- This article is about the original novel. You might be looking for the episode please see Mary Anne and the Great Romance (episode).
Mary Anne and the Great Romance is the 30th book in The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin.
Back Cover Summary
It's official — Mary Anne's father and Dawn's mother are getting married! The Baby-sitters think it's so romantic, especially since Mr. Spier and Mrs. Schafer first fell in love when they were in high school.
But nothing can top Mary Anne and Dawn's excitement. They want a huge wedding with beautiful dresses, lots of presents, and a five-layer cake. After all, this isn't just any wedding. Mary Anne and Dawn are going to be baby-sitters, best friends, and sisters, too!
Summary
It's Ms. Schafer's birthday! Dawn, Mary Anne, and Mr. Spier are going to surprise her with dinner at a restaurant. Every thing is perfect and when the cake comes she finds an engagement ring on the cake. They're getting married! But it is not all fun. Richard and Sharon don’t want a big wedding. Dawn and Mary Anne start to fight a lot. And Mary Anne's father did not tell her they're moving to Dawn's house. It basically ends with Dawn and Mary Anne reaching to grab the bride’s flowers.
Subplot
Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold aren’t getting along, despite having separate identities now. They decide to have separate bedrooms, and they both seem much happier.
Characters
Mary Anne's Family
BSC Members
Kids
- Marilyn and Carolyn Arnold
- Matt and Haley Braddock
- Jordan, Adam, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, and Claire Pike
- Andrew and Karen Brewer, Emily Michelle Brewer and David Michael Thomas
- Linny Papadakis (mentioned)
Adults
Locations
- Spier House
- Schafer House
- Arnold House
- Braddock House
- Pike House
- Chez Maurice
- Brewer/Thomas House
Pop Culture and Real-Life References
- Haley Mills movies: Pollyanna, The Parent Trap, That Darn Cat, and The Moon-Spinners
- Pippi Longstockings, The Teddy Bears' Christmas, the Witch Next Door, Baby Island, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, Dr. Dolittle (books)
- Talbots and Laura Ashley (stores)
Continuity and Inconsistencies
Continuity
- Sharon's parents are noted to be fairly wealthy. This was also mentioned in Mary Anne Saves the Day and Dawn and the Impossible Three.
Inconsistencies
- In the first printing, Dawn's name is repeated and Mallory is missing on pages 141-142.
- Mary Anne says that Kristy has never missed a BSC meeting. But she missed one in Kristy and the Snobs when Louie was really sick. She also missed one on purpose in Mary Anne Saves the Day.
- In chapter 2, Kristy calls Dawn and Mary Anne for a social call, even though she’s babysitting. It later becomes a club rule that babysitters won’t call friends to socialize while they’re working,
- Mary Anne mentions that she wants to wear a pink dress to her dad’s wedding, but she hates the color pink.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter
Dear Reader,
I am often asked how I can come up with the ideas for so many Baby-sitters Club stories. Surprisingly, I find that the longer the series continues, the easier it is to come up with ideas. There are so many characters that eventually they begin to suggest their own storylines. For example, Dawn and Jeff move to Stoneybrook in book #4, and Jeff is very unhappy. So by book #13 I felt that Jeff might want to move back to California to live with his father. Also in book #4, Mary Anne and Dawn decide to bring their parents back together. And now, in book #30, they finally get married!
Some storylines that seem right for a character don’t actually work out, though. For example, my editors and I once considered a big story for Mallory—sending her to boarding school. In the end, we decided that wasn’t such a good idea. Readers would miss her too much. Some ideas are better than others!
Trivia
- A reprint was released March 4, 2025. [1]
- An episode of the Netflix series very loosely adapted the book for season 2 [2].
- This is the first (and only) time a book ends before the story's conclusion, which happens in the next book.
- Richard says that if they all lived in the Spiers’ current house after he and Sharon get married, Mary Anne and Dawn would have to share a room when Jeff visits. This implies the house has three bedrooms (one for Richard, one for Mary Anne, and one for guests).
- Richard owns a tuxedo, which isn't in very good shape according to Mary Anne.
- Sharon celebrates her 43rd birthday in this book.
- Richard thinks it's rude to ask a lady her age.
- Mary Anne invented a board game called Mary Anne's Game of School that the Arnolds play.
- Richard had Sharon's engagement ring hidden in the cake. Originally they had decided not to do a formal engagement as they had both been married once before and didn't need new rings.
- Logan comes to a BSC meeting.
- Jobs arranged but never seen are with the Rodowsky and Perkins families.
- Vanessa used to be teased for talking in rhyme so much at home. Mallory got called metal mouth by the triplets when she got her braces.
- Sam and Charlie have a friend named Patrick.
- The church that Mary Anne and Richard go to has the longest aisle in Stoneybrook. Mary Anne also calls it pretty.
- Stacey lives closer to the Arnolds now.
- Stacey thought that Marilyn's new room was a little on the dull side.
- Claudia helped both Stacey and Mary Anne decorate their rooms when they moved.
- Charlie gets the Junk Bucket in this book.
- Mary Anne, Dawn, and Sharon went looking for dresses at Talbots for the wedding; the girls didn't end up finding anything.
- Richard and Sharon plan to spend their wedding night at the Strathmoore Inn.
- This is one of the only books that mentions Stacey has to test her urine because she has diabetes. Another book that mentions this is Baby-Sitters’ Summer Vacation.
- Mary Anne says that she and Dawn don’t have any girl cousins.
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