I actually liked the cover for the rerelease of Boy-Crazy Stacey, as much as I could see of it in the little black-and-white picture at the back of #7. So I was looking forward to seeing it in colour. The cover is posted on Amazon now, and I think it's cute:



Well, it's cute as long as they don't wind up changing this one, too!

x-posted to babysittersclub

Yesterday I bought the reissue of Claudia and Mean Janine, and I was really disappointed to see that it has the pink cover with the bike instead of this one with the tea set:



Why? What does a bike have to do with the plot? Does anybody even ride a bike in the book?

I am on Chapter 10 and the only changes to the text that I've noticed are prices (Charlie charges a dollar each way to drive Kristy instead of fifty cents, the play group is five dollars per child per morning instead of three) and that Claudia tries calling her parents' cell phones before she calls Chez Maurice when Mimi has her stroke. In Stoneybrook, everyone has a cell phone, but no one ever answers them.

The cover for Boy-Crazy Stacey looks cute, though. There's a picture of it in the back of the book (although it's in black and white, so maybe they'll pick ugly colours for it). It has a postcard with a picture of a lifeguard stand at the beach.

x-posted to babysittersclub

There's now a page on Amazon for the reissue of Boy-Crazy Stacey, with a release date of October 1, 2011.

I've got to say I like the product description:

Everyone's favorite baby-sitters are back -- with everyone's favorite trip to the beach!

It all started with Kristy's great idea and became a worldwide phenomenon! Now Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey are back, with a fresh new look for a new generation of readers to discover.

The Pike family is taking a two-week vacation at the Jersey Shore, and Stacey and Mary Anne get to go along to help out! Two weeks of sun, sand -- and the cutest lifeguard Stacey has ever seen!

Mary Anne knows that Scott the lifeguard is way too old for Stacey, but Stacey is in love. How can Mary Anne help her friend -- without Stacey ending up with a broken heart?

Burst: One of the bestselling Baby-sitters Club titles of all time!

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I've been reading Sleepover Friends books lately, and I was looking at the stuff in the back of #3, which was published in December 1987. It listed some of the new Baby-sitters Club books that would be coming out, with #10 called Mary Anne Goes Steady and #11 as Kristy Meets the Snobs. Boy, I'm glad they changed that title before the book was actually published! Mary Anne Goes Steady might have been a good title in 1958, but not so much in 1988.

What other titles were changed? There's the Stacey and the New Kids on the Block thing that everybody knows about. I know I've got a book that actually calls the upcoming Super Special #4 Baby Island, which is particularly strange, since that is a real novel that already existed and was actually referred to by the BSC characters in SS #4. I think one of my BSC calendars says #40 is going to be Claudia and the Genius of Elm Street, although that eventually became #49 instead. I know there are a bunch of others, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. I'm sure we have another post about this somewhere, too, but I already spend eight hours a day looking things up for people (unfortunately never BSC-related), and I'm lazy.

On the subject of the Sleepover Friends, those girls all should have weighed 400 pounds. They all eat more junk food than Claudia. Multiple times in every book, it's, "We ordered Chinese food, and then we had Dr Pepper, barbecue chips with my onion-soup-olives-bacon-bits-and-sour-cream dip, Kate's special chocolate marshmallow fluff fudge, Stephanie's mother's chocolate chip peanut butter cookies, and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah." Holy crap.

x-posted to babysittersclub

You can't read the entire review on the Kirkus Reviews site without a subscription, but the whole thing is posted on bn.com and it's quite positive.

( cut for spoilerosity )

x-posted to babysittersclub

The new Kristy's Great Idea cover isn't up on Amazon yet, but it's been posted on the Chapters site.



I like it better than that wretched CatPPC cover with the phone receiver. At least it's got alphabet blocks!

x-posted to babysittersclub

#1: Kristy's Great Idea
#2: Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls

I wonder how long this'll last. The Saddle Club got through twelve books, and SVH only reissued six.

Discuss.

x-posted to babysittersclub

Scholastic Customer Service finally got back to me, and the release date that they have for the prequel is actually earlier than the one on Amazon.

Thank you for contacting Scholastic Classroom Books and Libraries regarding information on the Prequel Summer Before Babysitters Club book.

We show only that it is hardcover book which is due to be released March 12, 2010.
We do not yet have a price.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

If we may be of further assistance, please call our Customer Service representatives Monday-Friday 6:00 AM - 11:00 PM of on Saturday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 Pm Central Standard Time. We would be happy to assist you.

Have a great day!

Sincerely,
Carol Y
Scholastic Customer Service
1-800-724-6527

babysittersclub

I am not making this up.

The Summer Before by Ann M. Martin
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Inc. (April 1, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0545160936
ISBN-13: 978-0545160933

Before there was the Baby-Sitters Club, there were four girls named Kristy Thomas, Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, and Stacey McGill. As they start the summer before seventh grade (also before they start the BSC), each of them is on the cusp of a big change. Kristy is still hung up on hoping that her father will return to her family. Mary Anne has to prove to her father that she's no longer a little girl who needs hundreds of rules. Claudia is navigating her first major crush on a boy. And Stacey is leaving her entire New York City life behind...

...in order to find new friends in Stoneybrook, Connecticut.

The Summer Before . . . is a sweet, moving novel about four girls on the edge of something big - not just the Club that will change their lives, but also all the joys and tribulations of being twelve and thirteen.

babysittersclub

The second cake in this post on Cake Wrecks would have been perfect to have at one of Dawn's good-bye parties.

( On to the most appropriate cake ever! )

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