Dawn and the School Spirit War is the 84th book in The Baby-Sitters Club series.
Back Cover Summary[]
It's School Spirit Month at SMS. That means a new activity every day, including a pep rally, a big game against their rival school, and all kinds of dress-up days. Dawn likes some of the events, especially school clean-up day.
But soon Dawn sees that some of the kids are getting too involved in School Spirit Month. They make fun of the people who don't participate, and Mary Anne is becoming afraid to go to school. Dawn doesn't think that is fair.
School Spirit Month was supposed to bring SMS together. But now a huge war is about to break out. And Dawn is right in the middle of it.
Summary[]
Dawn and Mary Anne protest School Spirit Month. Since some BSC members are for it, this causes issues in the club. Dawn and Mary Anne petition to get rid of Spirit Month and they win. But Dawn is disappointed even though they won. She later has School Spirit Month brought back, but on a voluntary basis.
Subplot[]
The Barretts and the DeWitts are too cramped in their house. The kids convinced their parents not to buy a bigger house in another city, but their current house is too small. The problem is solved when an addition is built.
Characters[]
Dawn's Family
BSC Members
- Kristy Thomas
- Mary Anne Spier
- Claudia Kishi
- Mallory Pike
- Jessi Ramsey
- Dawn Schafer
- Shannon Kilbourne
Kids
Pre-Teens
- Robbie Mara - sixth grader interviewed by the news
Teenagers
- Corrine Baker - member of the SMS Cheerleading Squad
- Grace Blume
- Alan Gray
- Bruce Shermerhorn - student in Dawn's class
- Shawna Riverson
- Katie Shea
- Mary Sherwood
- Emily Bernstein
- Julie Stern - student against school spirit month
- Trevor Sandbourne
- Bruce Jamison - student who supports school spirit month and insults Mary Anne
- Charlie Thomas (mentioned)
- Robert Brewster (mentioned)
- Stacey McGill
Adults
- Mr. Blake
- Howard Kingbridge
- Natalie DeWitt
- Mimi Snowdon - anchorwoman from the WSBK news.
- Mr. Benjamin Taylor
- Mr. Halprin - school janitor
- Mr. De Young
- Mrs. Rosenauser - girls gym teacher
- Mrs. Gray
- Mrs. Gonzalez
- Ms. Harris - Dawn's gym teacher
- Mrs. Pinelli - music teacher
- Mr. and Mrs. Kishi (mentioned)
- Watson Brewer (mentioned)
- Dee Pike (mentioned)
- Ms. Walden (mentioned)
- Mr. Dougherty (mentioned)
- Mr. Fiske (mentioned)
- Mr. Lehrer, Mrs. Simon, Mrs. Hall (teachers mentioned)
- Mr. Shea- Katie's father who spoke at the open forum
- Lyman Bruno
- Cindy Sherwood - Mary's mother who speaks at the open forum and calls Sharon an unfit mother.
Locations[]
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Kishi House
- Schafer/Spier House
- Barrett/DeWitt House
- Stoneybrook High School
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Power Rangers
- X-Men
- G.I. Joe
- Monopoly
- Minnie Mouse
- Salvation Army
- The French Revolution
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- Stacey is not part of the BSC anymore because of the fight they had in the Stacey vs. the BSC and Shannon steps in as alternate officer.
- Natalie Barrett is now Natalie DeWitt after her marriage as seen in Here Come the Bridesmaids!.
- Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt start a renovation on their house which gets finished in Mary Anne and the Music Box Secret.
Inconsistencies
- Dawn says she doesn't eat red meat in this book, when in the previous book she says she's a vegetarian.
- Dawn says she's messy when in earlier books she's a pretty neat person.
- In Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation, there are 382 students at SMS. Here Dawn and Mary Anne end up with over 300 signatures on their petition, implying that there were more students at the school.
- Mary Anne owns a pair of pink pajamas, but in Mary Anne Saves the Day she says pink is one of her least fave colors. But the pajamas could’ve been a gift from someone who didn’t know that Mary Anne doesn’t like pink.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
In Dawn and the School Spirit War, Dawn takes a stand for something she believes in and won't back down. Dawn is often active in issues where the environment is concerned. But this is one of the few times when she champions an unpopular cause. Dawn feels strongly that if she is passionate about something she must stand up for what she believes in. She feels that it's her right to make her voice heard — even if no one wants to hear her. This is difficult, but Dawn knows it's important to try to change things that she feels are wrong. The option, she knows, is to live with them, and Dawn would always rather fight than give in.
Trivia[]
- Dawn wears a nightshirt or sweats to sleep but Mary Anne owns pajamas.
- Nannie bought Kristy pajamas with pink bunnies all over them and she wears them to school.
- The Howard Township Middle School is SMS's big rival.
- Fights include Dawn, Mary Anne, & Mal vs Kristy, Claudia, & Jessi
- Sharon's car is being fixed and Richard drives her to work in the first chapter.
- There are executive board PTO meetings.
- This book is set in April.
- The Stoneybrook News covers the school spirit month.
- Events include:
- Pajama day
- School clean up day
- Color day - yellow for the eighth graders, red for the sixth graders, green for the seventh graders
- Recyclable soda can day
- Garden Day
- Make a new friend day
- Dress like a teacher day
- Mural Day
- Retro clothing day
- Mr. Wong works in the art department
- Dawn doesn't own any yellow clothing
- Stacey didn't wear anything yellow on color day
- Stacey likes the word zeal.
- Kristy calls Mary Anne uptight
- There is a food fight in chapter eight.
- Stoneybrook is an expensive place to live where Mr. and Mrs. DeWitt could move to a bigger place outside of town.
- Dawn and Sharon were both on TV.
- Sharon and Richard both didn't like Cindy Sherwood in high school.
- Although they are never spoke the Newtons, Pikes, Braddocks, Hills, and the Hobarts were all invited to the ground breaking party.