Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blog/stacey-and-the-mystery-of-stoneybrook

A girl on RiSi sent me this book as a surprise as she knew that I used to love these books - how kind! A fun read, although I can tell now as an adult that these later books were ghostwritten. Stacey's voice is very different from that of her first book.

this is my first time reading this book!

in this mystery written by ghostwriter ellen miles, charlotte johanssen (yes, yes, we all know it rhymes with scarlett johansson -- let's move on from that, already) comes to stay at stacey's house while her parents are out of town for a week. an old house on stacey's block is getting gutted (to remove the historical fixtures within) and torn down by a developer who will be building condos in its stead. sounds familiar to a dc kid like me. anyway, stacey and charlotte see and hear some creepy stuff when they go to visit the house, and they (along with everyone else in the bsc) decide to solve the mystery of its apparent haunting.

highlights:
-charlotte staying with the mcgills has a lot of great moments. the feel of being sick and bored at home is captured really well when charlotte has tonsilitis and stacey has to keep her company. and charlotte is so happy to be able to come to bsc meetings, since she feels like an honorary member.
-I want watson's library. it's described as being cozy with red leather armchairs, stained glass-inspired lamps, and hundreds or maybe thousands of books.
-kristy discovers a map that indicates that the town of stoneybrook is built on an ancient burial ground. seriously, what a hilariously dumb trope. I love it.
-stacey reads highlights at the doctor and mentions that she thinks gallant from goofus and gallant is a goody-goody (say that 10 times fast). that is so perfectly stacey.
-to get charlotte to take her medicine, stacey shows her what SHE has to do for her diabetes, and gross antibiotics don't seem as bad by comparison, so charlotte takes her medicine after that.
-in one chapter, claudia takes the perkinses to the library for story hour and they make a [b:The Little House|153540|The Little House|Virginia Lee Burton|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1363184334s/153540.jpg|31274]-inspired mural after reading that book.
-mr. hennessy, the man who owned the house and recently sold it to the developer tells a whole bunch of ridiculous made-up ghost stories about the house including one about "old rubbernose" who is a ghost who has a rubber nose. no joke. SO GOOD.
-when mr. hennessy tells his story, he says, "the first thing I remember was when I was just a lad in short pants." it sounds like the author has never heard an elderly person talk and is just approximating based on misreading dickens. I actually laughed out loud at that line.

lowlights/nitpicks:
-I kind of wanted more conflict with the charlotte plotline. it seemed like there should be some sisterly bickering between charlotte and stacey, but there really wasn't.
-seriously, does EVERY KID in stoneybrook go to dr. dellenkamp? aren't there other pediatricians in that town?
-I don't understand why dawn acts like baby-sitting at the pikes' is particularly bad. all of the kids are willing to be involved in the wizard of oz play, and it seems like there is comparatively very little trouble when you consider how rough sitting for the pikes can be on occasion.

no claudia outfits.

stacey outfits:
-"I had dressed for my train ride in a white jumpsuit, layered over a blue tank top. I had on white push-down socks with blue hearts all over them, a wide blue patent leather belt, and a wild necklace made of all kinds of plastic sea creatures in a rainbow of colors."
-"I'd gotten this pink polka-dotted short skirt with suspender straps and had worn it with an oversized white T-shirt. I had on my pink high-top sneakers, folded down to show their striped lining. I'd also worn these great earrings Claud had given me for my last birthday. They has all these little pink plastic hearts dangling down from one bigger heart."

reasons they think the house is haunted - and the logical explanations for these phenomena
-there's a face at the window - it's one of the workmen
-there are flames in the window - the workman is using an acetylene torch to loosen the bathtub from its fittings
-there is a moaning sound - the workmen are loosening the pipes
-there is a swarm of flies next to the house a la the amityville horror - the workmen had disturbed a beehive (not flies, it's bees)

snacks in claudia's room:
-m&ms in her closet
-twinkies in her closet
-twix in her closet
-whole wheat crackers in a box marked CHARCAOLS under her bed
-doritos (n.s.)

(LL)
This book does an alright job adding mystery to the series, but the idea it was haunted because of the house being built on ancient burial grounds was cliche even when this was written in 1990. There are plenty of different angles to use that can be scary but not too scary for kids to read. It was rather boring and nothing got resolved in a realistic way.

This one was alright, not great, didn't seem to have much purpose. (Not that any of them do, I suppose.) Anyway, we open with Stacey coming home from a "fabulous" weekend in NYC with her dad. Quote marks because it actually kind of sucked. Her dad works most of the weekend and hounds her about her diabetes when they go out to eat. But she gets to go shopping so she can look tres sophisticated in po-dunk Stoneybrook.
full review here.

Surprisingly terrifying for a children’s book, and super weird.