Ann M. Martin
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Ann Matthews Martin | |
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Born | August 12, 1955 |
Occupation | Author |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Smith College |
Genre | Children's and Young-adult fiction |
Notable works | The Baby-Sitters Club series |
Notable awards | John Newbery Medal |
Website | |
www |
Ann Matthews Martin (born August 12, 1955) is an American children's author most well known for writing The Baby-Sitters Club series.
Biography
Ann Martin grew up in Princeton, New Jersey with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. Her father was the great cartoonist Henry Martin. After graduating from Smith College, Martin became a teacher and then an editor of children's books; she is now a full-time writer.
Martin finds the ideas for her books from many different sources; some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, including the members of The Baby-Sitters Club, are fictional, but many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.[1]
Martin has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.[2]
After Martin wrote the first 35 novels in The Baby-Sitters Club series[3] she has since concentrated on writing single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s. One of those novels, A Corner of the Universe, won a Newbery Medal in 2003.[4] In 2010, Martin published a prequel to The Baby-Sitters Club series titled The Summer Before.[5][6]
After living in New York City for many years, Martin moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Pippin, and Willie. Her hobbies include needlepoint, fostering cats, and gardening. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.[2]
Works
Novels
- Bummer Summer (1983)
- Inside Out (1984)
- Stage Fright (1984)
- Me and Katie (The Pest) (1985)
- Missing Since Monday (1986)
- With and Without You (1986)
- Just a Summer Romance (1987)
- Slam Book (1987)
- Yours Turly, Shirley (1988)
- Ma and Pa Dracula (1989)
- Belle Teal (2001)
- A Corner of the Universe (2002)
- Here Today (2005)
- On Christmas Eve (2006)
- Rain Reign (2014)
Novels and Sequels
- Ten Kids, No Pets (1988)
- Eleven Kids, One Summer (1991)
- P.S. Longer Letter Later (1998) with Paula Danziger
- Snail Mail No More (1999) with Paula Danziger
- A Dog's Life: The Autobiography of a Stray (2005)
- Everything for a Dog (2009)
- Ten Rules for Living with My Sister (2011)
- Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far) (2012)
Series
- The Baby-Sitters Club series (1986–1990 & 2010)
- Kristy`s Great Idea
- Claudia And The Phantom Phone Calls
- The Truth About Stacey
- Mary Anne Saves The Day
- Dawn And The Impossible Three
- Kristy's Big Day
- Claudia And Mean Janine
- Boy-Crazy Stacey
- The Ghost At Dawns House
- Logan Likes Mary Anne
- Kristy And The Snobs
- Claudia And The New Girl
- Good Bye Stacey, Good Bye
- Hello, Mallory
- Little Miss Stoneybrook... And Dawn
- Jessi's Secret Language
- Mary Anne's Bad-Luck Mystery
- Stacey's Mistake
- Claudia And The Bad Joke
- Kristy And The Walking Disaster
- Mallory And The Trouble With Twins
- Jessi Ramsey, Pet-Sitter
- Dawn On The Coast
- Kristy and the Mother's Day Surprise
- Mary Anne and the Search for Tigger
- Claudia and the Sad Good-bye
- Jessi and the Superbrat
- Welcome Back, Stacey!
- Mallory and the Mystery Diary
- Mary Anne and the Great Romance
- Dawn's Wicked Stepsister
- Kristy and the Secret of Susan
- Claudia and the Great Search
- Mary Anne and Too Many Boys
- Stacey and the Mystery of Stoneybrook
- The Summer Before
- Baby-Sitters Little Sister series (1988–2000)
- The Kids in Ms. Colman's Class series (1995–1998)
- Teacher's Pet (1995)
- Author Day (1996)
- Class Play (1996)
- Second Grade Baby (1996)
- The Snow War (1997)
- Twin Trouble (1997)
- Science Fair (1997)
- Summer School (1997)
- Halloween Parade (1997)
- Holiday Time (1997)
- Spelling Bee (1998)
- Baby Animal Zoo (1998)
- California Diaries series (1997–2000)
- Dawn (1997)
- Sunny (1997)
- Maggie (1997)
- Amalia (1997)
- Ducky (1998)
- Sunny, Diary Two (1998)
- Dawn, Diary Two (1998)
- Maggie, Diary Two (1998)
- Amalia, Diary Two (1998)
- Ducky, Diary Two (1998)
- Dawn, Diary Three (1999)
- Sunny, Diary Three (1999)
- Maggie, Diary Three (1999)
- Amalia, Diary Three (2000)
- Ducky, Diary Three (2000)
- Main Street (2007–2011)
- Welcome to Camden Falls (2007)
- Needle and Thread (2007)
- 'Tis the Season (2007)
- Best Friends (2008)
- The Secret Book Club (2008)
- September Surprises (2008)
- Keeping Secrets (2009)
- Special Delivery (2009)
- Coming Apart (2010)
- Staying Together (2011)
- The Doll People series (2000–2008) with Laura Godwin and Brian Selznick
- The Doll People (2000)
- The Meanest Doll in the World (2003)
- The Runaway Dolls (2008)
- The Doll People Set Sail (2014)
- Family Tree (2013-2014)
- Better to Wish (2013)
- The Long Way Home (2013)
- Best Kept Secret (2014)
- Home Is the Place (2014)
Picture Books
- Rachel Parker, Kindergarten Showoff (1992) with illustrations by Nancy Poydar
- Leo The Magnificat (1996) with illustrations by Emily Arnold McCully
Short Stories
- 8 x 2 = Sweet Sixteen, a short story featuring Karen Brewer included in the children's anthology It's Great to Be Eight (2000)
- The Lost Art of Letter Writing, a short story included in the young adult anthology What You Wish For (2011)
Other Works
- Because of Shoe and Other Dog Stories (edited) (2012)
- Ten Rules for Living with My Sister (2011)
References
- ^ "Ann Martin's 11/29/06 Chat Transcript". Scholastic.com. November 29, 2006. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ a b Ann Martin Biography
- ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2002/10/17/peter-baby-sitters-club-/
- ^ "2003 Newbery Medal and Honor Books". ala.org. Association for Library Service to Children. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ Martin, Ann M. (April 1, 2010). The Baby-sitters Club: The Summer Before (Hardcover ed.). New York: Scholasic Press. ISBN 978-0-545-16093-3. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/books/31babysitters.html
External links
- Ann M. Martin at publisher Scholastic
- Ann M. Martin by Margaret Becker, 1993
- Ann M. Martin at Library of Congress, with 354 library catalog records
- 1955 births
- American children's writers
- American writers of young adult literature
- The Baby-Sitters Club
- Newbery Honor winners
- People from Princeton, New Jersey
- Living people
- Smith College alumni
- 20th-century American novelists
- 21st-century American novelists
- 20th-century women writers
- 21st-century women writers
- Women children's writers
- American women novelists
- Writers from New Jersey
- Women writers of young adult literature