Mallory And The Mystery Diary (1995) - Plot & Excerpts
Mallory finda diary full of hard to read handwriting and, as a result, I don't read half this book.Mallory and Stacey find an old diary in a trunk in the attic of Stacey’s new house. The diary belonged to Sophie, a 12-year-old from 1894, who tells the ups and downs of her life, ending with a crime: Sophie’s father, a scoundrel, was blamed for the disappearance of a painting from her grandfather’s house. Mallory is meanwhile tutoring Buddy Barrett with his reading. When she discovers he’s not motivated to read his school books because they’re boring, she gives him fun reading material, like comics, and later, the diary. Buddy becomes motivated to solve the mystery, and is instrumental in tracking down a new document in which the grandfather confesses that he framed the father, and had the painting done over. Mallory and Stacey examine the paintings in her attic and find one where a chip in the paint reveals a different portrait below.There’s a lot to like about this one. While a lot of the clues are clumsy (the deus ex confession springs to mind), they could certainly be worse (I especially like that Sophie’s diary has a lot of other stuff in it besides the circumstances surrounding the mystery), and there is something very cool about the idea of the painting-over-a-painting. The book creates reasonable suspense surrounding a historical mystery, which is pretty bad ass when done well, and which other BSC books have attempted with far less success (The Ghost at Dawn’s House and The Mystery of Stoneybrook spring to mind). It’s a bit too neat and coincidental, I suppose, that the events in the diary relate to both the story of Jared Mullray from The Ghost at Dawn’s House AND of Old Hickory from Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery, but it’s more interesting than either of them, and it’s actually kind of cool how it fits them together. I rather like the idea of this whole other Victorian Stoneybrook story emerging over the course of the BSC books. I’m very fond, too, of the reading tutoring storyline, both because it works well with the rest of the story, and just because I like tutoring (especially non-traditional tutoring) stories in and of themselves.Eerily Meta: "I feel as if I’m going to be eleven forever." --Mallory, in her journalTiming: Immediately after #28. (Unusually for BSC books, this one depends on and refers a lot to the events of the book right before, as Mallory is helping Stacey and her mother get settled into their new house, which is right near hers. Revised Timeline: This is where I figure out how old the baby-sitters would be if they aged. Mid-fall of ninth grade (seventh for Mallory).
(Note: this 4 stars is relative. It's not the same 4 stars I would give to, say, Faulkner's less acclaimed works. It's 4 stars in BSC-land.)True story: I decided to reread this old Babysitters Club book because I had a nightmare that I was trapped in my childhood bedroom and Jared Mullray, aka The Ghost At Dawn's House, was rapping on the wall, waiting to come out and get me. Therefore, I decided that I needed to refresh myself on the Jared Mullray narrative (next up: The Ghost At Dawn's House and Mary Anne And The Bad Luck Mystery). I was surprised to find that I really, really loved rereading this book. I like how the first three BSC mysteries all had an interwoven narrative, and how Mallory and the Mystery Diary kind of wove the first two together. (Seriously, screw the mystery series- these books were so much better!) Also, this book is wicked funny. The part where Kristy's doing the seance cracked me up, and I'm not even nine years old anymore. I also thought that for once, the babysitting (and tutoring!) in the book wasn't wildly ridiculous and unrealistic. That's pretty rare, as far as Stoneybrook is concerned. This book really drove the point home for me that Ann M. Martin is the shit. I'm glad she got her Newbery Honor book after the BSC was dead and gone (but not gone forever, of course!). She's a really, really talented writer. The ghostwriters weren't terrible, but Ann's voice started the series, and everything veered way too off course without her around. Also, I like Mallory. I think she's kind of boring, but her narration is good for hearing about all of the other babysitters. She's younger than all of them (except Jessi, of course), and she's in total awe of how cool she thinks they are. It's fun to read the books that way, especially when she's freaking out about how awesome something really weird is, like Dawn's "tiny straw hat."
What do You think about Mallory And The Mystery Diary (1995)?
Stacey moves back to Stoneybrook and gives Mallory a mysterious trunk that was in the attic. Mallory's thrilled at the discovery of a diary by a teen girl in the old trunk, and she's devouring the life story of a girl similar to her (but from the 1890s) when she realizes there's a mystery she might be able to solve--something this girl was caught up in. Can she and her babysitting charge solve the mystery?+1 for such a cool feeling--discovery of a diary by a teenage girl from the 19th century would thrill me too--but lots of minus stars for unbelievable execution and shoehorning of a mystery into a plot that really didn't need one (complete with a confession penned by the perp, easily found with all the other stuff that started the story in the first place). Not to mention . . . are there really a lot of houses that get sold with relics sitting in the attic for over a hundred years?
—Julie Decker
The BSC is solving a mystery, long before the Baby-sitter's Mysteries was published! This one takes place after Stacy's mom had "got it goin on" by taking her back to Stoneybrook after mom and dad divorce, and Mallory has narrating duties. Mal has uncovered a chest (which is a bitch to open) and finds a diary from a girl pioneer from 1894 (which is a bitch to read) and unlocks a 100-year-old mystery (which is a bigger bitch to solve). The BSC is on the case (and you do NOT mess with these bitches!!!). Mal also snags a young boy in her charge, just discovering the joys of reading (gag, I know) and aids in solving the disappearance of a painting, lost for all time...until the attic discovery. Nicely done, young detectives! CARRY ON!
—Edward Creter
