Mary Anne Saves The Day

At last we come to Mary Anne. I remembered that she was my favorite babysitter when I was younger - I was so shy and reserved that I easily related to her most of all - and I was curious how those old feelings would hold up. And I have to admit, of all the books in this series that I have started rereading, this was my favorite one so far. I may be older, braver and more confident now, but I still carry the inner workings of an introvert.

Actually, I think the story had a lot more tension than in the previous three. In the second chapter, the four friends clash in a fight that leaves hurt feelings all around, and they part ways. Over the next few days, it becomes clear to Mary Anne that the grudge between them isn't going to disappear as show more easily as past fights, and she vacilates between wanting to do anything to make them all friends again and still being hurt and angry at the things some of them said. While the girls have had little bubbles of arguments before, this is their first real throw down, and the author does a good job of capturing junior high dramatics. The fact that they can hold on to the argument for so long is both silly and realistic. The way that they retaliate is also very teen girl: trying to make the others jealous, sticking out their tongues at each other, not so accidentally stepping on feet and spilling punch in laps. I really sympathized with Mary Anne here, who was the least to blame. She only became angry after the others dragged her in to their fight and insulted her, and then they continued to treat her deplorably (Kristy, in particular, was mean beyond necessity, slamming her door in Mary Anne's face and roping their other friends in to shunning her). Not that Mary Anne rose above it all as the suffering martyr; she uses poor Dawn Schaefer to get back at Kristy and does her share of yelling. Though she isn't perfect - and these days we prefer our main characters to be human rather than flawless - she is the one mature enough to eventually put a stop to all the nonsense by forcing the babysitters to get together and talk it out. Good for you, Mary Anne! She also apologizes to Dawn, and makes a new close friend.

Mary Anne has more to worry about than her fight with her friends, though. She has finally confronted her dad about his overly strict parenting and things are tense in the Spier household. In this situation, as well, I thought that Mary Anne was more a victim than the other party. Her dad is not willing to concede that she has any right in her arguments at all, when it is abundantly clear that she is a responsible young woman with good morals who deserves more trust. In the end all is well, though, as her father recognizes by her quick thinking in an emergency situation that she is more mature than he thought. I admired Mary Anne's character as she weathered all of these relationship snarles. She may be the shy one of the group, but her backbone is evident in this novel; if I were in her position, back when I was that age, I would have been crushed. She stays strong though, and even gathers enough courage for the many confrontations she needs to face before things can be set to right. This is why Mary Anne is both the girl I was when I was younger, but also the girl I wanted to be.

The babysitting angle of the book revolves around Mary Anne handling a crisis on her own because the other sitters aren't speaking to her (or each other), and the near disaster they create when they bring their unresolved problems to a birthday party for one of their best clients. I thought both of these situations had more at stake than previous plot lines, as well. Overall, I really enjoyed this particular babysitter story immensely. I look forward to reading more Mary Anne narrations. show less

I didn't read the books in order because I 'got into them' when there were already like I don't know, fifty books. I had been wanting to read this for a while but it always seemed to be out at the library or whatever. When I finally got the chance to read it, I wasn't disappointed. Mary Anne has been treated like such a little girl for so long, but in this book she shows how mature she can be and wins some respect from her dad. Loved this book!

If you still have children at home, this book will be much less than enjoyable. Ha! The babysitters spend the entire time fighting like babies, sticking out their tongues at one another, acting like spoilt brats... ugh. Might have been cute if I didn't combat all this at home on a daily basis. I wish I remembered what 10 year old me thought of this book.

Mary Anne and Kirsty were always my two favourite baby-sitters. I felt I could relate to those two more. I was never arty or fashionable but I was a rather insecure tom-boy who was rather serious. I first read The Baby-Sitter Club books when I was about 8 or 10 (my copy of this book has the address of our house down south printed in a rather untidy scrawl and we moved up north when I was 10) and I remember thinking the book rather exciting. What would I do if something like that happened when I was babysitting? I also liked how Mary Anne was able to stand up for herself.

Today I can appreciate that the book shows young girls (I am assuming mostly girls would read these books) how to act in case of an emergency. I was also highly amused show more by the following excerpt:
"She's very sophisticated, and is even allowed to have her hair permed, so that she has this fabulous-looking shaggy blond mane, and she wears the neatest clothes--big baggy shirts and tight-fitting pants" (pg5).

First off it amused me because the perm thing really dated it but the second part? that amused me because my students wear "big baggy shirts and tight-fitting pants". Oh heavens above we have come full circle!! show less

This is definitely one of my favourites, probably because Mary-Anne and Dawn are my favourite girls. The plot is quite good too with plenty of things going on - the Club isn't speaking to each other which leads to very awkward baby-sitting situations, we have our first emergency during baby-sitting time, Dawn is introduced and there's a sweet backstory revealed about Mary-Anne and Dawn's parents. Really good book, Martin really loved her characters and it shows.

My Review: A heartwarming story where Mary Anne steps up when her friends disagree, showing that even quiet members can take charge and make a difference.

I read quite a bit of these as a kid. Nothing mesmerizing or fascinating (even then) but light and fun, easy reads with decent teen drama and some mild humor.