Mallory on Strike is the 47th book in The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin.
Back Cover Summary[]
Mallory couldn't imagine not being in a big family like hers. There's always someone to do things with, and she likes to help take care of her younger brothers and sisters.
But now Mallory's working on an important writing project, and she needs peace and quiet. So why won't everyone leave her alone? Nicky needs help tying his shoes, Claire wants a sandwich, and someone has to break up the fight among the triplets.
Mallory feels like a baby-sitting slave.
And there's only one thing to do: This Baby-sitter is going on strike!
Summary[]
Mallory is super excited. Her writing class teacher announced that there's going to be a writing contest. Mallory has to be in it! That day she wants to get started right away. But her mum keeps asking for favours and to do this or that. And now she never even has time to do her homework.
She goes on strike.
Subplot[]
Characters[]
Mallory's Family
- John Pike
- Dee Pike
- Mallory Pike
- Pike Triplets:Jordan, Adam, Byron
- Vanessa Pike
- Nicky Pike
- Margo Pike
- Claire Pike
BSC Members
Kids
- Andrea and Jenny Prezzioso (mentioned)
- Jamie and Lucy Newton (mentioned)
- Mathew, Johnny, and James Hobart (mentioned)
- Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie Barrett
- David Michael Thomas, Karen, Andrew, and Emily Michelle Brewer
- Matt Braddock (mentioned)
Pre-Teens
- Benny Ott (mentioned)
- Rebecca Mason - girl in Mallory's creative writing class who turned her story in early (mentioned)
Teenagers
- Justin Forbes (mentioned)
- Howie Johnson (mentioned)
Adults
- Mr. Dougherty
- Madeleine Prezzioso (mentioned)
- Mrs. Hobart (mentioned)
- Linda Arnold (mentioned)
- Mr. Benjamin Taylor
- Pamme Reed - author who is friends with Mr. Doughtery
Locations[]
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Pike House
- Kishi House
- Barrett House
- Brewer/Thomas House
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Sports Illustrated
- Marguerite Henry
- Skipper doll
- the Nutcracker
- Cinderella
- Mother May I?
- Miss America
- The Three Little Pigs
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- Mallory recalls Jessi dancing in Coppelia from Jessi's Secret Language.
- On page 10, it's mentioned that Nicky broke his finger which happened in Hello, Mallory.
Inconsistencies
- Vanessa isn't described with her glasses, but she's supposed to have them.
- Mallory says Jessi doesn’t have glasses or braces. But in Hello, Mallory, Jessi has reading glasses and she tells Mallory that she’ll be getting braces soon.
- The schedule Mallory makes for her chores, BSC, and working on her story ends every day with "bed" at 9:00 p.m. Except we learned in earlier books that bedtime for Pike kids aged 9 and up is 10:00 p.m., and even though each Pike kid has a "bedtime," it just means it's the time they have to be in bed, but not actually go to sleep so Mallory could stay up and write.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
In Mallory on Strike, Mallory protests when she feels that she is being taken advantage of as a built-in baby-sitter. Unlike Mallory, something I rarely had to do was baby-sit for my sister. She is only two years younger than I am, so by the time I started baby-sitting she barely needed a sitter herself. Sometimes we were left baby-sitting for each other, which was fun because we were on our own. Our parents let us fix frozen dinners and eat them on trays in front of the TV. A big treat!
Mallory also feels that she has no privacy. In my family, privacy was important to my sister and me, and we were lucky because we had our own rooms. It’s too bad we didn’t have two back seats in our station wagon, because that would have solved a problem on long car trips. Each of us wanted our own space in the car. In order to create it, we would divide the back seat in half, and we weren’t allowed to cross the line. If we did, a fight usually ensued. Neither Jane nor I ever went on strike, but our parents frequently threatened to pull the car over until we could settle down.
Trivia[]
- David Michael has a friend named Carver Ensign; this is the only book he appears in.
- The Prezziosos live on Burnt Hill Road and are friends with the Pikes.
- Jessi's studying French.
- Jessi wears size 6 shoes.
- One of Mallory's favorite foods is bacon.
- Mallory is 10 minutes late for a BSC meeting; Kristy gives Mallory "The Look" sign.
- Jessi and Mallory like Mexican food.
- Pamme Reed, an author, comes to SMS. This is the second time an author has visited SMS; the first in Mary Anne Misses Logan.
- Mallory describes how Byron is different from the other two triplets but doesn't give a distinction between Jordan and Adam.
- Mallory's worst classes are math and science.
- Claudia says that Chez Maurice is her parents’ favorite restaurant.
- Mallory has spent two months working on a short poem.
- Claudia has eaten eels and didn't even know it.
- It's unclear why Mallory never went to the library or stayed at school to write instead of going home.
- Claudia has a sitting job with the Rodowsky's.
- The Sobaks, Addisons, and the Perkins are jobs that Mallory either passed on or couldn't sit for anyway.
- The Perkins called twice in the same BSC meeting for Sunday morning and Monday afternoon.
- Claudia is into fifties styles in this book.
- Stacey describes herself as frugal.
- Jordan doesn't like pepperoni, Nicky doesn't like onions, and Margo can't have crust on their pizza.
- In the end, Mallory is allowed private time to herself for projects to write in her parents room with a do not disturb sign.