysitters get to work solving the mystery. with the help on old newspapers on microfiche, they discover that the last SMS halloween masquerade took place 28 years ago. there was a power outage & people panicked & stampeded for the doors. in the melee, an elderly teacher fell & had a heart attack. he died. the school never held another halloween masquerade again.
the babysitters then ask richard & sharon if they remember anything about this incident. their memories ore hazy, but they do remember that an eighth grade girl was involved somehow, & left school shortly thereafter. sharon says something about, "that poor girl." the babysitters dig out some old yearbooks & make a list of female eighth grade students that are not pictured because they moved away from stoneybrook before class picture day. then logan leads them all into the basement of the school, to a dusty room full of old student records. they pull the files on each of the girls & narrow it down to elizabeth connor. stacey also sneaks mr. rothman's old student file into her bag.
the babysitters learn from elizabeth's file that she used to live in charlotte johanssen's old house. luckily, they have a babysitting job there soon. they scheme to bring some other charges over to play with charlotte & search the house for any clues elizabeth connor may have left behind...28 years ago...when she was 13...this is pretty fucking farfetched. but lo & behold, they find a patch of concrete in the basement that was apparently poured when elizabeth still lived there. it's a heart with the initials "L.C. + M.R." in it. liz connor...plus michael rothman?
at the next decorating committee meeting, stacey boldly corners mr. rothman & asks about liz. & instead of telling her to mind her own damn business, he takes her aside & pours his heart out. apparently he was one of the most popular kids in stoneybrook middle school when he was 13. he was a football player & lots of girls had crushes on him...including liz connor. liz was not popular, but michael was always nice to her anyway because he tried to be kind to everyone. he didn't realize how strongly liz felt about him, & that his kindness was only getting her hopes up that he might like her back. some of his friends dared him to ask her to the halloween masquerade. they offered him $10 if he spent the whole evening with her. he accepted because it was important to him to remain popular, & he didn't realize that his actions could potentially hurt liz's feelings really badly. he asked her, & she accepted. when he went to pick her up, she was wearing an awful embarrassing baby-ish fairy princess costume, but seemed to have no idea that she looked like an idiot. they went to the dance & everyone was snickering but liz was so excited to be there with mr. rothman that she didn't notice. they danced together all night & mr. rothman tried to keep her away from his friends that might make fun of her. at one point, she left to use the bathroom & came back to catch him talking with his friends. she could tell something was wrong. he tried to shrug it off, but when the band launched into the last song, "will you still love me tomorrow?", he couldn't fake it anymore & he abandoned her on the dance floor. he doesn't explain exactly why he couldn't hang in there for just three more minutes, but...whatever. as he left, he threw a $10 bill on the ground to show his friends he didn't care about the bet anymore, & liz saw it. somehow she figured out from this that he'd only asked her on a dare & she got angry. she stormed out of the gym & shortly thereafter, the lies went out. kids stampeded, a teacher feel & died. liz transferred schools soon after.
mr. rothman thinks liz is back in town & is behind the vandalism of the posters & whatnot. stacey is convinced. they agree that the trauma of being asked to a dance on a dare traumatized her for life, to the point that she is willing to violently sabotage a middle school dance 28 years later.
...sure. that seems plausible.
they seem to get their confirmation the next day when they walk into the gym to check on the decorations & find an effigy wearing a babyish fairy princess costume hanging from a basketball hoop. at that point, if i were mr. rothman, i'd start suspecting stacey, & if i were stacey, i'd start suspecting mr. rothman, but both of them remain convinced that it's liz.
the dance happens. people dress up. mr. rothman spends all evening dancing with a female teacher dressed up like a witch in a cloak. grace shows up with her foxy boyfriend from another school. people have fun. toward the end of the night, stacey ducks into the bathroom & finds a lady teacher shivering in just leggings & a camisole. it's the witch mr. rothman had been dancing with. someone spilled onion dip on her cloak & then stole it. stacey just knows it's liz. she runs back to the dance & finds mr. rothman dancing with a woman in the cloak. she runs over to warn him, but then the lights go out for the masquerade reveal. everyone is supposed to remove their masks when the lights come back on. when the lights come back on, mr. rothman realizes he is dancing with liz. stacey takes one look & can tell that liz is completely batshit crazy.
& then, rather than telling the reader what happened next, we cut to a babysitters club meeting where the sitters are all like, "then some guys with butterfly nuts came & carted liz back off to the nuthouse." the end. seriously. that's the end of the book.
halloween is around the corner, yet again, & the administrators at SMS decide to have a halloween masquerade dance. stacey joins the decorating committee. she's really excited to help out with the dance & dress up in costume with robert. the committee is being overseen by a new teacher named mr. rothman. stacey thinks mr. rothman seems like a cool guy. he mentions something about having attended a halloween masquerade many years before, & the principal said something about how SMS has not had a halloween masquerade in 28 years, & how he is hopeful that the dance will go smoothly so everyone can forget the painful memories of the past. i don't know what principal that is halfway competent at his job would say something so cryptic to a bunch of tweens, but whatever. the decorating committee overrules cokie mason's suggestions of pumpkins & cut-out witches & opts for an addams family reunion theme. i think the pumpkins & witches sound way cooler, but maybe i don't have my finger on the pulse of the youthquake anymore. stacey decides to dress up as morticia addams & have robert dress as gomez.
but then weird things start happening with the dance preparations. someone rips up the advertising posters claudia makes. one of the decorating committee kids brings in some streamers & colored light bulbs, which are duly destroyed by an unknown person. someone scribbles "will you still love me tomorrow?" in blood red spraypaint on one of claudia's posters, & writes "$10" in huge numbers on the wall of the gym. stacey doesn't know what the fucking is going on, but she has a few suspects:
1) the mischief knights. their pranks thus far have not been this creepy & destructive, but maybe they're upping the ante.
2) grace blume. she's been talking about how she's dating a cute boy from another school, & he is accompanying her to the dance. her best friend, cokie, doesn't believe the dude exists & is worried that grace is going to look & feel stupid when she doesn't really have a date. stacey wonders if grace is trying to sabotage the dance to cover up the fact that she doesn't have a date. yeah, that theory is exactly as crappy & belabored as it sounds.
3) a local crackpot community member who has been writing angry letters to the newspaper over how the school is wasting its budget on school dances instead of educational fundamentals. his letters keep alluding to some tragedy that befell a previous halloween masquerade 28 years before.
4) mr. rothman. who is he? where did he come from? would he have a reason to sabotage the dance?
the babysitters get to work solving the mystery. with the help on old newspapers on microfiche, they discover that the last SMS halloween masquerade took place 28 years ago. there was a power outage & people panicked & stampeded for the doors. in the melee, an elderly teacher fell & had a heart attack. he died. the school never held another halloween masquerade again.
the babysitters then ask richard & sharon if they remember anything about this incident. their memories ore hazy, but they do remember that an eighth grade girl was involved somehow, & left school shortly thereafter. sharon says something about, "that poor girl." the babysitters dig out some old yearbooks & make a list of female eighth grade students that are not pictured because they moved away from stoneybrook before class picture day. then logan leads them all into the basement of the school, to a dusty room full of old student records. they pull the files on each of the girls & narrow it down to elizabeth connor. stacey also sneaks mr. rothman's old student file into her bag.
the babysitters learn from elizabeth's file that she used to live in charlotte johanssen's old house. luckily, they have a babysitting job there soon. they scheme to bring some other charges over to play with charlotte & search the house for any clues elizabeth connor may have left behind...28 years ago...when she was 13...this is pretty fucking farfetched. but lo & behold, they find a patch of concrete in the basement that was apparently poured when elizabeth still lived there. it's a heart with the initials "L.C. + M.R." in it. liz connor...plus michael rothman?
at the next decorating committee meeting, stacey boldly corners mr. rothman & asks about liz. & instead of telling her to mind her own damn business, he takes her aside & pours his heart out. apparently he was one of the most popular kids in stoneybrook middle school when he was 13. he was a football player & lots of girls had crushes on him...including liz connor. liz was not popular, but michael was always nice to her anyway because he tried to be kind to everyone. he didn't realize how strongly liz felt about him, & that his kindness was only getting her hopes up that he might like her back. some of his friends dared him to ask her to the halloween masquerade. they offered him $10 if he spent the whole evening with her. he accepted because it was important to him to remain popular, & he didn't realize that his actions could potentially hurt liz's feelings really badly. he asked her, & she accepted. when he went to pick her up, she was wearing an awful embarrassing baby-ish fairy princess costume, but seemed to have no idea that she looked like an idiot. they went to the dance & everyone was snickering but liz was so excited to be there with mr. rothman that she didn't notice. they danced together all night & mr. rothman tried to keep her away from his friends that might make fun of her. at one point, she left to use the bathroom & came back to catch him talking with his friends. she could tell something was wrong. he tried to shrug it off, but when the band launched into the last song, "will you still love me tomorrow?", he couldn't fake it anymore & he abandoned her on the dance floor. he doesn't explain exactly why he couldn't hang in there for just three more minutes, but...whatever. as he left, he threw a $10 bill on the ground to show his friends he didn't care about the bet anymore, & liz saw it. somehow she figured out from this that he'd only asked her on a dare & she got angry. she stormed out of the gym & shortly thereafter, the lies went out. kids stampeded, a teacher feel & died. liz transferred schools soon after.
mr. rothman thinks liz is back in town & is behind the vandalism of the posters & whatnot. stacey is convinced. they agree that the trauma of being asked to a dance on a dare traumatized her for life, to the point that she is willing to violently sabotage a middle school dance 28 years later.
...sure. that seems plausible.
they seem to get their confirmation the next day when they walk into the gym to check on the decorations & find an effigy wearing a babyish fairy princess costume hanging from a basketball hoop. at that point, if i were mr. rothman, i'd start suspecting stacey, & if i were stacey, i'd start suspecting mr. rothman, but both of them remain convinced that it's liz.
the dance happens. people dress up. mr. rothman spends all evening dancing with a female teacher dressed up like a witch in a cloak. grace shows up with her foxy boyfriend from another school. people have fun. toward the end of the night, stacey ducks into the bathroom & finds a lady teacher shivering in just leggings & a camisole. it's the witch mr. rothman had been dancing with. someone spilled onion dip on her cloak & then stole it. stacey just knows it's liz. she runs back to the dance & finds mr. rothman dancing with a woman in the cloak. she runs over to warn him, but then the lights go out for the masquerade reveal. everyone is supposed to remove their masks when the lights come back on. when the lights come back on, mr. rothman realizes he is dancing with liz. stacey takes one look & can tell that liz is completely batshit crazy.
& then, rather than telling the reader what happened next, we cut to a babysitters club meeting where the sitters are all like, "then some guys with butterfly nuts came & carted liz back off to the nuthouse." the end. seriously. that's the end of the book.
October 13, 2024
"Kristy looked dashing as Amelia Earhart."
::looks at the camera like I'm on The Office::
::looks at the camera like I'm on The Office::
November 9, 2018
The students at Stoneybrook Middle School are excited when the school plans to hold a Mischief Night Masquarade, the first in twenty-eight years. The reason it has been so long is that a "tragedy." That in itself is a mystery, but when mysterious goings begin happening around the school (vandalism, destroy decorations and posters), the students begin to wonder who would attempt to sabotage the event. It's a mystery that the Baby-Sitters Club really wants to investigate.
Meanwhile, the baby-sitting charges are obssessed with watching Ghostbusters, and begin to have ghostbusting adventures of their own!
I never read the Mystery/Super Mystery novels during my original read of the series (I preferred the numbered books, and read a few Super Specials), but I did read "Christmas Chiller" last year and enjoyed it. The stories are your typical BSC fare, but the mystery element is actually quite fun. I can't say any problems ever happened prior to or at any of my school dances. I could never have imagined them happening. Stories like these are usually predictable, but this one actually kept me guessing until the moment you realize who is behind the goings on (don't worry, no spoilers!).
The flip-side plot is really cute. I think we all had that one movie we were obsessed with as kids and tried to recreate to the best of our efforts. It surprised me that in 1995, this would have been Ghostbusters, since myself, my brother, and alot of other kids were into that in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In all, pretty standard Baby-Sitters Club fare, but if you like the books, this one is fun. I really want to check out a few more of these Mysteries, I'm just not sure why I didn't read these back then!
Meanwhile, the baby-sitting charges are obssessed with watching Ghostbusters, and begin to have ghostbusting adventures of their own!
I never read the Mystery/Super Mystery novels during my original read of the series (I preferred the numbered books, and read a few Super Specials), but I did read "Christmas Chiller" last year and enjoyed it. The stories are your typical BSC fare, but the mystery element is actually quite fun. I can't say any problems ever happened prior to or at any of my school dances. I could never have imagined them happening. Stories like these are usually predictable, but this one actually kept me guessing until the moment you realize who is behind the goings on (don't worry, no spoilers!).
The flip-side plot is really cute. I think we all had that one movie we were obsessed with as kids and tried to recreate to the best of our efforts. It surprised me that in 1995, this would have been Ghostbusters, since myself, my brother, and alot of other kids were into that in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In all, pretty standard Baby-Sitters Club fare, but if you like the books, this one is fun. I really want to check out a few more of these Mysteries, I'm just not sure why I didn't read these back then!
October 30, 2022
Truly a ridiculous book and a bit on the weak side for a mystery, even for the BSC, but entertaining (and short!) as always. It's October at SMS and a Mischief Night Dance is announced for the Friday before Halloween. According to the principal, there hasn't been a Halloween dance in 28 years (... except for all the Halloween hops, I guess?) because of 'the tragedy.' Stacey joins the Decorations Committee and things begin to go wrong. Their decorations are smashed, ripped, and ruined. Creepy writing appears in the gym. A bit of digging reveals that 28 years ago a stampede at the dance led to a teacher having a heart attack and dying. Who would want to sabatoge this year's dance? The BSC is on the case! Thanks to a LOT of coincidences, the girls have a lead. Unfortunately, in this mystery novel, they don't actually solve the mystery until history repeats itself, but luckily no one dies this time, at least? In what has to be maybe the most screwy ending ever (SPOILER) it all hinges on someone not getting over their middle school experience. Endless grimace emojis. The B-plot involves all the children of Stoneybrook watching 'Ghostbusters' too many times, so the BSC gets to do a lot of faux ghostbusting with the kids they sit.
Pros: The BSC!, Halloween costumes, Good Clean Babysitting Fun, takes an hour to read
Cons: Bad mystery, they don't actually solve it, really screwy ending
Pros: The BSC!, Halloween costumes, Good Clean Babysitting Fun, takes an hour to read
Cons: Bad mystery, they don't actually solve it, really screwy ending
November 1, 2021
This is almost a perfect mystery. The story itself is spooky (though a little over-the-top), and the Club's detective work isn't cringey or interfering with police investigation or even dangerous. But I can't get over the cop-out at the end. We end chapter 14 with the big reveal... and start chapter 15 with a Club meeting, telling Shannon what happened. They didn't even actively solve the mystery, just figured out what was happening and then watched it play out.
Okay, so maybe a lot over-the-top, but this is a legit spooky story, and perfect to read on Halloween night!
Okay, so maybe a lot over-the-top, but this is a legit spooky story, and perfect to read on Halloween night!
April 18, 2022
Surprisingly creepy. The snail's pace I read this one at didn't accurately reflect how much fun it was. There's a sprinkle of babysitting (and lots of mentions of Ghostbusters, which I haven't actually watched, but got the gist of) but a lot of creepy Halloween dance threats and sabotages that are somehow more creepy at the conclusion. I did have a couple of bones to pick (re: new characters almost always being central to BSC mysteries, especially) but overall this one was a lot of fun, plus it had the added benefit of Stacey's narration.
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February 8, 2024For as many hijinks as Kristy gets into with Cary Retlin in the future, I was bit surprised that his debut was in a Stacey-centric novel.
Also, why is it always Stacey who has to deal with unhinged people? Is it because she's from New York and Ann M. Martin/Ellen Miles think she's more equipped to handle it? (They're probably right, but still).
Also, why is it always Stacey who has to deal with unhinged people? Is it because she's from New York and Ann M. Martin/Ellen Miles think she's more equipped to handle it? (They're probably right, but still).
May 29, 2018
Stacey And The Haunted Masquerade
PLOT: A new kid arrives at SMS by the name of Carrie. At the same time, a big Halloween dance is being thrown on what's known as "Mischief Night". Pranks start being pulled around the school by an anonymous group known as "The Mischief Knights". But then the pranks get more vicious. Also, they find out a terrible incident went down years ago that was the cause of Mischief Night being canceled. So know the question is a) what was the terrible thing that happened b) who caused it and c) could the same person (or their ghost) be behind all the shenanigans going on at Stoneybrooke Middle. In the B plot, all the kids get Ghostbuster Fever.
MY THOUGHTS:
*The Mischief Knights are the original Fred and George.
*Now I'm all for creativity and I love (love) love The Adams Family but the colors red and purple do NOT go. If we're talking about the classic Addams tv show you can't help but think of the colors black, white, gray (because there was no color). But even in the movies the colors weren't bright at all. I can just see the look on Gomez and Morticia's faces if you suggested having a theme party and using the colors red and purple. Black and white would be a better look.
*I may be wrong by the end of the book BUT it's a HUGE leap to suspect Grace as the culprit. FOR WHAT? Because "they" think she made up a date. Even if she did do this, I've hated Valentine's Day many a year at FHS and although I would have LOVED to go on a rampage, bust all those balloons, take a pair of scissors to all those stuffed animals, and flushed all that candy down the toilet I didn't ACT on it. I hate how they immediately jumped to Grace.
*I also think it's a stretch to accuse Mr. Wetlzer because COME ON! A ADULT doesn't have anything better to do with his time than show up at a middle school and destroy a bunch of dance decorations? And then if he's so concerned about wasting money on this dance then would it make sense for him to vandalize the school which will cost more money than the dance to have to fix?
*My bet is this is the new kid that was introduced in the first chapter that chapters later has seemingly been forgotten about.
*So I get at a dance if all the lights went out maybe they'd run for the exit BUT I don't know what kind of school SMS is but if the lights had gone out at my old middle school no one without the dismissal of the principle would have all run for the door. These teachers have absolutely no control of these students. If the lights went out they should have sat there until someone checked it out and THEN they would have been dismissed. Had a bunch of ax-wielding psychopaths dropped down from the ceiling MAYBE I could see them all rushing out in terror but the lights just going out. NOOO!
*Soooo.. Outside the library in SMS is a door that says "No Entrance" and inside are steps that lead down to a level that looks like a hallway that has three doors and the third one on the right holds student records from 28 years ago. Interesting. I wonder how many middle schools now have basements. Did mine have one?
RATING: 8 I liked this one. The main plot featured my favorite holiday right off the top. It's funny that Carrie was used as a reference because it pulled exactly from the plot of that movie. Basically plain girl gets pranked. Plain girl goes crazy. Plain girl comes back to get her revenge. And that's it in a nutshell. Only this book (because it’s a kid's book) was more tame. I would have personally liked to see the crazy in Liz more played up. YES to some extent it IS crazy for an adult not to have let something that happened to her when she was a teenager go and come back out. What happened to her THEN on a different set of kids. I can't figure out how ruining the dance would have hurt Michael AT ALL. It's not like it was his wedding day. She ripped his date's cape. (Sighing). Even this wasn't as big a deal as they tried to make it look. She had on clothes underneath. Different if the cape was her whole outfit. And if it was then I blame her for coming to a teenage dance with just a cape and her underwear. Then she turned out some lights in the auditorium and people went crazy. REALLY? I've had dreams that have given me a scarier reaction than that! She ripped up their decorations. Did none of them think to keep the decorations oh I don't know locked up? Or take them with them home after school? Now if she'd broke into one of their houses that would have really played the crazy up. But I guess you get what you get. Sadly it's not that kind of series. I loved the Mischief Knights and Masquerade Balls always sound so elegant to me (and fun). Made me wish my middle school would have done this. As for Ghostbusters, it's funny to read this in 2016 knowing that it was remade and I wonder if they'd like the remake as much. But I was a little annoyed that ALL the kid's seemed to like it. And that they ALL dressed up like Ghostbusters for Halloween. Cause what are the chances of that? Walmart and Party City must have really got their money's worth that year.
PLOT: A new kid arrives at SMS by the name of Carrie. At the same time, a big Halloween dance is being thrown on what's known as "Mischief Night". Pranks start being pulled around the school by an anonymous group known as "The Mischief Knights". But then the pranks get more vicious. Also, they find out a terrible incident went down years ago that was the cause of Mischief Night being canceled. So know the question is a) what was the terrible thing that happened b) who caused it and c) could the same person (or their ghost) be behind all the shenanigans going on at Stoneybrooke Middle. In the B plot, all the kids get Ghostbuster Fever.
MY THOUGHTS:
*The Mischief Knights are the original Fred and George.
*Now I'm all for creativity and I love (love) love The Adams Family but the colors red and purple do NOT go. If we're talking about the classic Addams tv show you can't help but think of the colors black, white, gray (because there was no color). But even in the movies the colors weren't bright at all. I can just see the look on Gomez and Morticia's faces if you suggested having a theme party and using the colors red and purple. Black and white would be a better look.
*I may be wrong by the end of the book BUT it's a HUGE leap to suspect Grace as the culprit. FOR WHAT? Because "they" think she made up a date. Even if she did do this, I've hated Valentine's Day many a year at FHS and although I would have LOVED to go on a rampage, bust all those balloons, take a pair of scissors to all those stuffed animals, and flushed all that candy down the toilet I didn't ACT on it. I hate how they immediately jumped to Grace.
*I also think it's a stretch to accuse Mr. Wetlzer because COME ON! A ADULT doesn't have anything better to do with his time than show up at a middle school and destroy a bunch of dance decorations? And then if he's so concerned about wasting money on this dance then would it make sense for him to vandalize the school which will cost more money than the dance to have to fix?
*My bet is this is the new kid that was introduced in the first chapter that chapters later has seemingly been forgotten about.
*So I get at a dance if all the lights went out maybe they'd run for the exit BUT I don't know what kind of school SMS is but if the lights had gone out at my old middle school no one without the dismissal of the principle would have all run for the door. These teachers have absolutely no control of these students. If the lights went out they should have sat there until someone checked it out and THEN they would have been dismissed. Had a bunch of ax-wielding psychopaths dropped down from the ceiling MAYBE I could see them all rushing out in terror but the lights just going out. NOOO!
*Soooo.. Outside the library in SMS is a door that says "No Entrance" and inside are steps that lead down to a level that looks like a hallway that has three doors and the third one on the right holds student records from 28 years ago. Interesting. I wonder how many middle schools now have basements. Did mine have one?
RATING: 8 I liked this one. The main plot featured my favorite holiday right off the top. It's funny that Carrie was used as a reference because it pulled exactly from the plot of that movie. Basically plain girl gets pranked. Plain girl goes crazy. Plain girl comes back to get her revenge. And that's it in a nutshell. Only this book (because it’s a kid's book) was more tame. I would have personally liked to see the crazy in Liz more played up. YES to some extent it IS crazy for an adult not to have let something that happened to her when she was a teenager go and come back out. What happened to her THEN on a different set of kids. I can't figure out how ruining the dance would have hurt Michael AT ALL. It's not like it was his wedding day. She ripped his date's cape. (Sighing). Even this wasn't as big a deal as they tried to make it look. She had on clothes underneath. Different if the cape was her whole outfit. And if it was then I blame her for coming to a teenage dance with just a cape and her underwear. Then she turned out some lights in the auditorium and people went crazy. REALLY? I've had dreams that have given me a scarier reaction than that! She ripped up their decorations. Did none of them think to keep the decorations oh I don't know locked up? Or take them with them home after school? Now if she'd broke into one of their houses that would have really played the crazy up. But I guess you get what you get. Sadly it's not that kind of series. I loved the Mischief Knights and Masquerade Balls always sound so elegant to me (and fun). Made me wish my middle school would have done this. As for Ghostbusters, it's funny to read this in 2016 knowing that it was remade and I wonder if they'd like the remake as much. But I was a little annoyed that ALL the kid's seemed to like it. And that they ALL dressed up like Ghostbusters for Halloween. Cause what are the chances of that? Walmart and Party City must have really got their money's worth that year.
April 28, 2020
A little but creepy
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November 27, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
January 27, 2021
(LL)
They modified Stephen King’s “Carrie” and panned over mental illness again to have the criminal be some “very crazy” lady from the past. How classy.
They modified Stephen King’s “Carrie” and panned over mental illness again to have the criminal be some “very crazy” lady from the past. How classy.
April 22, 2022
Petrifying!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 17, 2022
I really liked this late Stacey book! Light on the babysitting, heavy on the creativity, with a little dash of Stoneybrook history thrown in.
August 3, 2023
Fun and genuinely intriguing mystery! The climax was a bit anti-climactic but I can see how they couldn't really get too dark with what the villain did.
August 9, 2025
love the plot twist
October 27, 2025
Oh yikes
February 3, 2018
When weird stuff starts happening while setting up for the Halloween Masquerade, Stacey starts to investigate. She learns from the school janitor who once used to go to the school as well that he had invited an unpopular girl to the same dance years ago. What the girl hasn't known was that he had invited her on a bet and he was supposed to embarrass her at the dance. Since this is the first time the dance is happening again in 28 years, I guess the thwarted girl is back getting revenge.
I actually don't remember how this story ends, I might have to re-read it. But I remember loving this book as a kid and the story was always in the back of my mind whenever I read or saw a similar storyline.
I actually don't remember how this story ends, I might have to re-read it. But I remember loving this book as a kid and the story was always in the back of my mind whenever I read or saw a similar storyline.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2024
Wow this book blew me away. A really good fun mystery. It's Halloween again and after 28 years SMS decides to hold a Mischief Night Masquerade. Things start to go wrong immediately. Decorations are ripped down posters are ruined, there's a panic at a school assembly which leads the girls to uncover what really happened 28 years ago at the last Masquerade dance. The b plot is fun and involves the sitting charges becoming obsessed with Ghostbusters. Another sort of plot involves the Mischief Knights who play pranks around the school and it happens to line up with Cary Reitlin's arrival at SMS. This one just might be my favourite so far especially as far as the mysteries are concerned.
November 5, 2014
I loved this book as a kid, and I still loved it now after all these years. The ending always makes me laugh, though.
Yup it's lame, but I don't even care.
Yup it's lame, but I don't even care.
May 27, 2016
this book will always hold a special place in my heart. I remember reading it back when I was 8 years old and being absolutely terrified- it was the first book that gave me nightmares and confirmed the fact that 'horror' was not for me. I think I've read this book about 12 times (possibly more) but it still manages to creep me out. basically I'm still the same wimp at the age of 19 as I was at the age of 8 LOL. absolutely love this book and still wish I was a part of the BSC
November 27, 2010
I remember really liking this one. I thought it was really creepy for being a BSC book.
May 10, 2015
21/25
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September 6, 2016
I loved this book! The dance theme was fun and the 28 year old mystery was deliciously creepy! I recommend it for all ages of BSC fans.
May 27, 2017
This was always my favorite mystery book. Who doesn't love the Halloween dance gone wrong trope! Even My So-Called Life did this shit. Plus the first appearance of Cary Retlin!
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