Mary Anne and the Playground Fight is the 120th book in The Baby-Sitters Club series by Ann M. Martin.
Back Cover Summary[]
Summer's coming, and the BSC members should be excited...right? SMS is planning a big trip to Europe. A playground camp is opening in Stoneybrook — and it needs counselors with baby-sitting experience. Mary Anne can't think of anyone more qualified than her friends in the BSC.
There's only one problem: There are nine BSC members — and only six jobs at the playground camp. The competition is turning fierce, and Mary Anne's friends are arguing more and more every day.
Can the BSC survive the fighting?
Main Plot[]
The school year is just about over, and the BSC is buzzing over two big pieces of news. First, the school is going to be offering another trip for students, like they did with the Hawaii trip. This trip, though, is to London and Paris. Next, Mrs. Simon (one of the SMS teachers) calls during a BSC meeting to let the club know that SES is going to be running a playground camp during the summer, and she wants all of them to consider applying to be counselors. There are six slots open for SMS students, and all the BSC members (except Shannon) plan to apply. That's nine people applying for those six slots....in addition to all the non-BSC kids who are going to be throwing their hats in the ring. Mary Anne is really worried about all the competition.
Soon, Dawn arrives for the summer, and she has some big news of her own: she doesn't want to leave Stoneybrook at all, even for the nine days that the Europe trip would last. Mary Anne decides that she won't go, either. The others are busy trying to earn money for their trips, though...and preparing their applications for the playground jobs. Everyone except Jessi and Mallory end up making it past the first round of cuts and gets an interview, but not everyone in the BSC who's applied is being totally honest. Kristy, Stacey, and Abby are all planning to go to Europe, but they've really downplayed that on their applications. That just makes the sniping and fighting within the BSC even worse, and by the time the interviews are over, hardly anyone else getting along. Mary Anne starts to wish that the whole playground job thing had never happened.
As it turns out, Claudia, Mary Anne, Logan, and Dawn get offered jobs, and the others don't. The sitters apologize, and everything is good again.
Subplot[]
Victoria Kent is getting ready to head back to England, and she doesn't want to go. She's still obsessed with all things American (because they don't have jelly doughnuts in England, apparently), but she's excited that some members of the BSC will be able to visit her on her turf later in the summer. When she finds out that Mary Anne won't be one of them, though....trouble. Mary Anne writes her a note explaining everything, and they're friends again.
Characters[]
Mary Anne's Family
BSC Members
Kids
- Victoria Kent
- Karen Brewer
- David Michael Thomas
- Linny and Hannie Papadakis
- Rosie Wilder (mentioned)
- Nancy Dawes (mentioned)
- Scott Hsu (mentioned)
- Jenny Prezzioso (mentioned)
- Charlotte Johanssen
- Maria Kilbourne
- Becca Ramsey
- Tiffany Kilbourne (mentioned)
- Bill & Melody Korman (mentioned)
Teenagers
- Alan Gray
- Barbara Hirsch
- Gordon Brown
- Peter Hayes
- Howie Johnson
- Melissa Banks (mentioned)
- Cokie Mason
- Erica Blumberg
- Katie Shea
- Mary Sherwood
- Brad Simon
- Rodge Somerset - Alan's friend
- Emily Bernstein (mentioned)
- Ashley Wyeth (mentioned)
- Penny Weller - girl interviewing for the playground positions
Adults
- Ms. Belcher - Mary Anne's English teacher
- Mr. Halprin - SMS janitor
- Miss Rutherford - Victoria's nanny
- Ms. Frost (mentioned)
- Ms. Levine - Stacey's homeroom teacher (mentioned)
- Mrs. Rosenaur - gym teacher
- Mr. Blake
- Mrs. Bruen (mentioned)
- Carol Olson (mentioned)
- Mrs. Wilder (mentioned)
- Mrs. Boyden
- Mr. De Young
- George - the Kents driver
- Mr. and Mrs. Kent
Locations[]
- Schafer/Spier House
- Kishi House
- Stoneybrook Day School
- Stoneybrook Middle School
- Cabbages and Kings
- Washington Mall
- Kent House
Pop Culture and Real-Life References[]
- Beatrix Potter
- The Dick Van Dyke Show
- Marvel comic books
- Gumby dolls
- Star Trek
- Curious George, The Runaway Bunny, Babar, Harriet the Spy, The Witch of Blackbird Pond (books)
- Sleeping Beauty
- The Wizard of Oz, Toy Story, King Kong, Home Alone (movies)
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- The Hawaii trip from Aloha, Baby-sitters! is brought up in chapter 3.
- Brad Simon being suspended for cheating is mentioned on page 96 which happened in Abby's Lucky Thirteen.
- On page 102 Claudia being sent back to seventh grade was brought up.
Inconsistencies
- Katie Shea is called Kate on page 29 when she was referenced as Katie on page 27.
- Mary Anne says that when she was a baby, her father sent her to live with her grandparents in Nebraska for a while, when it should be Iowa.
- In chapter 4, it's said that six playground camp counselor jobs are available for students who attend Stoneybrook Middle School. Despite the fact that Dawn doesn't attend SMS at this point (and she doesn't even live in Connecticut), she still gets a playground counselor job.
- Mary Anne says that she has pierced ears when her dad won't let her pierce them.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
In Mary Anne and the Playground Fight, the members of the Baby-sitters Club find themselves in an unusual situation. While they’re good about sharing the jobs they get at club meetings, they’re now fiercely competing for a limited number of jobs that they all want badly. Competition can be difficult, especially when friends are competing against one another.
You may find yourself competing against a friend in sports, in school, in contests, or, like the members of the BSC, for a job. An important thing to remember when you’re competing against a friend is that both your friendship and the competition are important, so it’s your responsibility to do your best, honestly. You’re not being fair to your friend if you don’t do your best in order to let her win.
And you’re not being fair to anyone if, like Kristy, you don’t play by the rules. Try keeping things out in the open. If you and a friend are competing against each other, talk about it. Tell each other what you’re afraid of, and what you hope for. Then go for it. Mary Anne and her friends might have had an easier time if they had been honest with themselves and with one another from the beginning.
Trivia[]
- This is the final appearance of Victoria Kent in the main series, she only returns for Baby-sitters' European Vacation.
- This book leads up to the final super special as well.
- A lot of the things Victoria loves about America is in England, however, it's likely that she's not allowed them at home for a particular reason. Such as jelly donuts are not on their grocery list back home but added them here.
- Alan Gray has to do community service for shooting spitballs in class.
- Mary Anne and Logan go on a date to the lighthouse.
- Elizabeth Grace Schafer-Olson was born prior to this book.
- Abby likes eating Dawn's healthy food.
- Dawn didn't want to go London and Paris.
- Dawn uses the manual lawnmower because it doesn't burn gas.
- Mrs. Prezzioso bought Jenny a giant blue and white rabbit that was Victoria's.
- Karen, Hannie, and Nancy bought out an entire collection of poodle stuffed animals.
- All of the sixth graders were excluded from the playground jobs. A reason is never given.
- Since Gracie has been born, this book takes place sometime after Dawn, Diary Two.
- Kristy takes Mary Anne’s babysitting job in chapter 5 so Mary Anne can meet Dawn at the airport.