Growing up, Ann M. Martin had the job we wanted to have. In fact, she was a huge part of the reason why our founder wanted to become a writer, and later on, an editor. Ann is the author of The Baby-Sitters Club, one of the most successful series in publishing history with more than 176 million books in print. Because of the success, she spent the latter part of the 1980s and most of the 1990s working on the series, which was supposed to debut in 1986 and end in 1987, and to consist of only four titles. Instead it ended 15 years later, with four additional related series, approximately 250 titles, games, a TV series and a feature film. And if you were anything like us, chances are it inspired you to create your own baby-sitters club in your town.
The Baby-Sitters Club became the first children's book series to appear on the USA Today bestseller list. The Baby-Sitters Club also was named as one of the "Books of the Century" by the New York Times Book Review in 1998.
In April 2010, Scholastic, the longtime publisher of the BSC books, published a new novel in the series, "The Summer Before," which was a prequel to the hit series. Re-issued paperback editions of the original books in the series also started to roll out following the book's release. (E-book editions are soon to follow.) And just yesterday Ann's latest novel, "Ten Rules for Living with My Sister," hit bookshelves nationwide.
When Ann isn't writing stories that spur the imaginations of tweens across the country, you can find her indulging in reading, sewing and neeedlework. She also is an animal lover who enjoys spending time with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Pippen and Woody.