Mary Anne Saves the Day

Ann M. Martin's Mary Anne Saves the Day is a friendship story for 9 year olds about the quietest girl in the Baby-Sitters Club finally losing her temper.

What happens

It's the fourth book in the series. Mary Anne, Kristy, Claudia and Stacey are twelve, and they run a babysitting business from the phone in Claudia's bedroom. The rule is that every job gets offered round.

Then Kristy grabs a job looking after the Newtons' brand-new baby for herself. Everyone wanted that one! Within minutes the whole club is shouting. Stacey calls Mary Anne a shy little baby, and something in her snaps.

She tells all three exactly what she thinks of them and slams the door so hard the walls shake. Who knew she had it in her?

The next few days are miserable. Mary Anne waits at her window with a torch to flash I'M SORRY next door, and Kristy's blind stays down. At lunch there's no chair left for her at their usual table.

So she sits on her own (she'd rather die of embarrassment than join a group she hardly knows). That's where Dawn finds her, a new girl with almost-white hair who just wants someone to eat with. Mary Anne isn't sure she's ever made a friend all on her own before.

She tells the story herself, and she's lovely company. She's shy and careful and very honest about the less noble bits (she rather enjoys making Kristy mad, and owns up to it).

Her dad is super strict too. Braids every day, no "yeah" at the dinner table, and a pink bedroom that hasn't changed since she was three.

It's a very real look at a falling-out from the inside. Everyone's a bit right and a bit wrong, and nobody wants to go first.

It's a world of landline phones and torch codes, and very American (Twinkies, homeroom and a lot of "Boy!").

A few things to be aware of before you start. Mary Anne's mum died when she was tiny, which is backstory from the very first page. Kristy's and Dawn's parents are both divorced. And twice Mary Anne uses the word "midget" about the low ceilings and stairs in Dawn's old farmhouse, a word many people now find hurtful. It's worth a quick chat if your reader spots it.

If your reader is new to the club, the first book is Kristy's Great Idea.

What to read next

For another careful, thoughtful girl finding her feet, try Alice in the Spotlight. Alice's old friends have all gone to a different school from hers. On her very first morning there, a girl called Tasheika slips an arm through hers and takes her in.