Who is Ann M. Martin?
Ann M. Martin is a writer of children’s books, best known for writing and developing The Baby-Sitters Club novel series.
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Facts About Ann M. Martin?
- Ann M. Martin was born in Princeton, New Jersey, US, in 1955.
- The M in her name stands for Matthews.
- Her father was a cartoonist and her mother was a preschool teacher.
- She was a keen reader as a child. Some of her favourite authors were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl.
- She also enjoyed riding horses, but she didn’t continue this hobby as an adult.
- From a young age, Ann M. Martin loved creative writing, and she spent much of her free time writing in notebooks.
- English and French were her favourite subjects at school, but she didn’t enjoy math lessons.
I think reading is a gift. It was a gift that was given to me as a child by many people, and now as an adult and a writer, I’m trying to give a little of it back to others. It’s one of the greatest pleasures I know.
Ann M. Martin
- As a teenager, Ann M. Martin worked her summers at Eden Institute, a school for children with autism.
- From 1973 to 1977, she studied Early-Childhood Education and Child Psychology at Smith College, Massachusetts.
- After graduating, Ann M. Martin worked as a spit fourth and fifth-grade teacher at a school in Connecticut.
- Ann M. Martin decided to leave the teaching profession, and she began a career in the publishing industry, working as an editor for several children’s book publishers, such as Scholastic and Pocket Books.
- Bummer Summer (1983) was the first of her books to be published, and it received a Children’s Choice Award in 1985.
- Ann M. Martin began writing The Baby-Sitters Club series in 1985. She wrote the first 35 books in the main series, before handing over the writing duties to a team of Scholastic ghostwriters. She also wrote about 65 books for the spin-off series.
- Since then, she has concentrated on writing standalone novels, such as A Corner of the Universe.
- In 2010, Ann M. Martin published The Summer Before, a prequel to the books in The Baby-Sitters Club series.
- The Ann M. Martin Foundation provides financial support to art, educational, and literacy programs. It also contributes funds to programs to support stray and abused animals.
- In addition to the books in The Baby-Sitters Club series, Ann M. Martin has written more than 25 other novels.
- She enjoys going on long walks, watching episodes of old TV shows (especially I Love Lucy), and making children’s clothes.
- The Perkins girls from The Baby-Sitters Club books are based on Ann M. Martin’s goddaughters.
- Her father illustrated The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special book called New York, New York.
- When she was writing the first The Baby-Sitters Club book there were only going to be four books in the series. There are now more than 130 books in the main series.
- The first ten The Baby-Sitters Club books were adapted for TV as a Netflix series.
- She enjoys visiting the beach, eating ice cream, sewing, and reading.
- She has had several pet cats, including Ollie, Pippen, Mouse, Rosie, and Gussie.
- Many Ann M. Martin’s first drafts and outlines have been donated to Smith College.
- Her favorite character in The Baby-Sitters Club series is Kristy, but she thinks she is most like Mary Anne.
- Ann M. Martin enjoys listening to mystery audiobooks, and she likes Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series and books written by Stephen King.
- When she was asked about what The Baby-Sitters Club characters would be doing as adults, Ann M. Martin said that Kristy would be a CEO of a company, Claudia would be an artist, and Stacey would be involved in the New York City fashion scene. She didn’t say what she thought Mary Anne would go on to do.
- Some of her favourite children’s books include The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, the Paddington Bear books by Michael Bond, Frank L. Baum’s Wizard of Oz books, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, the Beatrix Potter books, and the Babar books by Jean de Brunhoff.
- Since 2019, The Baby-Sitter’s Club books have been turned into graphic novels. Raina Telgemeier and Gale Galligan are the illustrators attached to the project.
