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The Truth About Stacey

(The Baby-Sitters Club #3)

Ann M. Martin,

Hodges Soileau (Illustrator)

3.86 · Rating details · 8,767 ratings · 264 reviews

The truth about Stacey is that she has diabetes. Nobody knows... except her friends in the Baby-sitters Club.

But even they don't know the real truth about Stacey. Stacey's problem is her parents. They won't admit she has the disease, and they drag her to practically every doctor in America!

Seeing so many doctors made Stacey lose one friend, and she ...more

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Paperback, 167 pages

Published September 1st 1995 by Scholastic Inc. (first published October 28th 1986)

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Average rating 3.86 ·

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· 8,767 ratings · 264 reviews

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Jul 17, 2014 karen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

stacey's all growed up!!

but she's still incredibly fashionable!

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Sep 19, 2016 Suzanne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites

My all time favourite series as a young girl! I looked forward to Book Club day (Ashton Scholastic) with anticipation and my $5.95 in an envelope. When I missed one my mum and I would go to Grace Brothers Parramatta where I could buy a copy. I was in year 5 at public school, the books came out monthly and I discovered them when no. 2 came out, so I wasn't too late and didn't miss a book. It was a monthly publication and I always looked forward to the next. I purchased them until I was 'too old', ...more

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Jan 06, 2010 Ciara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kids-books, read-in-2010

the truth about stacey is that she has childhood-onset diabetes. big fucking deal. i mean, i'm sure it sucks for her, having to watch her diet & everything. my dad had diabetes & it was no picnic for him (though he did not have to give himself insulin shots). but the way they build up to it, you'd think she was typhoid mary or something. the way these books were written, i got the idea that diabetes was an STI when i was a kid (cut me some slack, i was seven years old, it was 1986, & the truth about stacey is that she has childhood-onset diabetes. big fucking deal. i mean, i'm sure it sucks for her, having to watch her diet & everything. my dad had diabetes & it was no picnic for him (though he did not have to give himself insulin shots). but the way they build up to it, you'd think she was typhoid mary or something. the way these books were written, i got the idea that diabetes was an STI when i was a kid (cut me some slack, i was seven years old, it was 1986, & we were surrounded by safer sex lectures & STI information everywhere we went, but it was really vague information that only served to make us all completely confused & freaked out). i found it really disturbing that a 12-year-old had an STI & i felt really bad for stacey. eventually i realized that diabetes is not an STI & i felt a lot better because i'd been really worried that stacey had been molested or something. but then i realized that the way diabetes is written in these books is really weird.

this is the first confession that stacey has to give herself daily insulin shots. she refers to them as "gross" & says that she will never allow any of her friends to see her giving herself a shot. i hope she gets over that at some point in her life (not that she is a real person), because it's really not gross & no big deal at all. though i understand what she means when she says that she hates it because it makes her feel for just a minute like a very sick person. & that is hard to deal with.

this whole book is all about stacey's parents wanting to take her to another fancy doctor who claims to have a "cure" for juvenile diabetes. but stacey is happy with her treatments & is in good health & is angry with her parents for uprooting her all the time for doctor appintments & making her feel sicker than she is. she finally stands up for herself & her parents back off.

the B-plot involves some older girls forming a babysitting agency to compete with the babysitters club. they can stay out later & have a wider variety of sitters. they snake a lot of BSC's business before the girls figure out that the agency's sitters are kind of shitty & the charges don't like them. they convince the charges to tell their parents about the bad things the agency sitters do, & the parents go back to using the BSC. there's this ludicrous scene where the club confronts the two girls who run the agency & basically play twenty questions to determine who is a better sitter: "what's nina marshall allergic to?" "what does it mean when eleanor rubs her ears?" etc etc. the agency girls answer all the questions wrong & the BSc is all, "yeah! take that!" & it seems like the most embarrassing victory in the world to me. "yeah, we're better sitters because we spend all our time with small neighborhood children & know their obnoxious little quirks! BOOYAH, MOTHAFUCKA!" not so much, BSC. but i'm sure i thought it was awesome when i was seven. ...more

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Nov 16, 2013 Erin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series

Re-read of 2018

Stacey was the "big city" gal of the Babysitters Club and I loved her stories so much! Her coming on to the scene meant that Claudia had a best friend. It is now November and Stacey is loving her time with the Baby-Sitters Club. However, she is wishing that her parents were not so obsessed with her diabetes and the BSC is dealing with a rival babysitting agency. It's all out war! It was interesting to see that Stacey was more aligned with Kristy in this issue and Claudia an ...more

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Oct 01, 2019 Jen rated it it was amazing

I blame Paperback Crush for this foray into my childhood. The rereads of my beloved Babysitters Club did not disappoint. What a joy it was to be reunited with my favorites from this beloved series that marked my childhood.

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Jan 22, 2008 Candise rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: feminist rulers and horse girls

BSC was instrumental in bringing to the forefront those hard-hitting issues weighing on every upper-middle class goody-two-shoe New England girl. Here, we learn about the horrible secret Stacey (the pretty/popular girl) has been hiding. I won't spill the beans, but she can't eat sugar!! I know, I almost fainted, too. But with the BSC, you know we'll all make it through!

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Jul 08, 2016 Cait S rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great book in a series of great books. Much more female empowered than the last one which I had to rant about so that's awesome.

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Sep 06, 2019 Natasha rated it really liked it

This is one of the more realistic plot lines. Thoroughly enjoyable as an escape.

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Jun 27, 2017 Maria rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, babysitters-club

The truth about Stacey is she has diabetes! and a severe case, too, just to make things worse! I like this book because I liked learning about diabetes and how hard it is for Stacey. This book was really good! five stars!

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Jan 14, 2019 Scott rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Stacey's Worst Friend, or, You Better Dia-BEAT Her Ass

Stacey and I have two things in common. 1) We both have had diseases we are embarrassed by. Hers is diabetes. Like boo-hoo, woman. Call me when Kevin Whats-His-Butt gives you scabies in grad school but you keep dating him anyway because he's ugly-hot and smells good even though he's poor and can't afford his medication, but then he leaves you to drop out of school and move back home because again: poor, and you realize "Oh, you're legit poor, ...more

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Mar 14, 2007 Courtney rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: childrenslit, fiction

And what, might you ask, is the truth about Stacey? Well, I wouldn't want to give it away...but...

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Apr 07, 2013 Logan Hughes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: babysitters-club

Stacey is threatened by a rival baby-sitting club and a new diabetes doctor.

There are two main conflicts in this book. One is the new baby-sitting club. Eighth-graders Liz Lewis and Michelle Patterson have started their own business, the Baby-sitters Agency, with several key advantages over the BSC. They boast older sitters with later curfews, including boys (OMG), and they don’t restrict the clients to specific meeting times--parents can call anytime. The club isn’t sure how to handle this ne Stacey is threatened by a rival baby-sitting club and a new diabetes doctor.

There are two main conflicts in this book. One is the new baby-sitting club. Eighth-graders Liz Lewis and Michelle Patterson have started their own business, the Baby-sitters Agency, with several key advantages over the BSC. They boast older sitters with later curfews, including boys (OMG), and they don’t restrict the clients to specific meeting times--parents can call anytime. The club isn’t sure how to handle this new threat, and they’re worried, especially when a few meetings go by with almost no calls. In the midst of this, Mrs. Newton has her baby, Lucy, and at an impromptu "big brother party" the girls throw together for Jamie, Jamie tearfully tells them that they can’t be his baby-sitters anymore because Mrs. Newton wants someone older for the newborn.

The baby-sitters try a few different tactics. After seeing the BSA’s aggressive membership drive at school, they advertise for older sitters, too (Kristy makes everyone wear sandwich boards in school, and if the BSC didn’t already have a nerdy reputation, here’s where it officially begins). This is thwarted, though, when the new members turn out to be moles from the agency, sent to do recon on the BSC and ruin their reputation by no-showing on the jobs they signed up for. Kristy also wants to offer lower rates and free housework, but Mary Anne and Claudia reject this as demeaning. Kristy’s only successful idea is Kid-Kits, boxes the sitters will take along on their jobs with a rotating selection of toys and games--none of it has to be new, just new to the kids. Kids like the kits (will be referenced in pretty much every BSC book from now on), but this word-of-mouth isn’t enough for a serious advantage.

Through their charges, the Baby-sitters begin to hear bad reports about the BSA sitters. They don’t spend time with the kids or appear to like them very much. The baby-sitters don’t know what to do with this information; they fear if they tattle on their competition, they’ll look like poor sports. When they find Jamie wandering around unsupervised in the street without his winter gear, they decide that his safety is more important than their reputation and tell Mrs. Newton. She’s appalled that Jamie’s sitter was so irresponsible and promises to warn other parents off the agency, although she will continue to use some of the individual older sitters she found through them for Lucy. (Although Lucy doesn’t age in any serious way, and neither do our sitters, they’ll be taking care of her soon enough.)

Onto conflict #2. Early on, Stacey’s parents tell her they want her to see a new doctor in New York. Stacey doesn’t want to go, feeling that her parents are looking for an impossible miracle cure when she feels totally fine and has her diabetes under control. She mentions the new doctor to Dr. Johanssen and learns that he isn’t very well respected in the medical community. He’s not actively harmful; he’s flashy but ineffective, kind of the Gilderoy Lockhart of juvenile onset diabetes care. While worrying about the Agency, Stacey dreads this trip, where she’ll have to go to this doctor and see her ex-friend Laine for the first time since moving away. Dr. Johanssen wrangles her an appointment with a more traditional doctor, and Stacey promises to go to her parents’ doctor if she can also go to her own. They agree, and end up trusting Dr. Johanssen’s friend more than the pop-fizz-whang-bang doctor. Stacey also tells Laine about her condition and the two make up.

Stacey’s characterization is great here, and sets the stage for my favorite Stacey books. She realizes how much the club and her new friends mean to her when they’re threatened, and she’s among the more gung-ho fighters in the battle of the clubs, second only to Kristy. She is hardworking and smart. Actually, oth plots show our girls to be more mature and responsible than their elders. (Most of them. Dr. Johanssen proves to be one of the good grown-ups.) One of the central themes of the series seems to be the young heroines’ boundless capacity for wisdom and responsibility. I approve, really; they’re not perfect, and I like that they set a high standard of normal behavior.

The two plotlines are integrated very well pacing-wise. Stacey has to go to New York at what feels like a key moment in BSA drama, but in fact the events she misses (which the other sitters fill her in on) are pretty boring housecleaning stuff that we didn’t need to see up close. All BSC books are about the same length, but this feels like one of the longest, jam-packed with two exciting plotlines, with a birth thrown in for good measure. There’s plenty of baby-sitting, but because it all supports the BSC/BSA A-plot, it never feels like doing time.

The two plotlines are never actively compared, and it wasn’t until I was writing this review (after many years and many readings) that I consciously realized that they have the same moral: in medical care, as in child care, it’s better to go with professionals you trust rather than gamble on something unproven. Flashy fad businesses may pop up here and there, but that dependable quality and conscientiousness will win out in the end. In this book, we see this moral from the point of view both of competitor and a potential client of said flashmongers. It’s a good moral and one that I believe people should believe, although I’m not sure it’s actually true.

Title Oddity: The title of this book makes everyone misremember as it as the book in which we/the Baby-sitters learn that Stacey has diabetes, but actually that happens in #1. We do get more backstory here. Stacey explains that her old friends in New York were freaked out by her symptoms, particularly her best friend Laine, and that’s why she never told them her diagnosis, and everything was left on pretty bad terms. She hints that she and Laine had been having problems anyway, having to do with the new girl, Allison Ritz. It’s odd how many details are already in place for the story she’ll recount in The Baby-sitters Remember.

Business Model Review: Basically, the Baby-sitters Agency is finding service; the two leaders, whose phone numbers are listed on the flier, take calls and then turn around do the legwork of finding a sitter for you. Instead of club dues, the Agency leaders take a cut of whatever their contractors make as a finder’s fee. This seems much more convenient for parents than the dumb little call-in window the BSC offers, although it must be hell for Liz and Michelle to be taking calls and playing phone tag at all hours of the day. It must seriously eat into their leisure time. (Maybe that explains why they give up after a few weeks.) And what happens if parents call during the school day? Do Liz and Michelle’s parents take messages for them? Do they have an answering machine, as I’m always advising for the BSC?

With dedicated message-takers, and a theoretically infinite network of (what the BSC would call associate) members, it seems like this club could be a lot more efficient and profitable than the BSC, but (as the book successfully conveys) it seems a lot colder and less personal. While there’s nothing in this model that inherently encourages bad sitter behavior, there’s also no discernable quality control, and when you think about, the meetings do a lot for the BSC besides organizational time: it encourages the baby-sitters to share their joy and interest in the kids they sit for and create a culture of shared information. When Mary Anne trumps Liz in an impromptu trivia session about the clients’ allergies and interests, it’s not just because the BSC are simply better sitters--it’s because they have a hive mind. ...more

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Aug 25, 2018 ✨Jordan✨ rated it really liked it

Uh Oh! Looks like there is new competition in Stoney Brook! What happens when a new babysitter club forms? AND all these babysitters are older. The girls start losing jobs and don’t know what to do. Can they regain control and beat out this new competition? On a side note: I loved how much information is shared about diabetes in the book.

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Jul 17, 2017 Sarah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: the-baby-sitters-club, middle-grade, 2017

3 Stars

I think my favorite part of this story was the BSC dealing with the Baby Sitters Agency. I appreciated how Stacey's parents kept searching for something better to deal with her diabetes, but now reading it as an adult I can't help thinking how much money that probably cost :)

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Dec 09, 2017 Sass added it · review of another edition

The binge continues...

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Apr 16, 2011 Robin rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, young-adult, baby-sitters-club, reread

True story- this was the first BSC book I ever read. I get how and why it propelled me into a huge Baby-Sitters Club obsession, too. Upon rereading this book, it's really clear how Ann M. Martin never initially meant to go past book #4. Her writing style in the first four books is dramatically different from her contributions to the rest of the series. The reading level is a bit higher than future books, meaning that either the target audience was a bit higher than the actual audience, or that, ...more

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Aug 17, 2008 Josette rated it liked it

Shelves: children-s

My 7 year old daughter recommended this book to me--"mom, it's really good, you've gotta read it"--so I did. One of the joys of sharing books w/ your children--you get to talk about characters/situations together and they can become part of your family's "culture". (Although I'm not sure "Babysitter's Club" books will become part of our family culture--I was thinking more about Chronicles of Narnia, or Winnie the Pooh or James and the Giant Peach)

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Oct 11, 2012 Rylee rated it it was amazing

Poor Stacey! I wouldn't like to have diabetes. But luckily she has her friends to help her.

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Jul 03, 2016 Krissy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-to-my-sammy-girl

***Rated by my daughter***

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Jul 19, 2016 Erin Dunlevy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Great! Not only did it...

Great not only did it educated me about diabetes, but it Was a epic book!

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Feb 15, 2014 Lisa rated it really liked it

Shelves: retro-reads, young-adult-children

Im having so much fun with these!!!

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Oct 18, 2019 Mary rated it liked it

I read this as a kid and remember thinking that what Stacey had must be so shameful and terrible - another reviewer nailed it when they said it was like Stacey had an STI. Then when it was revealed, I thought, "that's it?? That's so not a big deal." I feel like this book was supposed to normalize diabetes since we get to hear more about how Stacey feels. But it missed the mark a bit. She's still weird about it - embarrassed about doing insulin shots (you know...to stay ALIVE). I know that everyt ...more

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Apr 01, 2019 Trish rated it really liked it

What a great way to start the month of April.
Who doesn’t love the BSC gang? Just when I think it can’t get any better .....insert KID-KITS! I feel like every girl in my grade 6 class had her own version of the kid-kit.....if I’m being honest, I miss mine( a lot).
That could be embarrassing for a 40+ year old lady to admit but here we are(and I’m not red-faced).
I loved this series as a young gal and still do as slightly older (maybe wiser) adult.

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Jun 07, 2018 Talia rated it it was amazing

So amazing

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May 09, 2019 Ca1t!Y# rated it really liked it

It is really good. I have read 1-6 of the Baby-Sitters Club books. They are all really good. I have the 7th but I haven't read it yet.

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Sep 26, 2017 Hailey H rated it liked it

Shelves: the-40-book-challenge

I really liked this book because it is exciting, but it is the third book there are 2 more before this that you should read before you read this book. Also the characters are cute and funny.

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Sep 01, 2019 Mandy rated it really liked it

Middle fingers up to The Babysitters Agency.

I just love these books so much.

Nostalgia. Nostalgia. Nostalgia.

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Apr 27, 2019 Colleen's Conclusions rated it really liked it

I liked The Truth about Stacey because it is more realistic than most of the books in general.

This book is one of the reasons why I am rereading the series. The Baby Sitter's Club books brings awareness to certain topics throughout the series and in this book it deals with Stacey's diabetes. There aren't too many books that talk about diabetes in the young adult fiction genre.

There's also a was going on between the BSC members and the Baby Sitters Agency. That deals with responsibility and con ...more

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Aug 04, 2015 M.J. Prest rated it it was amazing

The Truth About Stacey is where the BSC really hits its stride. Three books in, you already have a sense of which character you identify with most, and as a lifelong Stacey McGill, I eagerly awaited her first turn as narrator.

The hand-painted original cover art depicts a nearly 30-year-old Stacey in a candy shop, looking forlornly diabetic. While she does spend a good chunk of (boring) text going over the specifics of her disease, do not let the cover or title fool you -- juvenile di ...more

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Dec 30, 2015 Lesli Diaz rated it really liked it

I gave this book a 4/5 because I really enjoyed this book because it was kind of similar to smile and sisters. I would recommend this book to my friends because it is about friendship and sticking together. This book has lots of things that you could actually do in real life like begin a job with your friends to win money like the girls in the book did , they started a baby sitters club and they took care of kids. Also in the book when you are reading there is a conflict with another group of ba ...more

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About Ann M. Martin

Ann M. Martin

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Ann 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 ...more

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“At the beginning of my illness, hospital visits couldn’t be avoided. I needed tests, I had to have my diet and insulin regulated, and once I fainted at school and went into insulin shock and the ambulance came and took me to St. Luke’s. If one of my friends got that sick, I would have called her in the hospital and sent her cards and visited her when she went home. But not Laine. She seemed almost afraid of me (although she tried to cover up by acting cool and snooty). And my other friends did what Laine did, because she was the leader. Their leader. My leader. And we were her followers. The school year grew worse and worse. I fainted twice more at school, each time causing a big scene and getting lots of attention, and every week, it seemed, I missed at least one morning while Mom and Dad took me to some doctor or clinic or other. Laine called me a baby, a liar, a hypochondriac, and a bunch of other things that indicated she thought my parents and I were making a big deal over nothing. But if she really thought it was nothing, why wouldn’t she come over to my apartment anymore? Why wouldn’t she share sandwiches or go to the movies with me? And why did she move her desk away from mine in school? I was confused and unhappy and sick, and I didn’t have any friends left, thanks to Laine. I hated Laine.” — 2 likes

“Mom opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, hesitating. After a few more silent seconds, she said, “Just so you’re prepared, dear—” I cringed. Whatever was coming didn’t sound good. “—I want you to know that you’re going to be scheduled for a series of tests with a new doctor in New York at the beginning of December.” I groaned. “He’s someone Uncle Eric heard about on a television program.” “We’re going to a doctor because Uncle Eric saw him on TV?” I exclaimed. “Honey, supposedly he’s working miracles with diabetes. After Uncle Eric saw him, I found two articles about him in medical journals, and then Profiles magazine did a long interview with him. It was very impressive. He’s getting a lot of attention right now.” “Did Dr. Werner say we should go see him?” “No.” “Dr. Frank?” “No.” “Have you even discussed this with them?” “No.” — 0 likes

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