The Fire at Mary Anne's House is the 131st and last book of The Baby-Sitters Club series. The Baby-sitters Club: Friends Forever series immediately follows this book with the novel Everything Changes.
Back Cover Summary[]
When Mary Anne is woken up in the middle of the night by her cat, Tigger, she immediately knows something's wrong. Then she smells the smoke … and hears her father yelling her name. Mary Anne's house is on fire – and she makes it out right before everything burns down.
Now Mary Anne doesn't know what to do. All of her possessions are … gone. Her house is … destroyed. Will Mary Anne be able to get her old life back? Will her family move away from Stoneybrook … for good?
Main Plot[]
In the middle of the night, Tigger wakes Mary Anne up. At first, she can't figure out why. Then, she hears the smoke alarms, and her dad yelling for her. Their house is on fire! The place is totally filled with smoke, but everyone (including Tigger) makes it outside safely. Sharon managed to grab the cordless phone on her way out, and she's already called for help. The firefighters get there quickly, Pat and Eric escort the family out of the house, but all the family can do is watch their house and everything in it go up in flames. Eric, Pat, and Mike (the firefighters) unfortunately confirmed that the fire was an electrical fire.
Pretty soon, the neighbors start arriving including clients like Madeleine Prezzioso and the Baby-Sitters Club (even Logan Bruno). Stacey tries to get Mary Anne to go home with her so she doesn't have to stand there watching the fire, but Mary Anne doesn't want to leave. She's sort of frozen in place, and she can't cry. Eventually, Sharon starts making calls to everyone who needs to know about the fire. Many of them want to talk to Mary Anne, but she refuses until Dawn is the one asking. She'll be heading to Connecticut as soon as possible to be with the family.
Eventually, the Thomas' and Brewers show up with an invitation to stay at their house until other arrangements can be made. Richard, Sharon, and Mary Anne accept, and Mary Anne heads there for some rest while Richard and Sharon start searching through the rubble for anything salvageable. After her nap, Mary Anne heads back where her house used to be. They've managed to find a few things, including Sharon's wedding ring, but most of their stuff is gone. Mary Anne still can't cry, though...even when Dawn and Jeff finally arrives and are crying themselves.
Meanwhile, Jessi and Abby were sitting for the Pike children, since Mallory's at boarding school, she didn't come to see Mary Anne for the fire. The children really want to go to the fire department to learn more about how the fire was put out. The firefighters, Eric, Pat, and Mike show them about how to put out a fire, and show them their dalmatian, Sparky. Adam says that there is a fire prevention day at local schools. He also mentions that they'll light an old car on fire on the recreation field. They welcome visitors anytime and give tours. Mike is the one that gives the tour.
Things at the Thomas-Brewer house are a little overwhelming for the Spiers and Schafers. They even have to resort to sneaking out to the kids' playhouse in the backyard in order to have a family meeting about what to do next. Richard wants them to see the fire as an opportunity to start a new life. In fact, he wants them to start a new life in Philadelphia. He's been offered a great job there, and Sharon wants to go back to school. She'd have her pick of schools in Philly. Mary Anne is in shock; she's lived in Stoneybrook all her life, and she doesn't particularly want to leave.
One night, Mary Anne wakes up and can't get back to sleep. She sneaks out of the Thomas-Brewer mansion, borrows Kristy's bike, and rides over to where her house was. She goes into the barn, which is where they've been storing everything that might be able to be saved. Mary Anne starts to feel really, really alone, and that's when she finally starts crying about everything. Dawn finds her, and they have a nice cry together. Mary Anne, cries about everything in Stoneybrook that she doesn't want to leave behind, finally she calms down, hoping that she will have a brand new life.
Sub Plot[]
The BSC enters themselves in a nation wide babysitter of the year contest hosted by Teenzine Magazine. Whoever wins gets a big prize money. Babysitting clients went around and got testimonies from each other to submit as per the contest rules. When the BSC doesn't submit the entry on time because of the fire, the clients do it for them. However, the winner was never announced.
Characters in this book[]
Mary Anne's Family
- Richard Spier
- Sharon Spier
- Dawn Schafer
- Jeff Schafer
- Tigger Spier
- Pop-Pop Porter (mentioned)
- Granny Porter (mentioned)
- Verna Baker (mentioned)
BSC Members
- Kristy Thomas
- Claudia Kishi
- Stacey McGill
- Jessi Ramsey
- Abby Stevenson
- Logan Bruno
- Shannon Kilbourne (mentioned)
Kids
- Charlotte Johanssen
- Becca Ramsey
- Norman Hill
- Jordan, Adam, Byron, Vanessa, Nicky, Margo, Claire Pike
- Shea, Jackie, and Archie Rodowsky
- Haley and Matt Braddock
- David Michael, Karen, Andrew, and Emily Michelle Thomas-Brewer
- Jake Kuhn (mentioned)
Teenagers
Adults
- Madeleine Prezzioso
- John Pike
- Mr. Braddock
- Mrs. Braddock
- Jack Schafer
- Carol Olson
- Eric, Pat, Mike - fire fighters
- Dee Pike (mentioned)
- Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer
- Watson Brewer
- Dr. Reese (mentioned)
- Louise Bruno (mentioned)
- Nannie (mentioned)
Places in this Book[]
- Spier/Schafer House
- Kishi House
- Johanssen House
- Brewer/Thomas House
- Stoneybrook Fire Station
- Pike House
- Rodowsky House
- Stoneybrook Academy (mentioned)
Pop Culture and Real Life References[]
- My Side of the Mountain (book),
- Titanic
- Roman Holiday
- Jingle Bells
Continuity and Inconsistencies[]
Continuity
- References to: Mary Anne Saves the Day, Kristy's Worst Idea, Get Well Soon, Mallory!, The Ghost at Dawn's House, Kristy and the Missing Child, Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter, Kristy's Big Day, Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise, Kristy and the Cat Burglar,
- Mary Anne's favorite color is yellow which was mentioned in book 4.
Inconsistencies
- Charlotte is now nine years old instead of eight.
- Mary Anne usually hates to cook yet has a spaghetti recipe.
- Mary Anne calls Karen's rat cute, despite being afraid of her in previous books.
- In Chapter 9 Jessi and Abby take the Pike kids to the fire station so the firefighters can give them a tour of it. It's written as if they've never been there before. But the Pike kids went on a tour of the fire station just ten books ago, in Abby in Wonderland.
Ann M. Martin's Dear Reader Letter[]
Dear Reader,
If you have just finished reading this book, then you know about the big change in Mary Anne Spier’s life that may be one of the biggest crises any of the BSC members has ever faced. Mary Anne doesn’t know where her family is going to live, or even if they’re going to stay in Stoneybrook. Her life is going to change ... and so is the Baby-sitters Club.
Next month will mark the start of the BSC Friends Forever series. The BSC is going to get a whole new look — and a lot of big things are going to happen. I don’t want to give away any of the surprises, so keep an eye out for the BSC Friends Forever Special: Everything Changes, followed by BSC Friends Forever #1: Kristy's Big News. I’m very excited about the new changes and hope you will be too!
Trivia[]
- Sharon's great great grandfather came from Ireland and she has a portrait of him.
- Sometime Mary Anne thinks about what life was like living in her house back when it was first built.
- This book has a lot of call backs to previous books.
- Tigger likes to have his head rubbed in the morning.
- Mary Anne isn't sure what color yellow she wants to paint her room.
- Logan sleeps in until eleven in the summer.
- Mrs. Prezzioso looks good in purple.
- Stacey was the first BSC member to be at the house.
- After the fire happened the first calls were made to the insurance company, Pop-Pop Porter and Granny Porter, then Verna Baker, then finally Dawn and Jeff in California.
- The Fire Station has a pet dalmatian named Sparky.
- Kristy acts briefly like Mary Anne when trying to comfort her.
- Mary Anne has been writing in a journal for as long as she could remember she also has been keeping her mail.
- Mary Anne had a stuffed pig that she had named Elmer.
- Abby donated clothes to Mary Anne.
- Sharon doesn't like rats
- Sharon is considering a career change and being an interior designer or architect.
- The clients put together the presentation for the best baby-sitter contest.
- Matt Braddock is great with a computer.
- Mary Anne knows her town like the back of her hand.
- The Hobarts, Newtons, and the Kuhns are all mentioned but never seen.