Mary Anne Breaks the Rules is the 79th book in The Baby-Sitters Club series.
Back Cover Summary[]
Since Mary Anne has been sitting for the Kuhn kids, she's noticed how much Jake misses his divorced dad. Mary Anne thinks Jake needs a guy to hang around with...but she doesn't want to tell Mrs. Kuhn this. So Mary Anne invites Logan over to play with Jake while she's baby-sitting.
Everything's perfect — until one day Mrs. Kuhn comes home early and finds Logan there. It's just a misunderstanding, but all Mrs. Kuhn and Kristy see is that Mary Anne has broken the number one rule of baby-sitting. She's invited her boyfriend over. What will happen to the BSC when their other clients find out?
Summary[]
Subplot[]
Clients team up and make haunted houses around the neighborhood. Jake Kuhn, Buddy Barrett, and Nicky Pike create a scary and funny house in the Kuhn Family's basement. Vanessa Pike, Matt Braddock, and Haley Braddock create a scary haunted house in the Braddock Family's basement. Each group goes to war with each other to see who can get the most customers. Vanessa, Matt, and Haley's group had the scarier one when Mary Anne Spier polled the kids that went to both.
Characters[]
Mary Anne's Family
BSC Members
Kids
- Matt and Haley Braddock
- Jake, Laurel, and Patsy Kuhn
- Arnold Twins
- Matt and Haley Braddock
- Jordan, Adam, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, and Claire Pike
- Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie Barrett
- Nina and Eleanor Marshall
- Todd Masters (mentioned)
- Tiffany and Maria Kilbourne
- James, Mathew, and Johnny Hobart
- Bobby and Alicia Gianelli (mentioned)
- Norman Hill (mentioned)
Pre-Teens
Teenagers
- Alan Gray
- Clarence King (mentioned)
Adults
- Caroline Kuhn
- Franklin DeWitt (mentioned)
- Coach Mills (mentioned)
- Mrs. Hobart (mentioned)
- Mrs. Papadakis (mentioned)
- Mr. Newton (mentioned)
- Dr. Johanssen (mentioned)
- Mrs. Marshall (mentioned)
- Carolyn Arnold (mentioned)
- Goldman Family
- Kathy Kilbourne
Locations[]
- Spier House
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Kishi House
- Pizza Express
- Chez Maurice (mentioned)
- Kuhn House
- Pike House
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Beauty and the Beast
- American Ballet Theater
- Mickey Mouse
- Smee, Captain Hook, and Tinker Bell
- Barbie
- G.I. Joe
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Friday the Thirteenth
- Frankenstein
- Radio Shack
- Tweedledee and Tweedledum
- Charlotte's Web
- Dracula
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- Now Karen and Andrew live alternate months at Watsons' aligning with the events of Karen's Two Families.
- Mary Anne recalls how her grandparents thought her dad wouldn't do well as a single father on page 68.
- Haley brought back her fortune teller persona from Dawn and the Big Sleepover and the fundraiser is mentioned on page 79.
Inconsistencies
- On page 20 Watson is referred to as a widower.
- On page 6 Stacey is mentioned as the secretary.
- On page 4 Mary Anne says she thinks Dawn is pretty, but in Mary Anne Saves the Day she said Dawn wasn’t very pretty.
- Mary Anne tells Jake that her mom died and her dad got remarried when she was 12. But she was 13.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
You may have noticed that Halloween is often a theme in the Baby-sitters Club books. When I was younger, I loved Halloween. It was a very big deal. We usually had a class party and a parade in school. Then we would come home, and as soon as it was dark, my friends and I would go trick-or-treating. When we were very little, our parents came with us. We couldn't wait to go by ourselves. For many years, Beth McKeever, my sister Jane, and I would go trick-or-treating together. We went up and down every street in our neighborhood. Some years, we would each come home with an entire grocery bag full of candy. If I rationed mine, I could make it last until Christmas.
Of course, before Halloween, we had to make our costumes. We almost never bought them. When I was in sixth grade, I decided to be a leprechaun, and I sewed the costume by myself. In seventh grade, I dressed as a hippie. I can't remember my earlier costumes, but I do remember that one year, my sister and her friend Cathy dressed up as Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. After I got too old to go trick-or-treating, I liked handing out the candy instead. And I still do.
Trivia[]
- Logan could be a good ballet dancer.
- Jake Kuhn's dad moved to Texas.
- The Pike triplets do food checks on their family, where they ask everyone to open their mouth while eating
- Jessi likes coffee ice cream
- Stacey and Robert go on a double date with Wayne McConville and Kathleen Lopez.
- Logan calls Jake "Jakey"
- Logan believes anyone could be good at sports.
- Mary Anne is afraid of confrontation
- Mr. Ohdner calls for a sitting job in chapter 10.
- One goof includes: when Kristy is baby-sitting at the Barretts' house a bunch of kids come over including the Kuhns. They begin discussing creating a spook house and Jake Kuhn says they should have it "Here, because his mom won't mind." Of course his mom won't mind if it's at Buddy's house! I know eventually the houses are held at the Kuhns and Braddocks but that was not how it started.
- The Prezzioso's call for a job.
- Mary Anne always wants to say yes to salespeople when they visit
- Shannon narrates chapter fourteen.