richard asks mary anne if she wants to invite dawn over for dinner one night. mary anne agrees. when dawn arrives, richard asks the girls to help him plan a surprise birthday dinner at chez maurice for dawn's mother. they arrange for flowers, balloons, a special cake (i thought the schafers didn't eat sugar?), etc. mary anne & dawn are excited are the special evening, but mary anne is a little confused about richard's motives. sharon is only turning 43. mary anne doesn't know why he doesn't wait...

You know, I LOVE how these books deal with things. They cover a wide variety of topics in a respectful way (better then a lot of newer books do), while still being light-hearted and fun!

this is my first time reading this bookalso, this is the first book that came out in the 1990s!the main plot is that sharon schafer and richard spier decide to get married. they want to have a small wedding, and the spiers will be moving into the schafer's house, which upsets mary anne. the subplot is that the arnold twins who we thought were getting along after the resolution in Mallory and the Trouble With Twins are fighting nonstop. mary anne suggests that they stop sharing a bedroom, and tha...

While I actually started reading around age 3 (thank you, my Granny's Dick and Jane books!), this series is what I remember most about loving to read during my childhood. My sister and I drank these books up like they were oxygen. I truly think we owned just about every single one from every one of the series. We even got the privilege of meeting Ann M. Martin at a book signing, but of course little starstruck me froze and could not speak a word to my biggest hero at that time. Once in awhile if...

I'm still working on my goal to read all the BSC books in order but I realized on Friday that I hadn't read any so far this year. This one centers around my favorite characters--Mary Anne and Dawn, and my favorite plot point--their parents getting married so they're ~step-sisters~. So far this book wins for the most uses of the word "furthermore" in any BSC book.

It’s finally happening! Mary Anne’s dad and Dawns mother are getting married! Mary Anne can’t believe her luck, she is getting a new mother (her own mother died when she was very young) and new step siblings! The only problem is ... all the issues that come with blending two families together. Who’s house will they live in? What will they call their new stepparents? Dawns mon doesn’t like cats but Mary Anne has Tigger , her kitten. While thinking on those issue there is also an issue with two of...

Mary Anne's father and Dawn's (possibly unstable) mother tie the knot, and Mary Anne and Dawn freak out because their parents (very sensibly) don't want a lavish wedding. There is a lot of foreshadowing of what's to come in the next book, Dawn's Wicked Stepsister. (Which was the very first BSC book I ever read!) I read this when I was eight.Things I remember from reading this a kid:I remember the surprise party that Mary Anne's father throws Dawn's mother, and the ring he gives her by putting it...

This book is notable for the non-appearance of Gozzie Kunka. The Great Romance? Not so much.

The titles to these kept annoying me because I was not in any way into romance when I was a kid, but I was relieved to find that this was not about another boy-crazy adventure. It was about Mary Anne and Dawn's parents getting married to each other, which will make them stepsisters.This was pretty cool to me because by book 30 (plus a few Super Specials) we'd really gotten to know these girls and watched their club become sort of like its own sisterhood, so actually seeing two of the girls get t...

My kneejerk reaction was to say that this isn't one of my fave BSC books (too much crabbiness - Marilyn & Carolyn, Mary Anne...) BUT the more I think about it, the more I enjoyed it. It's a need-to-read, because Mary Anne and Dawn become step-sisters! (Fulfilling every teen girl's dream to have their bff become their sibling.) So I love it for that reason, because it adds a new layer to the BSC. (Also, I might have teared up at Mary Anne's letter to Kristy. MA and Dawn becoming step-sisters affe...

I rescued my copy of this from a library book sale. It's one of those ridiculously huge hardback library copies we all checked out back in 1991. Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. You know.YOU KNOW.Anyway, this was some shit right here. First of all, Mary Anne can be hella catty for no real reason. She has a few little minor hissy fits in this book, and there's so much foreshadowing of what comes in book 31 it's insane. Richard and Sharon let Dawn and Mary Anne know that they a...

I still love these books..

I was writing an article earlier this year about Claudia from the Babysitters club being my first ever fashion icon. (100% true to this very day.) So I read a whole bunch of these books again - yeah, I still own loads of them - and I like to read them when I'm on one of my nostalgia trips so be prepard for them to pop up every now and again. This one is not the best Babysitter's Club book, by a long stretch, but then again: it IS centered on Mary Anne aka pre-teen fiction's queen of soppy. And b...

I really loved how many of Ann M Martin's books talked about different types of families.

3 stars. Loved seeing Mary Anne’s dad and Dawn’s mom get married but outside of that this was not a favorite of mine. Mary Anne is one of my least favorite characters and she was super annoying in this one. Too much of her being whiny and insufferable for my tastes. Also, the side plot with the fighting twin sisters was just as aggravating. Not the best BSC book but it was fine.

3.5 Stars

Mary Anne's dad and Dawn's mom announce they are getting married.Mary Anne and Dawn immediately begin planning an elaborate ceremony, but Richard and Sharon disappoint them by wanting to keep it simple. Mary Anne’s excitement gives way to impotent rage when she is the last to find out that she and her father will be moving into the Schafer farmhouse; she doesn’t want to leave Bradford Court, and she’s worried that Sharon won’t be nice to her cat. Things end on an up note with some reassurances a...

Classic BSC! Oh man, the writing, the story, everything just brought me back to the good ol' days! In this book Mary Anne and Dawn's parents announce they are getting married. This is awesome, but trouble is brewing between the soon to be step sisters. I only wish I had the next book to read right away because of the cliff hanger...who will catch the bouquet? Will it be Mary Anne or Dawn?!?

The Baby-Sitters' obsession with Laura Ashley dresses and french braiding their hair continues...

I always found the backstory of Mary Anne's dad and Dawn's mom to be one of the sweeter things of this series.