Mary Anne Spier |
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|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Full name |
Mary Anne Spier |
| Joined | |
| Left | |
| Title | |
| Biographical | |
| Nickname | |
| Born |
September 22 |
| Hometown |
Stoneybrook, CT |
| Age |
12 - 13 |
| Family |
Richard Spier
(father) |
| Romances | |
| School | |
| Grade |
7th - 8th |
| Affiliations | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| First Appearance | |
| Final Appearance | |
| Portrayed by |
Meghan Lahey (TV) |
Mary Anne Spier is the secretary of the Baby-Sitter's Club, due to her exceptional organization skills and neat handwriting. Ann M. Martin said that she based the character of Mary Anne on herself and based Kristy on her best friend growing up. Mary Anne was born on September 22nd in Stoneybrook, Connecticut around 10:00PM. She is thirteen years old and is in the eighth grade at Stoneybrook Middle School. Mary Anne made her first appearance in Book #1 Kristy's Great Idea. The last book in the original series, Book #131 The Fire at Mary Anne's House, focuses around Mary Anne losing her home in a fire (as the name suggests). This is quite fitting seeing as out of the four original members, Mary Anne was the last one to narrarate her own book.
Family
Mary Anne's mother, Alma Spier, died when Mary Anne was a baby. She doesn't remember her at all and only has her mother's old things and some pictures. Mary Anne started becoming more interested in her mother's past when she was in sixth grade and found a box of her mother's things (including four well loved dolls) in her attic one day when she was home sick from school. She loves her father, Richard Spier, but he is very strict. He picked out her clothes for her (typically penny-loafers, jumpers, dresses, never pants or jeans; although in The Summer Before, Mary Anne wore patterned capris and pedal pushers); she was not allowed to wear her hair down (she had to wear it in pigtails or braids every day); she couldn't talk on the telephone at night (unless it was about homework); and she had to be home early (9:30PM on weekends and 9:00PM on weeknights, which was the earliest of all the members in The Baby-Sitters Club). Mary Anne's father used to buy all of her clothes, but he had to approve of her outfits. He bought her corduroy skirts, plain sweaters, and blouses. Mary Anne doesn't have any brothers or sisters, except for her stepsister Dawn and her stepbrother Jeff. Her father loosened up when he married Dawn's mother Sharon in Book #30 Mary Anne and the Great Romance.
Mary Anne also has a grandmother, whom she is close to, living on a farm in Maynard, Iowa. She lived with her grandparents for a while after her mother died while her father took time to grieve. Her grandparents did not want to give up custody of Mary Anne and did not speak to Richard for seven years.
Personality
Mary Anne often lacks self-confidence since, at her thirteenth birthday party in Book #10 Logan Likes Mary Anne, she was so shaken up by the surprise and terrified of being the center of so much attention that she fled her party. She is shy, timid, scares easily, quiet, not very confident, not very assertive, dependent on her friends, and can't stand arguments and big crowds. Mary Anne is very sensitive and cries at the drop of a pin. She cries at the cute kittens in cat commercials, goodbyes, and when others are upset, unhappy, or crying. This sensitive side that she possesses was apparent to everyone, and they were surprised that out of all the BSC members at the time (Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and Dawn), Mary Anne was the first to have a real and steady boyfriend. Mary Anne and Logan Bruno had some fights (like in Book #41 Mary Anne vs. Logan), and they broke up for awhile but got back together. Mary Anne is a good student and a good speller. She is responsible in the face of an emergency, as shown in Book #4 Mary Anne Saves the Day, when she was looking after Jenny Prezzioso, who had a temperature of 104 degrees and called 911. Mary Anne gets sunburned easily (as revealed in Book #8 Boy-Crazy Stacey and in Super Special #5 California Girls). She loves movie star Cam Geary and has a picture of him hanging up in her locker at school. Mary Anne knows how to sew and knit (Claudia's grandmother, Mimi Yamamoto, taught her). She wants to live in New York City when she's grown up. Mary Anne has trouble standing up for herself and had the most trouble standing up to her father in Mary Anne Saves the Day. She hates gym class. Mary Anne learned how to dance for the school dance with Logan in Book #10 Logan Likes Mary Anne. While she was at the dance, she was dancing and her shoe flew right off and hit the wall (and almost hitting the vice principal, Mr. Kingbridge, who was mentioned for the first time just then). Mary Anne got her kitten Tigger in Book #10 Logan Likes Mary Anne. Her locker number is 132, and she is in the same homeroom with Dawn Schafer. Mary Anne likes the movie Sixteen Candles, as revealed in Book #9 The Ghost at Dawn's House when the members of The Baby-Sitters Club were having a sleepover, and Mary Anne said she wanted to watch Sixteen Candles. After Mary Anne Saves the Day, she stands up for herself a little more. She hates the color pink and doesn't believe in bad luck.
Talents
- Sewing
- Knitting
- Cheering people up
- Being organized
- Baby sitting
Appearance
Mary Anne and Kristy initially looked similar (with medium length brown hair, brown eyes, and short and slim physiques) until Mary Anne cut her hair and began wearing a little makeup in Book #60 Mary Anne's Makeover. At first, the BSC didn't like her new haircut. She also vowed never to get her ears pierced due to being traumatized by almost having her ears pierced by a fellow camper at Camp Mohawk in Super Edition #2 Baby Sitters' Summer Vacation. Mary Anne says that for just one day, she'd like to live like Stacey and wear wild outfits. One part of her would feel excited and happy, while the other part would feel shy about attracting so much attention, especially from boys. Mary Anne mentioned in Mary Anne Saves The Day, that she'd "give anything to be Stacey." She has always been a little jealous of Stacey and Claudia because of their outfits and the fact that they always stand out in a crowd.
Friends
Mary Anne and Kristy have been best friends since childhood and lived next door to one another until Kristy's mother remarried in Book #6 Kristy's Big Day and moved her family to her new husband's mansion across town. Kristy is Mary Anne's best friend in the world and was her first best friend. During a brief falling out with the rest of the club early in the series (in Mary Anne Saves the Day), Mary Anne befriends the new girl in school, Dawn Schafer, and the girls become close friends to the extent that Mary Anne also considers Dawn her other best friend. She had trouble making friends on her own, and since her family is friends with the Thomases and the Kishis, that was how she met Kristy and Claudia. Mary Anne finally learned how to make friends on her own when she met Dawn. Dawn and Mary Anne often walk together to BSC meetings (until Book #31 Dawn's Wicked Stepsister when they started biking there). Kristy's mother has also been like a mother to Mary Anne. She was also close with Claudia's grandmother Mimi until she passed away in Book #26 Claudia and the Sad Good-Bye, and she grew up with Kristy and Claudia. She lived across the street from Claudia. As revealed in Mary Anne Saves The Day, she likes Mimi's accent. She thinks it's soft and nice to listen to. Mimi was helping Mary Anne knit a sweater for her father. She often kissed Mimi on the cheek.
School Schedule
Her school schedule for the eighth grade was this:
Period One - English
Period Two - Math
Period Three - Gym (Yuck... <-- Her words)
Period Four - Social Studies
Period Five - Lunch
Period Six - Science
Period Seven - Study Hall
Period Eight - French
The Baby-Sitters Club
Mary Anne is the secretary of The Baby-Sitters Club. The secretary's job is to keep The Record Book up to date. The Record Book has every BSC members' schedules, and Mary Anne has to write down the job information when a call comes in, see who's available, and also has to have good organizational skills and neat handwriting. She also has to keep track of Jessi's dance classes, Claudia's art classes, Kristy's softball practices, Stacey's trips to New York, and more. A lot of The Baby-Sitters Club members say Mary Anne's job is the hardest.
Likes
- Kristy Thomas
- Dawn Schafer
- Stacey McGill
- Claudia Kishi
- Jessi Ramsey
- Mallory Pike
- Abby Stevenson
- Shannon Kilbourne
- Richard Spier
- New York City
- Stoneybrook
- Movie Stars
- California
- Animals
- Cats
- Kittens
- School dances with Logan
- The Baby-Sitters Club
- Kids
- Baby Sitting
- Reading
- The Secret Garden
- Sixteen Candles
- Sleepovers
- Cam Geary
- Yellow
- Navy blue
Dislikes
- Arguments/Fights, especially with friends or Logan
- Richard (her father) treating her like a baby
- Crying in front of someone
- Breakups
- Unhappiness
- Big Crowds
- Attention
- Meeting New People
- Cokie Mason
- Gym Class
- Bad Luck
- Pink
- Goodbyes
- Prejudice
Relationships With Boys
When Mary Anne was in Sea City, New Jersey, with Stacey and the Pikes as a mother's helper for two weeks, in Book #8 Boy Crazy Stacey, she met a boy named Alex who was a mother's helper too. They hit it off, each got a ring with the other's initials inscribed into it, and promised to write. Later on, in Book #34 Mary Anne and Too Many Boys, they went back to Sea City with the Pikes, and Alex and Mary Anne met each other again, but Mary Anne started dating Logan two books after the first time in Sea City (#8). Mary Anne was, at first, afraid of boys because she didn't know what to say to them. But meeting Alex and Logan (and dating Logan) taught her a lot about relationships. Meeting Alex and learning how to talk to boys helped later on with Logan in that it was a stepping stone.
Relationships With BSC Charges
Myriah Perkins:
Myriah and Mary Anne have a special relationship because Myriah and her family moved into Kristy's old house and is now Mary Anne's next door neighbor (from Book #9 The Ghost At Dawn's House until Mary Anne's move in Book #31 Dawn's Wicked Stepsister). Mary Anne helped Myriah in the Little Miss Stoneybrook beauty pageant in Book #15 Little Miss Stoneybrook...and Dawn, and Myriah got second place.