Mary Anne and the Memory Garden

by Ann M. Martin

Part of The Baby-Sitters Club, book 93

First published 1996

Mary Anne returns to Stoneybrook Middle School after winter break feeling excited about her English assignment and the semester ahead. She teams up with Amelia Freeman for their project, but tragedy strikes when Amelia dies unexpectedly. The shocking news devastates the entire school community. While her classmates gradually begin to heal and move forward, Mary Anne finds herself sinking deeper into sorrow. She cannot shake her grief or stop thinking about her lost friend. Mary Anne desperately wants to find a way to honor Amelia's memory and do something meaningful in her name. The weight of loss presses down on her as she searches for a path through her pain and discovers how to transform her grief into something that celebrates the life of someone taken too soon.

Genres: family-life, grief, coming-of-age, contemporary

Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking

Tropes: found-family, grief

Setting: Stoneybrook Middle School

Period: winter break

148 pages · Paperback · Apple

Content warnings: death

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