What do you think?
Rate this book
The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries #13
Mary Anne and the Library Mystery
The Stoneybrook Library children's room is holding a Readathon to raise money for new books. And Mary Anne, who loves to read, is helping out by finding good books for the kids to read. But things at the library get really scary when small fires break out. The police know the fires have been set. But by who? And why would someone want to burn down Stoneybrook's library-especially when there are tons of kids around for the Readathon? This is one serious mystery that Mary Anne's not going to let go unsolved!
139 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
27 people are currently reading
413 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,112 books3,055 followersAnn Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
December 11, 2020
Not the best, even as BSC mysteries go. I admit, the mysteries have never been my favourites, but I chose this because I thought it’d be more of a Nancy-Drew-style problem, like the earlier mysteries. It seemed fairly tame and also too overblown in the characters’ heads. I found the mystery-solving part really unsatisfactory. I wish more time had been focused on solving the actual mystery than all the “Oh, no, fire!” stuff. And the fire at the school felt like a scene thrown in to fill up space.
I also hoped we’d see more of Char (no pun intended), since she likes reading, but I guess Char is only for Stacey books.
I liked the book-burning/book banning theme and the resolution. And I’ve always had a soft spot for Nicky Pike, so any book that features him is automatically better. Rosie Wilder wasn’t too insufferable in this book either.
I also hoped we’d see more of Char (no pun intended), since she likes reading, but I guess Char is only for Stacey books.
I liked the book-burning/book banning theme and the resolution. And I’ve always had a soft spot for Nicky Pike, so any book that features him is automatically better. Rosie Wilder wasn’t too insufferable in this book either.
April 8, 2018
I was feeling nostalgic and revisited my favorite book series when I was a kid. Cute mystery.
November 30, 2016
this is my first time reading this book!
I think we're finally getting to a point where ghostwriter Ellen Miles has exhausted every remotely acceptable story she has to tell, and she just keeps writing mysteries out of her ass. in this prime example that totally proves my point, mary anne volunteers at the children's room of the stoneybrook public library to help out with a readathon. someone starts a few fires at the library (by burning books and throwing them into trash cans). turns out it's not either of the likely culprits (a resentful library employee who stands to gain the land if the library burns down, or the book censors that are protesting the distribution of the exact books that get burned): it's sean addison, brother to corrie, child to horrible parents mr. and mrs. addison (see Claudia and the Sad Goodbye for character history). why? because he didn't want to do the readathon. yeah, I know, it doesn't make any sense.
highlights:
-this piece of ann m. martin-style writing: "while I love old movies, I'm not a nostalgia nut. I also love rock and roll and the latest TV shows." only an unhip old lady would think that it's cool to say that they love "rock and roll" (this is a 13-year-old in 1994, for goshsakes) and the "latest TV shows" (as opposed to actually namedropping said latest TV shows).
-mary anne, inspired by claud's penchant for sharing snacks: "maybe the world would be in better shape if our vice-president shared some Cheetos with the heads of other countries."
-miss ellway (the mean library employee) looks like a librarian stereotype: tall and thin, straight thin lips, straight thin gray hair, thin pointy nose. of COURSE she does. speaking as a librarian, this is what we ALL look like: old white ladies with starched collars and powdered buns.
-when talking about their experience infiltrating the censors' group to get more information about them, claudia mentions that they are all fashion victims. oh, claudia.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-the whole premise of the book is that mary anne is feeling sorry for herself, complaining about missing logan (since it's some sports season -- don't ask me which one, because I just don't care), dawn (still in california), and mallory (STILL sick). so she fills her time with volunteering at the library. but seriously, I hate being in mary anne's SENSITIVE narration brain.
-reading the paper, mary anne sees an article about a bus driver who won the lottery, and it cheers her up because she can fantasize about what she would do with a million dollars. she uses being "sensitive" as a way of making everything about her. MARY ANNE IS THE WORST, GUYS.
-I know the addison family is all messed up because the parents don't want to be around their kids so they overschedule them for everything (we've been over this -- once again, see Claudia and the Sad Goodbye). but seriously, sean burning books makes NO SENSE. how will this get him out of the readathon? it doesn't seem like he's trying to burn down the entire library, so how does he expect this to work?
-miss ellway's family had donated the land for the library under the stipulation that if the library was ever destroyed the land would go back to the family. HUH? is this a thing? I don't think any of the andrew carnegie libraries had that stipulation.
claudia outfit:
-"Claudia was wearing a big white shirt over a bright pink jumpsuit. Her earrings, also bright pink, were in the shape of flamingos. On her feet were pink high-tops."
stacey outfit:
-"Stacey was wearing a red miniskirt, a red-and-white striped shirt, red heart-shaped earrings, and short black boots."
burned books:
-Deenie
-A Light in the Attic
-The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
-a biography on abraham lincoln
snacks in claudia's room:
-reese's peanut butter cups (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-m&ms (n.s.)
-popcorn (n.s.)
-chocolate-covered pretzels in a box marked kaligrufy pens
-jelly beans (n.s.)
-ring-dings (n.s.)
-ruffles (n.s.)
-bagel chips (n.s.)
-onion dip (n.s.)
I think we're finally getting to a point where ghostwriter Ellen Miles has exhausted every remotely acceptable story she has to tell, and she just keeps writing mysteries out of her ass. in this prime example that totally proves my point, mary anne volunteers at the children's room of the stoneybrook public library to help out with a readathon. someone starts a few fires at the library (by burning books and throwing them into trash cans). turns out it's not either of the likely culprits (a resentful library employee who stands to gain the land if the library burns down, or the book censors that are protesting the distribution of the exact books that get burned): it's sean addison, brother to corrie, child to horrible parents mr. and mrs. addison (see Claudia and the Sad Goodbye for character history). why? because he didn't want to do the readathon. yeah, I know, it doesn't make any sense.
highlights:
-this piece of ann m. martin-style writing: "while I love old movies, I'm not a nostalgia nut. I also love rock and roll and the latest TV shows." only an unhip old lady would think that it's cool to say that they love "rock and roll" (this is a 13-year-old in 1994, for goshsakes) and the "latest TV shows" (as opposed to actually namedropping said latest TV shows).
-mary anne, inspired by claud's penchant for sharing snacks: "maybe the world would be in better shape if our vice-president shared some Cheetos with the heads of other countries."
-miss ellway (the mean library employee) looks like a librarian stereotype: tall and thin, straight thin lips, straight thin gray hair, thin pointy nose. of COURSE she does. speaking as a librarian, this is what we ALL look like: old white ladies with starched collars and powdered buns.
-when talking about their experience infiltrating the censors' group to get more information about them, claudia mentions that they are all fashion victims. oh, claudia.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-the whole premise of the book is that mary anne is feeling sorry for herself, complaining about missing logan (since it's some sports season -- don't ask me which one, because I just don't care), dawn (still in california), and mallory (STILL sick). so she fills her time with volunteering at the library. but seriously, I hate being in mary anne's SENSITIVE narration brain.
-reading the paper, mary anne sees an article about a bus driver who won the lottery, and it cheers her up because she can fantasize about what she would do with a million dollars. she uses being "sensitive" as a way of making everything about her. MARY ANNE IS THE WORST, GUYS.
-I know the addison family is all messed up because the parents don't want to be around their kids so they overschedule them for everything (we've been over this -- once again, see Claudia and the Sad Goodbye). but seriously, sean burning books makes NO SENSE. how will this get him out of the readathon? it doesn't seem like he's trying to burn down the entire library, so how does he expect this to work?
-miss ellway's family had donated the land for the library under the stipulation that if the library was ever destroyed the land would go back to the family. HUH? is this a thing? I don't think any of the andrew carnegie libraries had that stipulation.
claudia outfit:
-"Claudia was wearing a big white shirt over a bright pink jumpsuit. Her earrings, also bright pink, were in the shape of flamingos. On her feet were pink high-tops."
stacey outfit:
-"Stacey was wearing a red miniskirt, a red-and-white striped shirt, red heart-shaped earrings, and short black boots."
burned books:
-Deenie
-A Light in the Attic
-The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
-a biography on abraham lincoln
snacks in claudia's room:
-reese's peanut butter cups (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-m&ms (n.s.)
-popcorn (n.s.)
-chocolate-covered pretzels in a box marked kaligrufy pens
-jelly beans (n.s.)
-ring-dings (n.s.)
-ruffles (n.s.)
-bagel chips (n.s.)
-onion dip (n.s.)
November 13, 2021
I chose this book to satisfy the middle grade mystery item on the Book Riot reading challenge list. The BSC books used to be my comfort reads when I was a kid so I wanted to see how this one held up, especially after watching the new Netflix show. And....it's fine. The mimeograph and pay phone let you know it isn't a new book. But the group of protesters at the library who want to ban books is pretty topical. The descriptions of library work are better than I usually see, too. Mrs. Kishi, the director, is budget planning in her office and handling the series of library fires and the children's room staff are doing a million things at once which is not so unrealistic.
It was pretty light on the mystery. And I was underwhelmed when they crossed a few people off their suspect list for being nice, just because a gardener told them the mansion's resident was a great guy or the hardware store owners gave the kids some candy. Nice doesn't equal innocent! Anyway. There are expectations with BSC books and they're met here. Claudia has snacks and funky earrings, Kristy is bossy with a visor, Stacey is stylish and diabetic, and Mary Anne cries. When Mary Anne finds out she can continue volunteering at the library she thinks "What a relief. I wouldn't have to go back to watching sad movies in the afternoon, after all." Good for you, Mary Anne.
It was pretty light on the mystery. And I was underwhelmed when they crossed a few people off their suspect list for being nice, just because a gardener told them the mansion's resident was a great guy or the hardware store owners gave the kids some candy. Nice doesn't equal innocent! Anyway. There are expectations with BSC books and they're met here. Claudia has snacks and funky earrings, Kristy is bossy with a visor, Stacey is stylish and diabetic, and Mary Anne cries. When Mary Anne finds out she can continue volunteering at the library she thinks "What a relief. I wouldn't have to go back to watching sad movies in the afternoon, after all." Good for you, Mary Anne.
Read
August 22, 2021please don’t burn books at the library thanks
January 23, 2011
the book opens with mary anne crying her eyes out, watching "roman holiday". she says that she is feeling "blue". she's lonely because dawn is living in california, logan is busy with a volleyball tournament (whaaaa?), & the weather is gray & gloomy. she thought that inspiring herself to cry a lot by watching an emotionally-wrenching movie might make her feel better...but it doesn't. she's still sad, & frustrated that she has to wait 45 minutes until the next babysitters club meeting starts. she even flips through the newspaper (which is apparently delivered in the late afternoon? how it that helpful?), but it doesn't contain much of interest. mary anne does mention some letters about book-banning. remember this. man, BSC foreshadowing is always so clunky.
at the end of the meeting that afternoon, mrs. kishi comes in & asks if any of the babysitters might be interested in helping out in the children's room at the library for a few weeks. they're holding a readathon & are expecting the room to get a lot more use than usual. mary anne immediately leaps to volunteer. she suspects that having a new activity will take her mind off the issues that are making her feel moody.
her first day as a library volunteer, mary anne is impressed by ms. feld, the main children's librarian. ms. feld seems happy & engaged & has a magical ability to do like ten things at once without becoming flustered or fucking anything up. the newest children's librarian, however, is miss ellway. you can tell she's a crabby old spinster just by the fact that she uses "miss" instead of "ms.". mary anne says that miss ellway is short with the kids, sighs dramatically whenever she is asked to do something, & even has cold, flinty facial features. just more proof for my theory that mary anne is a judgmental asshole.
mary anne likes ms. feld a lot, & does her best to avoid miss ellway, & has fun helping the kids choose books & learn how to use the card catalogue. some of the kids, like charlotte johanssen & byron pike, are especially excited about the readathon. others, like sean addison & nicky pike, seem less enthusiastic. nicky spends a lot of time complaining about having to read a bunch of books, & mostly spends his time at the library running around & playing instead of looking for books or reading. mary anne tries to spend a little extra time choosing books that will interest the reluctant readers, but faces limited success.
meanwhile, a group of folks that sound kind of westboro baptist church-ish have been gathering outside the library to protest & demonstrate every day. they have created a list of books that they feel need to be removed from the library because they are "poisoning children's mind". these include books like tom sawyer, bridge to terebithia, deenie, etc. can i just say that i read deenie & bridge to terebithia when i was like seven years old, & they pretty much ended my childhood? i was traumatized for years. not that i think they should be banned.
so, mary anne is chillaxin' in the library one day when all of the sudden the fire alarm goes off. mary anne starts rounding up the kids by the emergency exits, but mrs. kishi bursts into the room & tells everyone it's okay, the fire is out. mary anne is still shaken up though. & becomes even moreso the next week when there is another, larger fire in a trash can near the children's room. this time, the fire department has to come put out the fire & all the children have to be evacuated. the babysitters cub decides that a mystery is afoot & they're the ones to solve it.
they are casting about for potential suspects when claudia suddenly volunteers the information that the land the library is built on was a donation to the town of stoneybrook by one mr. ellway, who stipulated that the land would be returned to his family in the even that the library was ever torn down or otherwise destroyed. the ellways have steadily been losing their wealth since mr. ellway donated the land...& miss ellway is the donor's granddaughter. the babysitters all think miss ellway is nasty & mean, & they wonder if perhaps she is trying to burn down the library in order to get at the land.
can i just say that this makes no sense? miss ellway works at the library, so if she really wanted to burn it down, it seems like she'd have a way easier time going in after-hours sometime & setting a serious fire. more than just lighting a book on fire in a trash can in the middle of the afternoon. second of all, i am skeptical about the legality of this whole "contingent donation of land" thing. if the library did burn down, & investigators determined the cause to be arson, would the land really just be handed back over to the ellway family? i mean, the town builds library funding into its annual budget, & there's every chance that the library also receives federal funding. it seems needlessly complicated from a budget standpoint to just be like, "okay, the library was destroyed in an arson, so now this town just doesn't have a library." my understanding is also that a library can't just be re-built in a building or plot coded for commercial use, because a library is not a commercial facility.
anyway, it's obvious that this whole "maybe miss ellway did it!" is a big fat red herring. moving on.
the babysitters do a little underhanded detective work (calling the fire station & pretending to be mrs. kishi's assistant) to learn that both fires were started when someone set a library book on fire. they get the titles of the books...& both books are on the banned books list being handed out by the demonstrators. OMG, maybe the book banners have graduated to burning books! even though mary anne is in the library constantly & has never seen any of the book banners actually inside the library.
the babysitters do a little more detective work. some of them talk to the book banners. one of them admits that she was involved in a protest that burned books once upon a time. they did it because they thought it would be a good way to bring publicity to their book-banning cause. but they found that all the publicity they got was decidedly negative, & so she decided never to burn a book again. the babysitters are kind of, "damn, it took some balls for her to admit she had burned books before...but OMG, she has burned books! she must be our bad guy!" mary anne, however, is convinced that the woman is telling the truth & that she is not burning books. who knows why mary anne thinks this. she always seems to function on just gut instinct. when she finds a book of matches in nicky pike's jacket pocket, she also wonders if he is the culprit, but claims to believe him immediately when he denies it & starts crying.
by the way, this thing about mary anne finding matches in nicky's pocket happens in like chapter six--pretty early on. & mary anne immediately says that she & the other babysitters believe that nicky is innocent. but throughout the rest of the book, every single time the babysitters find another clue about the fire, mary anne says, "this just proves that nicky didn't do it. not that any of us really suspected him." this happens literally at least five times, maybe more. dude, if you really don't think he did it, stop saying, "now this REALLY proves his innocence! no doubt about it NOW!"
anyway, there is another library fire in yet another trash can, & there is also a fire at stoneybrook middle school, which damages the school library a little. ("a fire at the middle school? nicky is definitely cleared now!") suddenly mary anne has her deus ex machina moment (the only way any of these mystery books ever get solved). she realizes that all the books that have been burned are on the fifth grade reading list for the readathon & that a book has been burned each week on a wednesday afternoon. from this, she somehow deduces which book is next to go (a biography of abraham lincoln) & where the conflagration will happen (a trash can near the children's reference section). the babysitters stake it out on wednesday afternoon & catch sean addison in the act, lit match in hand, bottle of lighter fluid in his pocket. he cries & explains that he didn't want to do the readathon & his parents pushed him into it so they wouldn't have to spend time with him (which was also the problem with the addison parents back in book #26 when claudia ran her basement art class--good to see that the addisons haven't worked that out over the course of fifty books). the babysitters are hopeful that sean will now get the help & attention he needs.
at the readathon awards announcements, they skip over the third grade winner because they claim it is "special". both charlotte johanssen & rosie wilder--two huge readers--are vying for that award. rosie seems confident that she has won it. but the real winner, the kid who won the most books, is nicky pike. he gives a little speech about how he won it for mary anne because she inspired him to read (even though, wasn't he already really into reading, & that was part of the reason the triplets always picked on him, as established in book #9 when he was running away to dawn's secret passage all the time?). he says he did all his reading at home so mary anne wouldn't know how many books he'd read...even though part of mary anne's volunteer job was to help oversee confirmation of the books the kids were claiming to have read. how did nicky manage to just never have her overhear anything about that, especially when they hung out together at the library constantly?
whatever. it's supposed to be heartwarming, & it's actually fucking lame & makes no sense, but at least now the book is over, so who cares?
at the end of the meeting that afternoon, mrs. kishi comes in & asks if any of the babysitters might be interested in helping out in the children's room at the library for a few weeks. they're holding a readathon & are expecting the room to get a lot more use than usual. mary anne immediately leaps to volunteer. she suspects that having a new activity will take her mind off the issues that are making her feel moody.
her first day as a library volunteer, mary anne is impressed by ms. feld, the main children's librarian. ms. feld seems happy & engaged & has a magical ability to do like ten things at once without becoming flustered or fucking anything up. the newest children's librarian, however, is miss ellway. you can tell she's a crabby old spinster just by the fact that she uses "miss" instead of "ms.". mary anne says that miss ellway is short with the kids, sighs dramatically whenever she is asked to do something, & even has cold, flinty facial features. just more proof for my theory that mary anne is a judgmental asshole.
mary anne likes ms. feld a lot, & does her best to avoid miss ellway, & has fun helping the kids choose books & learn how to use the card catalogue. some of the kids, like charlotte johanssen & byron pike, are especially excited about the readathon. others, like sean addison & nicky pike, seem less enthusiastic. nicky spends a lot of time complaining about having to read a bunch of books, & mostly spends his time at the library running around & playing instead of looking for books or reading. mary anne tries to spend a little extra time choosing books that will interest the reluctant readers, but faces limited success.
meanwhile, a group of folks that sound kind of westboro baptist church-ish have been gathering outside the library to protest & demonstrate every day. they have created a list of books that they feel need to be removed from the library because they are "poisoning children's mind". these include books like tom sawyer, bridge to terebithia, deenie, etc. can i just say that i read deenie & bridge to terebithia when i was like seven years old, & they pretty much ended my childhood? i was traumatized for years. not that i think they should be banned.
so, mary anne is chillaxin' in the library one day when all of the sudden the fire alarm goes off. mary anne starts rounding up the kids by the emergency exits, but mrs. kishi bursts into the room & tells everyone it's okay, the fire is out. mary anne is still shaken up though. & becomes even moreso the next week when there is another, larger fire in a trash can near the children's room. this time, the fire department has to come put out the fire & all the children have to be evacuated. the babysitters cub decides that a mystery is afoot & they're the ones to solve it.
they are casting about for potential suspects when claudia suddenly volunteers the information that the land the library is built on was a donation to the town of stoneybrook by one mr. ellway, who stipulated that the land would be returned to his family in the even that the library was ever torn down or otherwise destroyed. the ellways have steadily been losing their wealth since mr. ellway donated the land...& miss ellway is the donor's granddaughter. the babysitters all think miss ellway is nasty & mean, & they wonder if perhaps she is trying to burn down the library in order to get at the land.
can i just say that this makes no sense? miss ellway works at the library, so if she really wanted to burn it down, it seems like she'd have a way easier time going in after-hours sometime & setting a serious fire. more than just lighting a book on fire in a trash can in the middle of the afternoon. second of all, i am skeptical about the legality of this whole "contingent donation of land" thing. if the library did burn down, & investigators determined the cause to be arson, would the land really just be handed back over to the ellway family? i mean, the town builds library funding into its annual budget, & there's every chance that the library also receives federal funding. it seems needlessly complicated from a budget standpoint to just be like, "okay, the library was destroyed in an arson, so now this town just doesn't have a library." my understanding is also that a library can't just be re-built in a building or plot coded for commercial use, because a library is not a commercial facility.
anyway, it's obvious that this whole "maybe miss ellway did it!" is a big fat red herring. moving on.
the babysitters do a little underhanded detective work (calling the fire station & pretending to be mrs. kishi's assistant) to learn that both fires were started when someone set a library book on fire. they get the titles of the books...& both books are on the banned books list being handed out by the demonstrators. OMG, maybe the book banners have graduated to burning books! even though mary anne is in the library constantly & has never seen any of the book banners actually inside the library.
the babysitters do a little more detective work. some of them talk to the book banners. one of them admits that she was involved in a protest that burned books once upon a time. they did it because they thought it would be a good way to bring publicity to their book-banning cause. but they found that all the publicity they got was decidedly negative, & so she decided never to burn a book again. the babysitters are kind of, "damn, it took some balls for her to admit she had burned books before...but OMG, she has burned books! she must be our bad guy!" mary anne, however, is convinced that the woman is telling the truth & that she is not burning books. who knows why mary anne thinks this. she always seems to function on just gut instinct. when she finds a book of matches in nicky pike's jacket pocket, she also wonders if he is the culprit, but claims to believe him immediately when he denies it & starts crying.
by the way, this thing about mary anne finding matches in nicky's pocket happens in like chapter six--pretty early on. & mary anne immediately says that she & the other babysitters believe that nicky is innocent. but throughout the rest of the book, every single time the babysitters find another clue about the fire, mary anne says, "this just proves that nicky didn't do it. not that any of us really suspected him." this happens literally at least five times, maybe more. dude, if you really don't think he did it, stop saying, "now this REALLY proves his innocence! no doubt about it NOW!"
anyway, there is another library fire in yet another trash can, & there is also a fire at stoneybrook middle school, which damages the school library a little. ("a fire at the middle school? nicky is definitely cleared now!") suddenly mary anne has her deus ex machina moment (the only way any of these mystery books ever get solved). she realizes that all the books that have been burned are on the fifth grade reading list for the readathon & that a book has been burned each week on a wednesday afternoon. from this, she somehow deduces which book is next to go (a biography of abraham lincoln) & where the conflagration will happen (a trash can near the children's reference section). the babysitters stake it out on wednesday afternoon & catch sean addison in the act, lit match in hand, bottle of lighter fluid in his pocket. he cries & explains that he didn't want to do the readathon & his parents pushed him into it so they wouldn't have to spend time with him (which was also the problem with the addison parents back in book #26 when claudia ran her basement art class--good to see that the addisons haven't worked that out over the course of fifty books). the babysitters are hopeful that sean will now get the help & attention he needs.
at the readathon awards announcements, they skip over the third grade winner because they claim it is "special". both charlotte johanssen & rosie wilder--two huge readers--are vying for that award. rosie seems confident that she has won it. but the real winner, the kid who won the most books, is nicky pike. he gives a little speech about how he won it for mary anne because she inspired him to read (even though, wasn't he already really into reading, & that was part of the reason the triplets always picked on him, as established in book #9 when he was running away to dawn's secret passage all the time?). he says he did all his reading at home so mary anne wouldn't know how many books he'd read...even though part of mary anne's volunteer job was to help oversee confirmation of the books the kids were claiming to have read. how did nicky manage to just never have her overhear anything about that, especially when they hung out together at the library constantly?
whatever. it's supposed to be heartwarming, & it's actually fucking lame & makes no sense, but at least now the book is over, so who cares?
October 7, 2020
During a Readathon event, Mary Anne volunteered at Stoneybrook Public Library in the children's room. She expected to spend her time teaching children how to use the card catalog and making book recommendations. After there were multiple small fires in the library, Mary Anne and the rest of the BSC were determined to solve the mystery before the library burned down.
Like in The Fire at Mary Anne's House, Mary Anne had reoccurring dreams about fires burning out of control. I wonder if Ann M. Martin knew how she wanted the series to end this early on, and the dreams were foreshadowing. Unlike the fire at Mary Anne's house which was caused by faulty wiring, the library fires were intentional and involved book burning.
Demonstrators regularly stood outside Stoneybrook Public Library trying to get community members to sign a petition to ban books that they felt were dangerous to children. Mary Anne was rightfully appalled by the attempts to ban books.
Deenie, A Light in the Attic, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were books that were burned in the library fires and were on the demonstrators' list of books that were dangerous to children. However, the final burned book was a biography about Abraham Lincoln, which did not appear on the aforementioned list.
I loved how the book advocated for intellectual freedom. The e-book ended with a note to the readers asking them to visit www.ala.org/advocacy/banned for more information about book banning. The mid-90s library setting was nostalgic. However, I thought the mystery aspect fell flat -- 3 stars.
Like in The Fire at Mary Anne's House, Mary Anne had reoccurring dreams about fires burning out of control. I wonder if Ann M. Martin knew how she wanted the series to end this early on, and the dreams were foreshadowing. Unlike the fire at Mary Anne's house which was caused by faulty wiring, the library fires were intentional and involved book burning.
Demonstrators regularly stood outside Stoneybrook Public Library trying to get community members to sign a petition to ban books that they felt were dangerous to children. Mary Anne was rightfully appalled by the attempts to ban books.
I have never understood why people want to ban books. I mean, if they don’t want to read certain books, that’s fine. And I guess what they let their own children read is up to them, too. But why should they keep other people from reading what they choose? ... As for books that are about subjects such as divorce or drugs, well, those things exist in the world, and books aren’t the cause.
Deenie, A Light in the Attic, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer were books that were burned in the library fires and were on the demonstrators' list of books that were dangerous to children. However, the final burned book was a biography about Abraham Lincoln, which did not appear on the aforementioned list.
I loved how the book advocated for intellectual freedom. The e-book ended with a note to the readers asking them to visit www.ala.org/advocacy/banned for more information about book banning. The mid-90s library setting was nostalgic. However, I thought the mystery aspect fell flat -- 3 stars.
July 2, 2017
I freaking loved this one back in the day, and I love it now because library! As a kid there was nothing in this world better than going to the library, and it's something I still love doing today. I have my own personal library at home, but that doesn't keep me from checking out mountains of books or the occasional Kindle read from my two local libraries. So to get a BSC book that was super library-centric? Heaven!
It was so silly that the girls suspected Miss Ellway though, for obvious reasons. If the woman wanted to burn the library to the ground, she'd have just set a large, proper fire and been done with it. Of course it was natural to assume that it was the protesting horde outside, for obvious reasons. The fact that it turned out to be Sean, one of the kids participating in the Readathon, always blew my mind. As an adult I think that Sean might be a little sociopath and he may have grown up to be an arsonist.
Let us just assume that Sean is doing time for burning down a couple of abandoned houses. He'll be out in another 5-7 years, pending good behavior, where he'll then set a series of trashcan fires just to feel the rush. It'll be back to the Stoneybrook Motel for ol' Sean here, until he's tried and sent back up the river for another stint. He'll eventually be released after a few months back in the can, and then he'll live with his sister Corrie, while trying to get his life back together. He'll never be able to make it on the outside though, too much time behind walls and bars.
He'll set one last glorious fire, the highlight of his career, burning down an entire wing of Stoneybrook Middle School (SMS to you) before the blaze is put out. Good luck in the big house, Sean. I'm sure the BSC will visit you on the regular.
That was elaborate and pointless. I need a life.
It was so silly that the girls suspected Miss Ellway though, for obvious reasons. If the woman wanted to burn the library to the ground, she'd have just set a large, proper fire and been done with it. Of course it was natural to assume that it was the protesting horde outside, for obvious reasons. The fact that it turned out to be Sean, one of the kids participating in the Readathon, always blew my mind. As an adult I think that Sean might be a little sociopath and he may have grown up to be an arsonist.
Let us just assume that Sean is doing time for burning down a couple of abandoned houses. He'll be out in another 5-7 years, pending good behavior, where he'll then set a series of trashcan fires just to feel the rush. It'll be back to the Stoneybrook Motel for ol' Sean here, until he's tried and sent back up the river for another stint. He'll eventually be released after a few months back in the can, and then he'll live with his sister Corrie, while trying to get his life back together. He'll never be able to make it on the outside though, too much time behind walls and bars.
He'll set one last glorious fire, the highlight of his career, burning down an entire wing of Stoneybrook Middle School (SMS to you) before the blaze is put out. Good luck in the big house, Sean. I'm sure the BSC will visit you on the regular.
That was elaborate and pointless. I need a life.
November 6, 2020
The pages became unglued from the cover in my copy of this book, and it's been that way for years. And I've been at peace with that. But the ungluing has also happened to chunks of pages, and it's not as easy to read any more, and now I'll have to replace the book. Which is a bummer, because of the Netflix show (and all original BSC fans being old ladies with disposable incomes and children to force the nostalgia onto) the books are in demand again, so it's hard to find them for a decent price. I don't want to spend more than $10 on a single book! Luckily, I'm patient, so hopefully prices will dip a little as the craze dies down. Sigh.
Also, based on publication date, this book takes place after Dawn and the We ♥ Kids Club , but I think it should be moved a little earlier. Mallory was a little more mobile in #72 - - so I'll have to edit my chronological list a little.
Oh, I'm supposed to review the book? Yeah, it was okay. I don't really have any strong positive or negative feelings about it.
Also, based on publication date, this book takes place after Dawn and the We ♥ Kids Club , but I think it should be moved a little earlier. Mallory was a little more mobile in #72 - - so I'll have to edit my chronological list a little.
Oh, I'm supposed to review the book? Yeah, it was okay. I don't really have any strong positive or negative feelings about it.
April 4, 2024
In which the BSC confronts actual terrorists. Well, except the book banners are all apparently nice respectable people we just don't agree with. And actual terrorism is described really well, except... it isn't meant to be? I feel like this book is 2 stories. The story of the actual culprit, which had its own social messages about kids who do dangerous things to get their parents' attention, and then the story of pretty effective low-grade terrorism, which is described quite accurately, in terms of its effects and impact, and then just... doesn't go anywhere. Sigh. I guess the 90s were a bit early for it, but I really wish this book had been about the genuine threats to their safety faced by librarians and library staff, as well as attempts at intimidation and terror by those who want to ban books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2022
Mary Anne and the Library Mystery - Book #13 in the Baby-Sitters Club Mystery Series - by Ann M. Martin
There are 36 Books in the Mystery Series
This is Book #13 in the Series. I read this as a Kindle Book on my Kindle Fire Tablet.
I give this Book 5/5 Stars.
I am planning on Reading the rest of the Books in this Series - The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery.
I have some Baby-Sitters Club Books but not all of them.
I have put the first 5 Books in the Mystery Series on Hold at my Library.
I am planning on reading all of the Baby-Sitters Club Books in all of the Series that Ann M. Martin has come out with as long as I can get them from my Library.
I wish they were available to buy but they aren't.
Happy Reading
There are 36 Books in the Mystery Series
This is Book #13 in the Series. I read this as a Kindle Book on my Kindle Fire Tablet.
I give this Book 5/5 Stars.
I am planning on Reading the rest of the Books in this Series - The Baby-Sitters Club Mystery.
I have some Baby-Sitters Club Books but not all of them.
I have put the first 5 Books in the Mystery Series on Hold at my Library.
I am planning on reading all of the Baby-Sitters Club Books in all of the Series that Ann M. Martin has come out with as long as I can get them from my Library.
I wish they were available to buy but they aren't.
Happy Reading
October 3, 2021
After barely pulling myself through some Dawn books lately I really wasn't looking forward to a Mary Anne mystery. But being a librarian made this one a little more fun for me. I was actually really enjoying it til the end when, as per usual, the mystery wrapped up in a way that was unexpected because the clues needed to solve it weren't given to the reader which is so frustrating.
But also why do we spend so much time trying to understand and commiserate with book banners/burners? It's almost like the ghostwriter wanted to take a stance and decided halfway through that it's better to be bland after all.
But also why do we spend so much time trying to understand and commiserate with book banners/burners? It's almost like the ghostwriter wanted to take a stance and decided halfway through that it's better to be bland after all.
September 21, 2020
I really only read this book for the vintage purposes, and it was really short. I wish it would have been longer. The only things are that on page 67, [Spoiler alert!] it said that now that 2 books were burned, everything seemed more serious. Like, 2? Now it's more serious? Fires weren't serious when the first one went off? It just felt kind of weird an unnecessary. Also there were no clues indicating who was the firebug, and I think that mysteries should allow the reader to try to figure out the mystery as well.
January 3, 2022
Not only was this book boring, it was also surprisingly poorly written. It's not like the other books are Shakespeare or anything, but they at least have a fun and engaging tone. This was just dull and flat.
Mary Anne was also written so poorly in this. Mary Anne isn't my favorite character, but her books usually do have some depth and self-awareness to them. It was like the only note the ghostwriter had for Mary Anne was "cries a lot."
Also, Jessi's constant stretching and yoga poses are SO annoying.
Mary Anne was also written so poorly in this. Mary Anne isn't my favorite character, but her books usually do have some depth and self-awareness to them. It was like the only note the ghostwriter had for Mary Anne was "cries a lot."
Also, Jessi's constant stretching and yoga poses are SO annoying.
October 21, 2024
Part of me re-reading the BSC books haphazardly.
Okay, Mary Anne's a middle-schooler with a part-time job as a baby-sitter, but somehow, she's still bored and needs an additional job as a volunteer at the local library? Why does this thirteen-year-old need to always be working? (And yes, this is a perpetual theme in these books, I'm aware).
For me, the best part of the book was the behavior of Allan Gray and the rest of the eighth-grade boys during their school's fire alarm--seemed spot-on for that age group. It was hilarious.
Okay, Mary Anne's a middle-schooler with a part-time job as a baby-sitter, but somehow, she's still bored and needs an additional job as a volunteer at the local library? Why does this thirteen-year-old need to always be working? (And yes, this is a perpetual theme in these books, I'm aware).
For me, the best part of the book was the behavior of Allan Gray and the rest of the eighth-grade boys during their school's fire alarm--seemed spot-on for that age group. It was hilarious.
December 16, 2017
I really don't know why I've always liked this one so much, but for some reason I just do.
I couldn't help but laugh at the absurd way they treat poor Nicky Pike, though. "THIS piece of evidence lets Nicky off the hook for sure this time. NOT THAT ANY OF US STILL BELIEVED HE WAS GUILTY, OF COURSE." Then ten pages later they repeat that all over again, even putting him down on a suspects list but assuring us, the reader, that they don't REALLY think he's a suspect. Poor Nicky.
I couldn't help but laugh at the absurd way they treat poor Nicky Pike, though. "THIS piece of evidence lets Nicky off the hook for sure this time. NOT THAT ANY OF US STILL BELIEVED HE WAS GUILTY, OF COURSE." Then ten pages later they repeat that all over again, even putting him down on a suspects list but assuring us, the reader, that they don't REALLY think he's a suspect. Poor Nicky.
Read
July 29, 2020As a kid my best friends sister had the whole BSC series on a book shelf in her room. I thought she was so grown up. And I envied this bookshelf. And would often poke my head into that room just to look at it.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.
And when I read BSC, I felt like such a grown up.
And while I might have still been a little too young to understand some of the issues dealt with in these books, I do appreciated that Ann M. Martin tackled age appropriate issues, some being deeper than others, but still important.
June 1, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. I read it before but I forgot who was the culprit and it was good to go back and solve the mystery. I love libraries and books and Mary Anne! I noticed how old this book was because they were using card catalogs which is all done on computer now. It was still a good read and it deals with the topic of banning books. I love how this series tackles tough topics.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 2, 2019
Who could be setting the fires at the library? Is it a book banner? A library staff member from the family that donated the land for the library? Or someone else? Find out in this mystery volume found in The Baby-Sitters Club!
April 28, 2023
Good mystery, but honestly, those fires were a serious crime and the culprit should've faced more serious sanctions. (Possibly it happened off-page, but still, yikes that the police were so hands-off about the whole thing!)
May 11, 2023
These later mystery books must have been written by a different ghostwriter- they really lack the magic of the original books. Also found the main plot being about arson as kind of disturbing. One star.
October 18, 2023
I love that Mary Anne is volunteering at a library in this book, since she has a passion for reading. But I couldn’t get into the plot much though it was suspenseful. I think book burning is awful, but they solve the mystery
July 24, 2025
A mystery that takes place in the library during a readathon, name drops a dozen banned books for me to go off in tangents looking up, and a heavy dose of nostalgia from the Baby-Sitters Club? Sign me up!
July 9, 2020
Libraries! Summer reading! Yay!
Read
October 10, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
January 8, 2021
Nostalgic read for sure. Plus it’s a mystery at the library. Always a fun combo
January 26, 2021
(LL)
The lessons about book burning and the “Readathon” were great, but everything else about this story was not realistic. It wasn’t that great of a plot outside the main lessons.
The lessons about book burning and the “Readathon” were great, but everything else about this story was not realistic. It wasn’t that great of a plot outside the main lessons.
July 6, 2022
This was easily my favorite of the mysteries series so far.
April 1, 2024
The BSC tackles book banning! (And book burning.)
September 1, 2024
This plot would have been so suited for Mallory!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews