Maid Mary Anne

The Baby-Sitters Club #66

by Ann M. Martin

Mary Anne agrees to do some housework for Mrs. Towne, an elderly neighbor who had been giving her sewing lessons, but Mary Anne soon realizes that she has become a maid.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Contemporary, Juvenile, Collections

155 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1993

About the author

Ann 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...

Reviews

[FIND ME ON STORYGRAPH · Rating 2 out of 5]

this is my first time reading this book!

in this irritating mary anne (I know, I know -- it's redundant) book by ghostwriter Nola Thacker, mary anne starts taking advanced sewing lessons from stoneybrook resident mrs. towne. when mrs. towne gets injured, mary anne starts paying for the sewing lessons by helping out around the house. but mrs. towne takes advantage of mary anne's "selflessness" by guilt tripping her into doing every little thing for her. meanwhile, mary anne teaches a sewing class to bsc charges, but the boys in the class get bullied for doing something so girly.

highlights:
-the stones have a goose named screaming yellow honker:

-how did it only just occur to me that this book is a maid marian reference?
-dawn is missing california a lot, foreshadowing Dawn's Big Move
-when nicky won't bake cookies and says aprons are for girls, the triplets laugh at him. I love that the triplets are so secure in their masculinity that they can bake and all that, and they just think it's funny that nicky won't.

lowlights/nitpicks:
-the whole plot comes into being because mary anne thinks she's too self-centered and not selfless enough. it's funny because I totally agree with her, but all her friends seem to think she's so selfless since she's sensitive. when someone else is sad and it makes you cry, sometimes it means you just make things about you, you know?
-the stones' farm is described as being just a little past mary anne's house. really? in Stacey's Big Crush it's described as being "a long walk away" from the schafer's, "on the outskirts of town"
-two problems with kristy's response to mrs. pike's request for a sitter: "no, I'm sorry, I don't know if mal is free then" (first problem -- CHECK THE RECORD BOOK!) "but of course we have a number of other baby-sitters who might be available thursday if she isn't. yes, I know it's a two-person sitting job" (second problem -- OF COURSE THE BSC KNOWS! they've been sitting for the pikes for ages!)
-in response to mary anne saying that summer in stoneybrook is nice and hot, dawn says, "it's warmer. but I wouldn't call it hot." you're right, it's probably way hotter in stoneybrook than in california. I looked up the averages for stamford ct and anaheim ca for the summer: high 87, low 65 vs. high 84, low 65. yeah, that REALLY makes a difference.
-mary anne is about to have a picnic with logan, but she goes to mrs. towne instead because mrs. towne needs her to shoo a wasp out of her house. no joke.

-mrs. towne insists on making mary anne and logan lunch after they shoo out the wasp and they don't say anything about the picnic they were gonna have. AGH! nobody will ever know you need something if you don't tell them!
-"weren't the needs of a lonely old woman more important than logan's?" - actual mary anne quote.
-refusing to listen when dawn talks about missing her dad and brother SURE IS SENSITIVE AND SELFLESS, mary ANNE!

nicky pike's attempt at a super manly outfit:
-"He was dressed in green -- khaki cut-offs, a lime green T-shirt, kelly green socks, and what looked like his father's work boots. Around his waist hung a huge tool belt holding a million different tools. He was waving a toy gun."

stacey's kid kit:
-Goodnight Moon
-Harry the Dirty Dog
-Georgie's Halloween
-puzzle

snacks in claudia's room:
-cheez doodles (n.s.)
-plain pretzels in her closet
-chocolate-dipped pretzels in her closet
-gummi worms (n.s.)

[Edgar · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book foreshadowing what is considered a big move in the next book in the series!

[Tamsin Ramone · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars from my 9 year old daughter!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really have much to say about this, except how do Marilyn and Carolyn NOT know about Elvira? (I mean, skimming Sea City, Here We Come , it's stated that they couldn't come to the farm - aHA! But in Stacey's Big Crush , they come to the Pikes' play, starring Elvira. Chapter 13. So Elvira shouldn't be a shock to them. And actually, why do ALL the books released around this time feature Elvira the goat? Why were the ghostwriters so obsessed with her? Were goats in in the summer of 1993?

So the fact that I'm obsessing over Elvira kind of tells you how the rest of the book is.

[Abby Flanary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really good Mary Anne is one of my favorites in the baby sitters club. I thought that they said decent too much because I have never heard anyone say decent before. But this book was really good and Mary Anne is a really good person for helping a old lady who was giving her sewing lessons and Mrs towne the old lady broke her ankle and Mary Anne helped her but Mrs towne took advantage of Mary Anne and she stood up for herself and this is one of my favorite book.

[Tiffany Spencer]

Maid Mary Anne
It starts with the quote from Anna Karenina “Happy families are all alike” Mary Anne is thinking about this. She knows her family is happy but they’re nothing alike. Then it goes into how and how their families came together. Then she sees the clock and jumps up because she has to sit for the Arnold twins this Saturday. Dawn offers to wash her plate. She thinks about how thoughtful it was of Dawn to offer. She wonders if she would have done the same because she’s been feeling self involved ever since she was worrying about a speech she had to give and Dawn told her other people have other things on their minds than her.

Mary Anne has decided to put other people’s needs first and her “selfish” worries second. As proof of this, she asks Sharon, Richard, and Dawn do they need her to do anything for them while she’s out. They look at her curiously but say their good. Mary Anne suggest to the Arnold twins they can go exploring. Carolyn brings her notebook so she can make observations. Marilyn worries they’ll get lost, but Mary Anne says they’ll visit the Stone’s farm. There might even be a surprise there.

Both twins try to guess all the way there. Surprisingly, Marilyn picks out a cardinal’s song because it’s different from the rest. Carolyn discovers a quail (bobwhite). And at the Stones, they see a scarecrow in the vegetable garden. At first, they feed the chickens. Then they meet Elvira and they both go crazy over her. Then they get a tour of the rest of the farm. Mrs. Stone suggests that Mary Anne meet Mrs. Townes whose got at gardening and sewing. Mary Anne wonders how she’ll meet her tho.

At the BSC meeting, Kristy tells her to just knock on her door but Mary Anne can’t imagine herself doing that. Its suggested that she just call her. So, Mary Anne calls her after dinner. She’s flattered and tells her to come by tomorrow at 4 and they’ll have tea. Because it’s warmer, Dawn is starting to show signs (and says) that she’s homesick for California. (She’s playing The Beach Boys when Mary Anne goes into her room and doesn’t comment about it being earlier in California and Mary Anne says well it’s a good thing we aren’t in California).

Mary Anne thinks Mrs. Towne will look like Mrs. Santa Claus, instead she’s black, with a punk hairstyle, and small. Her house is an old farmhouse (which makes her feel at home). Her house looks like something out of an old magazine I have in my head that I thought was called “Home and Country” magazine. They have tea and sugar cookies and talk about Mary Anne’s interest in. sewing. Mrs. Towne tells her about how she learned to sew from her grandmother and how they never had much money so her grandmother made all her clothes and she was the best dressed girl in her class.

Mary Anne admits to her that she just started getting into embrodering and she uses a sewing machine. Then Mrs. Towne shows her all the things she’s done and where she works. Mary Anne asks if she can give her some lessons and Mrs. Towne says they can have a lesson Saturday and some tea. On Thursday, Mary Anne takes the Pikes to see Elvira when they’re walking home they run into Mrs. Townes and tell talk to her about Elvira. She invites the Pikes in and they’re fascinated (especially Vanessa). Mary Anne has an idea but decides to keep it to herself for now.

Mary Anne goes for her lesson on Saturday but no one answers the door. So goes around the side poarch and lets herself in. She hears Mrs. Towne calling out for help. She finds her in the kitchen on the floor. Mary Anne calls the paramedics and her father. Mrs. Towne is taken to the hospital and is said to have broken her ankle. She can’t remember what happened and says she must have tripped and passed out from the pain.

Mrs. Townes decides to stay in the hospital some extra days so she’ll have some extra help. A visiting nurse is going to come to her house once a day to help with medication and check on her ankle for a while. Mrs. Stone has moved things from Mrs. Towne’s bedroom upstairs to the guest bedroom downstairs so she doesn’t have to go up and down any steps. Plus Mary Anne will go over or call as much as she can and try to help out. She’ll still get her sewing lessons.

Then she tells them about her idea. She wants to give some of the kids sewing lessons. Like designing a simple quilt. Vanessa and Nicky Pike, Becca Ramsey, Charlotte Johanssen, Buddy Barrett, and Haley Braddock. (I’m actually a little surprised Buddy and Nicky want to learn to sew). On the way home, Mary Anne rambles on and on to Dawn about the research she’s done on patchwork quilts. Mary Anne doesn’t want Dawn to say anything about California because if she thinks about it too much she might just want to move back and she belongs there in Stoneybrooke.

The first thing Mary Anne does is run a basic skills check. She starts with threading a needle. Then they go on to sewing a basic running stitch. Charlotte knows some fancy embroidery stiches. Then they learn stitches for making pictures on cloth. They learn running stitches and basting stitches and chain stitches and fence stitches and French knots and how to knot off the ends of thread. Then Mary Anne shows them some quilting books and suggest they do a project. Claudia suggests a friendship quilt. That’s where each person makes a block (piece) of the quilt and they’re all sewn together.

Everyone likes the idea. Then the kids want to go to Mrs. Towne’s. When they get there the girls are enchanted with her fairy tale (but really its Nursery Rhymes) quilt. Mary Anne tho notices the state of the house and thinks it must be hard for her to do housework on crutches. Mary Anne wipes off her counters. Mary Anne is happy that everyone thought her class was cool. Mary Anne shows up a little early for her lesson on Saturday. Mary Anne is enthusiastic about starting on embroidery, smooching, and French hand sewing and Mrs. Towne tells her she’s ready and she has some books she can look at.

Mrs. Townes accepts her help making tea and helping her into the kitchen. Mary Anne notices the groceries hadn’t eben put up or the plants watered. She asks if anyone’s been helping her out. She says that it won’t be long until she’s taken off the crutches and put on a cane. Mary Anne agrees to help her put the groceries up. Then she offers to water the plants. They come to the agreement that instead of Mary Anne paying Mrs. Townes with cash, she’ll help her with errands around the house.

Mary Anne decides to hold her classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Claudia brings some “Folk Art” books that have projects for kids. The kids are just as into the designs as Claudia and Mary Anne. Interestingly there’s one called “Stars Over Alabama”. They trace the squares and hand them out. Claudia draws out the designs. They decide to make the quilt a present for Mrs. Townes. Becca wants to do a flower theme but they agree on a garden theme instead. Mrs. Pike takes them to the fabric store and it’s a hit with the kids. By the end of the trip, they have a beautiful collection of fabric.

Stacey has a sitting job with the Barette’s. Buddy gets into a fight with someone that calls him a sissy and he says he’s quitting. Stacey tells him just because someone says something doesn’t make it true and they’re the sissy because they’re just scared of anything different. But she sees her words aren’t doing anything so she tells him he’ll have to call Mary Anne and tell her. That night, Buddy calls Mary Anne and tells her he can’t come to class anymore. Then Nicky calls and cancels. Mary Anne isn’t sure what’s going on and neither have given her a reason.

Mary Anne finds out at the next BSC meeting but Mal says she doesn’t know who teased her brother and Buddy. She says she thinks Nicky does miss the class. Mary Anne starts to go to Mrs. Townes to water the flowers. Then they have tea. She has to rush to a meeting and feels bad she has to leave the tea things out. She vows to do more next time.

At the BSC meeting, Mary Anne has to turn down a job. She says she probably shouldn’t accept any jobs for a while until Mrs. Townes gets better. The other members seem to think she’s doing too much for Mrs. Towne’s. Mary Anne is hurt that they don’t see she’s trying to be unselfish and thinks they just don’t understand. The next time she goes to Mrs. Towne’s, Mary Anne decides to mop the floor and notices how beautiful one of the aprons is. Somehow she drops the soap and steps in the bucket. Dawn comes by with the Arnolds and they start to slide around on the floor, Mary Anne finally gets the floor cleaned.

Dawn invites her to walk the twins home and then get a soda but Mary Anne says she can’t. She has to water the plants and the garden and do the laundry. When Mary Anne gets home, she wants to call Claudia and work on the design for the quilt but she’s too tired. Dawn comes by her room but sees she’s about to fall asleep any minute so she says she’ll come back. Mrs. Towne calls and asks Mary Anne when she has a minute can she stop by and get some things down for her because her ankle is bothering her and she can’t get up the stairs.

Logan calls and tries to see Mary Anne. She can’t see him the next day or the next but they make plans for a picnic and a bike ride on Friday. Before she’s about to go on the picnic, Mrs. Townes calls saying she needs Mary Anne to get some things for her and there’s a wasp she can’t get out her kitchen. Mary Anne convinces Logan to go with her and then they can have their picnic. They don’t get to go to the lake. Mrs. Townes offers to add to their lunch and tells them they can have their lunch on her poarch. They help her clean up and then it gets late. Mary Anne can tell Logan isn’t happy. Logan says Mrs. Towne is a nice lady but that’s not how he wanted to spend the day. He suggests they go to the pond and that’s what they do until it’s time for the BSC meeting.

Mary Anne feels conflicted. She couldn’t have turned down Mrs. Towners but was it selfish to not consider what Logan wanted. But weren’t the needs of a lonely, old, woman more of a priority? Mal and Jessi sit for the Pikes. Nicky doesn’t want to do anything considered “sissy” so he doesn’t join the others making cookies. Nicky teases the triplets for wearing an apron and they all laugh at him. He gets embarrassed, runs out, and takes Buddy with him. They stay in the backroom and make a fort for their *war*.

Mrs. Towne’s calls during a meeting, but when Mary Anne gets there she just wants her to get a box down even tho now she can navigate stairs now. Mary Anne turns down cookies and tea with her and she notices as she leaves she looks lonely. Mary Anne feels tired, annoyed, and guilty. She calls again and the next meeting and says it’s not an emergency when Mary Anne asks if. Mary Anne leaves anyway. She’s now angry that she had to leave another meeting. Angry that Kristy is annoyed with her and angry that she has to defend herself for being nice.

Mary Anne finally tells Mrs. Towne she can’t just jump up whenever she calls. She has other responsibilities. Mrs. Townes admits she’s been selfish. She didn’t really need her the last two times she just liked her company. They agree to continue to see each other regularly and Mrs. Townes says she’ll get a house keeper. At the next sewing lesson, Buddy and Nicky come to “check out the progress”. The say that a boy in there class (Clarence) is the one that’s been teasing them but he teases everyone about everything. The come to the next meeting and end up contributing after all to the quilt. Mrs. Townes thinks the quilt is beautiful!

At the end of the book, Mary Anne apologizes to Dawn about not “hearing her” about her feelings about missing her dad and Jeff but she tells her it’ll be ok and they both cry.

My Thoughts:
The best part of this whole book in my opinion was when Mrs. Townes said “Your right. I’ve been selfish. I didn’t really need you the last times I called.” Do you know why? It’s because SO SO MANY people don’t even realize when they’re taking advantage of people’s kindness and they just keep on and keep on and keep on and keep on. And they *are* selfish. Over and over and over. But then it’s a 2-way street because people only do to you what you LET THEM do. And you can’t always worry about being “nice”. Mary Anne finally did stand up for herself and say in her own way “Enough is enough”. BUT I’ve seen in more instances than I have room for on this review how the “nice” ones just take it and never say anything. And it really use to make me mad at the ones that were taking advantage of the “nice” one. But then if you don’t speak up. I’ll give you the perfect example I have a family member who lives in a senior home and they have a neighbor that has vision problems (which I understand because I have vision problems). Only this lady takes advantage of this to ask my family member every chance she gets to go to the store for her with a long list. And not only that she’s *particular*. She doesn’t go *with* them she just tells you exactly what kind, what brand, what color, what length. BUT my family member also goes along with this. Then my family memember will say “Oh but she’s sweet. She’ll bring me stuff to eat.” That’s really not an excuse. And this isn’t just on occasions. No this is DAILY! I had a “friend” like this once. Every time they’d call me it was can you look this up for me. Can you do this. Can you do that. And finally I got to the point where I might tell them *where* they can find it BUT I made them look it up THEMSELVES! It’s ok to help people out sometimes if you know they really need it but if you do that then you better be prepared because unless you speak up then what you thought was gonna be a temporary thing just might turn permanent.

Rating: 6 This one had a REALLY good message about not letting people take advantage of you. You just can not be too “nice”.

[Ciara · Rating 4 out of 5]

i don't usually like mary anne books, but this one kept me surprisingly entertained. mary anne has become concerned that she is too self-centered after dawn tried to address mary anne's constant self-consciousness with the truism, "most people aren't even paying attention to you." way to completely misunderstand dawn's point in the most ironically self-centered way, mary anne. anyway, she decides to address this issue by being more thoughtful & helpful to others.

as a special surprise for the arnold twins, mary anne decides to take them to visit with elvira, the ludicrous goat that she & dawn goat-sat for in stacey's big crush. she claims the arnolds have never met elvira before, even though the arnolds actually spent quite a bit of time with elvira in the last elvira-centric book, if i recall correctly. while visiting with elvira & mrs. stone, mrs. stone suggests that mary anne make the acquaintance of mrs. towne, a nearby neighbor who does a lot of sewing & needlework.

mary anne follows through & pays mrs. towne a visit. mrs. towne is a widow whose only son lives in st. louis. she is happy to show off some of her handiwork & mary anne is really impressed. mrs. towne knows how to do all kinds of sewing things mary anne would like to learn. mrs. towne suggests that mary anne take some lessons with her, & they agree to meet again on saturday.

but on saturday, mrs. towne doesn't answer her door. it would be kind of awesome if this turned into a book that teaches kids a lesson about how to react when you discover a dead body, but instead mrs. towne has just fallen & broken her ankle. she seems delirious from the pain & can't get up, so mary anne calls 911. i have never broken my ankle, but...really? would she have just continued to lay there on the floor until she starved to death if no one came by & happened to take the liberty of letting themselves into the seemingly-empty house? she couldn't have crawled over to the phone & called 911 herself? sheesh.

mary anne takes it upon herself to visit mrs. towne as much as she can & to help out a little with all the housework piling up everywhere. she feels bad for mrs. towne, being all alone with no one to help her (even though mrs. towne is being visited daily by a nurse & has some adult friends, as well as an adult child to call upon if things got really bad, as well as the means to hire a housekeeper, judging from the fact that she owns property in stoneybrook, CT, where the average two-bedroom apartment rents for $2000 a month). she is a little surprised at first that mrs. towne actually lets her help as much as she does, but when mrs. towne suggests that mary anne pay for her sewing lessons with housework, it all seems fair to mary anne. soon she is doing the laundry, washing dishes, putting away groceries, watering plants, weeding the garden, etc. mrs. towne starts calling her to leave babysitter club meetings to come over & do little chores around the house. mary anne skips a date with logan to help chase a wasp out of mrs. towne's kitchen. her friends begin to suggest that mrs. towne is taking advantage of mary anne's generosity...& eventually mary anne feels the same way. so she has a chat with mrs. towne, who backs down & admits that she was really just calling mary anne all the time because she was lonely. she decides to hire a housekeeper & just have mary anne over for some friendly sewing lessons & the occasional teatime.

it's nice that mary anne & mrs. towne solved their problem so easily, but it's also total bullshit. i am actually an adult & i haven't had this kind of luck getting my adult friends to admit wrong-doing when they take advantage of other people. whatever, book.

in the B-plot, mary anne offers beginner sewing lessons to some of her charges & soon has a little class going, pretty evenly split along gender lines. but soon all the boys drop out & start playing really macho dude games while they are being babysat. turns out a kid at school was teasing them for being boys who sew & they overreacted. mary anne talks with them & they rejoin the class just in time to contribute to the get well quilt the class is making for mrs. towne. i know a lot of adult readers make fun of the babysitters club books for pushing this message of anti-sexism (for example, pointing out how many women in stoneybrook hold presitgious jobs like mayor or doctor), but...i like it. i have never found it overly preachy, & it is a good message for kids.

[Individualfrog · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Mary Anne book that's almost entirely about sewing?? It's like a dream come true. I can't see the title of this book without singing it to the tune of The Hollies (and now neither can you.) Mary Anne meets an old lady who, despite her "almost punk" haircut, is extremely into traditional old lady activities: tea, gardening, and quilting. (As a dressmaker myself I am a little dubious that she would say "times have changed" because of that newfangled device, the sewing machine.) She agrees to give sewing lessons to Mary Anne, who then uses these skills to run a sewing class of her own for a handful of babysitting charges. When Mrs. Towne breaks her ankle in a fall, Mary Anne starts doing her chores for her: thus the title and the "main conflict" of the book.

But actually, it takes us more than half the book to get there, and it's dealt with pretty quickly; Ghostwriter #16C is not really interested in it, and I for one am quite in agreement with her. For one thing the "inciting incident" is near-nonsensical: Mary Anne resolves, in the first chapter, to be less self-centered and selfish. Not Kristy or Stacey, Mary Anne! It's like when a Dickens heroine berates herself for a lack of charity because she isn't completely happy to get abused by her cruel stepparents. During the by-the-numbers troubles probably picked out of The Big Book of Babysitters Club Conflicts (hmm, let's see, Section 6 Chapter 3: "Mary Anne and Logan's Picnic is Interrupted"...perfect...Section 3 Chapter 21-B: "Enormous Amount of Soap is Spilled"...I can make that work) I felt like the book wanted to get back to the quilting as much as I did.

In the last Babysitters Club book I read, Mary Anne's Makeover, my favorite part by far was the conflict-free trip to the mall with her dad, having a pleasant day out, and it all makes me wonder, why do we need conflict anyway? I know, I know, "conflict is the basis of plot", "there is no story without conflict", "reading about people just hanging out without conflict would be totally boring", blah blah blah. If that's true, why do I find the "Mary Anne is overcommitted and miserable" and "Nicky Pike (the most gender-anxious 8-year-old in Stoneybrook) gets called a sissy for sewing" stuff so tedious, and the parts where the kids and Claudia are learning about quilting and planning their masterpiece so engaging? There's nothing wrong with conflict in stories, of course, but I'm tired of it being shoehorned in everywhere for no reason; it is the 21st Century and we are bored by it now.

I've heard that there are genres of fanfiction that are conflict-free, just "an hour in the life" kind of things, "Kirk and Uhura have a nice cup of tea and talk about music" or something (I've never read any myself, maybe I'm making this up) and if so, then for once I believe the fanfiction hype and they are riding the wave of the future. Down with crying and arguing and self-flagellation, up with trips to the fabric store and Charlotte's upside-down tulip.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this story a lady named Ms. Towne teaches Mary Anne to sew and she does house work Ms. Towne then breaks her ankle and Mary Anne becomes her Maid!!!!!!!!! She has no time to be with her friends or family! I like this book and I think you will to!

[Jaclyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad.

Though TBH I AM kinda side-eyeing the elderly lady. Like yeah right you didn't realize you were taking advantage of Mary Anne by calling her practically every day and various times for minor tasks like taking a box off a shelf. 🤨

[Lianna Kendig · Rating 4 out of 5]

(LL)
This book does a great job tackling: standing up for yourself, learning boundaries, and how awesome quilts and arts and crafts can be for kids and adults.

[Tiera · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one.

[Gabrielle S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one more than I remembered. But then again I like Mary Anne.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

You could honestly write a thesis on how Mary Anne not only misquoted but also misinterpreted the Tolstoy quote that opens this book. At first, I thought this book was annoying, but it gave me a lot to think about.

First of all, this new farmland area of Stoneybrook that's been introduced gives me such a heavy, dreadful feeling. I just really didn't want Mary Anne to go knock on that house for some reason! Literally the minute this perfectly nice old lady broke her ankle and didn't answer the door I was like… this is a trap, don't go in, don't go in.

Mary Anne and Dawn's parents are completely oblivious to what either of their children are going through in this book. Mary Anne has taken on the sole care of an elderly woman, and Dawn is clearly dealing with some depression. And these two are just out "running errands" and making fuck-me eyes at each other.

Mary Anne once again proves how mentally unstable she is by taking Dawn's extremely generic public speaking advice (people have other things on their mind than just you) as a sign that she's "too" selfish. Of course, nothing she does in this book is altruistic in any way and is just done to prove to herself that she's an unselfish, giving person.

Meanwhile Dawn clearly hates the Schafer-Spier super family, because she has been lashing out in various ways ever since Dawn's Wicked Stepsister.

These people are crumbling apart.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason I remembered this book taking place around New Year's (I think because of Mary Anne's "resolution" to be less selfish) but I was completely wrong. Within the first few paragraphs I found out it was actually set in the summer, but I decided to go ahead and re-read it for New Year's Eve/Day anyway.

This one has never been a favorite, but it was enjoyable enough to read. Mrs. Towne is, of course, never mentioned again after this book, nor is the Kids Quilting Club, so it's really just a filler book. We do get a lot of foreshadowing about Dawn moving back to California though, which Mary Anne seems to purposely ignore.

[Maeve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mary Anne, who loves sewing, hears about a great seamstress in Stoneybrook: Mrs. Towne. After introducing herself, Mary Anne asks for lessons, and Mrs. Towne agrees! But after an accident leaves Mrs. Towne with a broken ankle, Mary Anne begins trading housework for lessons. In an attempt to be less selfish, Mary Anne continuously puts Mrs. Towne's needs above her own and misses quality time with Dawn, BSC meetings, babysitting jobs, and time with Logan. And she's exhausted. Mary Anne needs to learn how to find a balance between taking care of her own needs and being kind and unselfish.

[Sayo -bibliotequeish-]

As 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.

[Cassandra Doon · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I was 10 I joined a readers club/group where we got a new book every week. I chose The babysitters club.
The books are fantastic! So enjoyable. I loved getting the book every week. They are super quick reads and I was able to read it in one day.
Highly recommend for young teenagers to read or even younger if they are able too read well.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was going to give this 2 stars, because the pacing was sooooo bad in the first half, just excessive details about sewing and every micro action required to, like, thread a needle. But the messages about what it means to be selfish or unselfish, how to have a meaningful relationship with someone, and sexism/ gender roles all n turned out to be really good, so I had to give 3 stars.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this was very intensely boring. Nothing really of interest happened, except the start to dangle the "Dawn wants to go back to California for awhile" angle. Which is a perk, because I like anything that involves less Dawn!

[Devon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Both the plot and subplot in this one were annoying, honestly. Sensitive Mary Anne is, once again, so "sensitive" that she manages to be a jerk to all of her loved ones. The best part about this one is the super cute cover.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mary Anne wants to take sewing and quilting classes with Mrs. Towne. But one day, she had a fall and broke her leg, and in exchange for the lessons, Mary Anne was doing her chores and being taken advantage of. On the side, the baby sitting charges are creating a quilt.

[Jennifer Baratta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review on www.Audible.com please listen to this book.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my childhood books.

[Meg GlitteryOtters · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Christina]

Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...

[Zadie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awsome book! i liked it!

[Martha Stutzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow to get to the point

It was a good book overall but it was slow to acknowledge the problem I didn’t really know what the problem was until it was almost solved.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. Meh, another mid Mary Anne book. This wasn’t awful nor was she at her most annoying here but the story just wasn’t that interesting.

[Ellis Billington · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like a rehashing of themes that were already explored better in Dawn and the Impossible Three. The plot felt a lot slower to get started than usual too.