Book #4: Mary Anne Saves the Day
Synopsis: When Kristy accepts a sitting job without consulting the other members of the club, the BSC gets into a massive fight. Could this mean the end of the BSC as we know it? Meanwhile, Mary Anne is trying to prove to her father that she is growing up (spoiler alert: she succeeds). And, perhaps most importantly, we finally meet Dawn.
Thoughts: The underlying story in this book is the fight between all the girls in the BSC. Mrs. Newton calls during a meeting and asks for a sitter; in her excitement, Kristy accepts the job without consulting anyone else and they all get mad. They turn on Claudia because she tends to do the same thing, and it devolves from there. They accuse Stacey of always talking at New York (I mean, they’re not wrong…) and call Mary Anne a baby. The fight stretches on; they even go so far as to cancelling regular meetings and just have one person answer the phones during meeting times.
During her turn one day, Mary Anne gets a call from the Prezziosos who are in need of a babysitter. Mary Anne takes the job and begins sitting for Jenny, our favorite monster of a pre-schooler, who ends coming down with a 104 degree fever while Mary Anne is watching her. Mary Anne tries calling her dad, the neighbors, and others but no one picks up, so she ends up calling her new friend Dawn (we’ll get to that…) to come help her. They end up having to call 911 to get a ride to the hospital and Mary Anne truly does save the day. Her heroic efforts finally make her dad realize she’s growing up: she might actually be too old for pictures of Humpty Dumpty on her walls and could probably stand to get a new hairstyle other than braids.
And yet, the BSC fight continues. It all comes to a head when Mrs. Newton asks the BSC members to help at Jamie’s birthday party and the sitters can’t stop squabbling with one another and almost ruin the party. Mary Anne, emboldened by all of her personal growth, calls them on it, which leads to emergency meeting of the club and everyone reconciling.
The silver lining of the fight is that it helps Mary Anne and Dawn meet. When she goes to school after the fight, Mary Anne has no one to sit with at lunch and so she sits by herself but is quickly interrupted by a new student looking for a lunchmate: Dawn. They hit it off and become fast friends, much to the chagrin of Kristy, although Mary Anne tells Dawn she’s sitting alone because all of her friends are sick. Eventually Dawn realizes this is a lie and gets upset, although we’re told the fight stretches on for like a month and you’d think Dawn would realize sooner that Mary Anne’s friends we’re all out sick for a full month. In any case, it all works out and Dawn ends up becoming the newest member of the BSC.
Of course, if I’m being honest, the most exciting part of this book is when Mary Anne and Dawn discover that their parents dated in high school! They even arrange for them to meet again toward the very end of the book and it looks like there could be LUV on the horizon…
Unbelievable/Surprising: Again, it seems necessary to point out that the BSC fight lasted for weeks on end and Dawn didn’t even seem suspicious that Mary Anne’s friends were all out sick.
Also: I realized that there are references to Mary Anne calling Mr. and Mrs. Prezzioso’s phones; I don’t even think I knew what a cell phone was I first read this book, even though the only phones that make sense in the context of this reference would be cell phones. Way to be on top of the technology, Ann M. Martin!
Lingering Questions: Will Mr. Spier and Mrs. Schaefer actually get together!? (Obviously I know the answer to this question but it’s fun to revisit!).
Up Next: Dawn and the Impossible Three
Say Hello to Your Friends 