Martin, Ann M., 1955-....

Ann M(atthews) Martin was born August 12, 1955, in Princeton, NJ, where she grew up in a very imaginative family--her mother was preschool teacher and her father was an artist. Her first job was as a school teacher, but she soon turned to the publishing industry, where she held various jobs, culminating in senior editor in Books for Young Readers at Bantam Books in New York City. In 1983 she began writing. Her first books were young adult romance novels. In 1985 a colleague suggested the creation of a mini-series about a babysitting cooperative. This led to the Baby-Sitters Club series, which became so popular that for a time Martin was writing two books a month. In spite of the heavy pressure, Martin did nearly all of the writing herself, always writing at least twenty of the twenty-four annual books, and providing outlines and final editing for the few that were assigned to other authors. The series also led to spin-offs such as the Baby-Sitters Club Mystery Series and the Baby-Sitters Little Sisters Series. The original series finally came to an end in 2000.

Martin has written other series too, and has won a number of awards for her work. She attributes her success partially to her memory, explaining that she can clearly remember things such as what her first day at kindergarten was like, both the physical setting and her own feelings. She bases her books sometimes on actual experiences, sometimes on her memories of her feelings, and sometimes more on imagination.

Biographical Sources: Something About the Author, vols. 41, 44, 70, 126; Children's Literature Review, vol. 32

From the guide to the Ann M. Martin papers, 1987-1994, (University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections [clrc])