The Baby-Sitters Club: The Truth About Stacey (Full Color Edition)

The Baby-Sitters Club: The Truth About Stacey (Full Color Edition)

The color reissues of the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels continue with book two in the series, The Truth About Stacey. These volumes are based on the original novels by Ann M. Martin as adapted and drawn by Raina Telgemeier (Smile), now colored by Braden Lamb.

Originally published in 2006, only the covers have changed. And it’s interesting to compare the illustration to the one used on the previous book — here, Stacey (in the background by herself) has the huge, egg-shaped eyes I associate with Telgemeier’s slightly exaggerated emotional storytelling, while on the previous cover, everyone was more restrained, with dot eyes and simpler poses. None of the catching a character mid-eating or the big laugh of Kristy (on the left here). It’s a more dynamic, more expressive illustration now, with the characters situated in a location instead of a generic, backgroundless space.

The Baby-Sitters Club: The Truth About Stacey (Full Color Edition)

The story is the same, though. The Truth About Stacey is about the title character learning to accept life with diabetes. Stacey previously lived in New York City, but when she was diagnosed, her friends ditched her. Now she’s living in a small Connecticut town, and given her previous experience, she feels set apart by her condition. Plus, her parents are overprotective, making her more self-conscious. Additionally, the baby-sitters club is facing competition from another agency with better marketing ideas.

Re-reading it now, I didn’t notice before just how much kids can learn from this series, whether it’s how diabetes is managed or clever ideas to make baby-sitting more interesting. There are a certain number of fortuitous discoveries, as some of their rivals don’t take childcare seriously, which makes it easy to win back customers, but overall, the young audience should love seeing girls like them reaffirm friendship and work together to solve problems. Having the book in color, which does make it more attractive, opens the story to a wider audience.

Book three, Mary Anne Saves the Day, will be out in color in October, with book four, Claudia and Mean Janine, due in January.



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