Thoughts before reading:
I definitely read this one growing up, but I can't remember if I liked it or not. I do like the sound of it now: a readathon and a library setting? Sounds perfect. I'd guess that I enjoyed this as a kid just based on those facts alone. Maybe I just never had the chance to re-read or own it.
The basics:
Mary Anne's been feeling down lately because she misses Dawn, Mallory, and Logan (Dawn's in CA, Mallory's still recovering, and Logan's been really busy with his volleyball team.) She lucks out when the perfect distraction comes her way though: Mrs. Kishi pops into a BSC meeting to see if any of the girls can help her out at the library. They are hosting a readathon for kids to raise money for new books, so for the next few weeks the children's room will be swamped, and she needs volunteers to lend a hand. Mary Anne eagerly takes the job, which will occupy her on Saturdays, Sundays, and a few weekday afternoons.
Right away, Mary Anne loves the job and her blues vanish. She does experience some minor problems though, with a grouchy children's librarian who seems to hate her job (Miss Ellway), and a pro-book banning group that holds protests outside the library. During one pleasantly busy day in the children's room, a fire alarm goes off. It turns out to have been triggered by a small fire in one of the bathroom sinks, where it appears someone tried to burn a book. The incident leaves Mary Anne shaken, but Mrs. Kishi thinks it was just a prank. Unfortunately it's not long before someone starts a second fire, this time in a trash can using lighter fluid and yet another book. This time everyone is a lot more concerned.
Claudia tells the BSC girls that Miss Ellway's grandfather gave the land for the library to Stoneybrook, on the condition that if the library was ever torn down or destroyed, the property would go back to the family. (She heard about this from her mom.) The girls are spooked, thinking this gives Miss Ellway a perfect motive to try and burn down the building. They set about trying to keep an eye on her. Mary Anne also calls the fire station to ask which books were burned. The first was Deenie, by Judy Blume, and the second was A Light In the Attic, by Shel Silverstein.
The fire alarm goes off a third time, a small fire that Miss Ellway is able to put out herself. The book involved this time is Tom Sawyer. Mary Anne realizes that all three burned books are on the list of banned books that the protestors have been handing out. They become the new prime suspects, and the BSC girls start following them and trying to gather more information. Some of them also track down all the Ellways remaining in Stoneybrook and investigate them. Everything they find turns out to be a dead end though.
SMS has a fire drill, which also turns out to be a real fire. Classes are cancelled for the day, so Kristy calls an emergency BSC meeting so they can work on their case instead. During their discussion, they figure out all the books burned are also from the 5th grade reading list handed out for the readathon, and all the fires took place on Wednesdays. Each fire was also fairly close to where the books in question were shelved. Mrs. Kishi also tells them that the first fire was in the boy's bathroom, which likely means the culprit is male.
The next day happens to be a Wednesday, so the girls decide to stake out a trash can in the children's room that hasn't been hit yet. (It's also near another book from the 5th grade list.) Sure enough, they catch Sean Addison in the act of starting a fire there, and immediately confront him. He tells them he did it because he hates reading and didn't want to participate in the readathon, but his parents made him. They are still forcing their kids into activities to keep them out of the house (we first learned about the Addisons and their absentee parenting in Claudia and the Sad Goodbye).
Sean's parents are called in, and they agree to start family therapy and put their son in counseling.
Timeline:
It's still winter. At least time is linear again, within the time loop...
Misc. thoughts:
*Mary Anne actually acknowledges her tendency to feel sorry for herself in here. Jokingly, but it's still a start!
*I loved the library descriptions and setting in here, as I expected to. They gave the story a nice cozy feeling. This was a fun read too, also for the library set up and the readathon itself. Mary Anne's job sounds like a dream come true, I'd love to do something like it, even now.
*Mary Anne gets annoyed at one point because she's not crazy about being referred to as "her"? This had me pretty puzzled. What does she want to be referred to as? She doesn't strike me as having any particular gender or pronoun needs.
*Byron adores reptiles.
*There were great discussions about censorship and book banning in here, for this reading level. I think it's a great topic for young readers to be aware of, too.
*Rosie Wilder reads 15 books in a week! This was definitely how I was as a kid. I remember in 5th grade we had to read 30 books during the school year, and I read 77.
*When Mary Anne first hears that it was books being burned in the fires, she didn't immediately think of the book ban people who'd been protesting outside? Kind of a big oversight...
*Mary Anne finds matches in Nicky Pike's pocket at one point, but he swears they aren't his. She believes him, so she doesn't tell his parents. REALLY bad judgment, in my opinion. What if he had a serious problem? They should at least be aware to keep an eye on the situation.
*Mallory is still sick, and still very tired.
*Claudia thinks brown M&Ms taste best, followed by red.
*The readathon winners, by grade:
1st grade: Mathew Hobart
2nd grade: Marilyn Arnold
3rd grade: Nicky Pike
4th grade: Sarah Hill
5th grade: Bruce Boyd
*Mary Anne cries when Nicky wins because he says she's the one who got him excited about reading.
*Ghostwritten by Ellen Miles.
*Claudia also keeps junk food in her backpack at school, haha.
*This had no side plot and very minimal babysitting chapters! Such a refreshing change.
Books mentioned:
Get comfortable, because this one is a doozy...
*Charlotte's Web, by E. B. White
*The Little Women series, by Louisa May Alcott
*The Little House on the Prairie series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
*To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
*The Diary of Anne Frank
*The Outsiders, by S. E. Hinton
*The Boxcar Children, by Gertrude Chandler Warner
*The Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis
*The Magic School Bus series, by various authors
*Deenie, by Judy Blume
*A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein
*Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
*Misty's Twilight, by Marguerite Henry (not mentioned by name, just by description. I looked up the info to match it to this specific book.)
*Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
*The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
*Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
*A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle
*How to Eat Fried Worms, by Thomas Rockwell
My rating:
4 stars. I love books about books. This was entertaining, well done, and a mystery that could actually happen to teenagers, since the solution was a troubled kid, not some big criminal scheme that the police should be handling. By far the best mystery book!
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