It’s been 40 years since four enterprising middle school BFFs in suburban Connecticut followed Kristy’s Great Idea and formed their own babysitting business in the debut title of the beloved and groundbreaking Baby-sitters Club book series by Ann M. Martin. Scholastic, which launched the line in 1986, and has seen it mushroom into a bestselling juggernaut consisting of more than 250 book titles and numerous entertainment spinoffs, including a Sony Pictures feature film and TV adaptations from HBO and Netflix, will mark the series’ 40th birthday with a trio of new books.
For the spin-off novel The Baby-sitters Club Fan Edition: Baby-sitter Summer, out July 7, series creator Martin leads an all-star lineup of authors, each writing from a different BSC character’s point of view, in chronicling the girls’ memorable summer. Martin tells Mary Anne’s story while Becky Albertalli, Coe Booth, Sarah Kuhn, Peter Lerangis, Jahnna N. Malcolm, and Emma Straub chronicle the experiences and adventures of BSC members Stacey, Kristy, Claudia, Dawn, Jessi, and Mallory.
On September 15, Scholastic’s Graphix imprint will roll out additional celebratory star power with The Baby-sitters Club Super Special: Baby-sitters on Board! by bestselling comics authors Raina Telgemeier and Gale Galligan, a graphic novel adaptation of the original BSC title of the same name that was originally published in 1988. This project marks the first time that Telgemeier and Galligan, who have individually adapted multiple BSC titles into the graphic novel format, have collaborated on a Baby-sitters book. In the story, the club members are on a summer cruise to the Bahamas that culminates with three days at an amusement park.
And readers looking for a more hands-on immersion into the BSC universe will find it in The Baby-sitters Club: Friendship Crafts, to be published on April 7 by Scholastic’s Klutz imprint. This kit includes a letter from Martin as well as instructions and all supplies needed to make 10 projects, including friendship bracelets, fortune tellers, pins, and bookmarks inspired by BSC characters.
The Baby-sitters Club was initially conceived as a four-book miniseries, pitched to Martin by Jean Feiwel, then an editor at Scholastic. Readers embraced the books’ themes of friendship, family, community—and babysitting—and the series quickly expanded. Today, there are nearly 200 million BSC books in print and the series has been published in 23 languages. Spin-off projects continue, and The Baby-sitters Club Musical, the first stage adaptation of the books, is in development by TWTheatricals and features a full-length production written by Kate Wetherhead (The Devil Wears Prada) and Mark Sonnenblick (KPop Demon Hunters).
Martin reflected on the approaching milestone. “When I set out to create The Baby-sitters Club, I wanted a cast of characters who were strong, independent, and entrepreneurial, who were different from one another but who were a supportive group of friends,” she told PW. “My hope is that the series continues to inspire readers to be confident, kind, and compassionate.”
Watching the Baby-sitters Club’s growth and evolution has been gratifying for the author. “It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 40 years since the series launched and I’m grateful to the legions of devoted Baby-sitters Club fans around the world—many of whom grew up to become writers, educators, journalists, and leaders themselves—who are now reading the books with their own children or sharing them with the young people in their lives,” she said. “To know that the series has inspired and continues to inspire kids to fall in love with reading is deeply humbling and incredibly meaningful.”
Jackie DeLeo, publisher and chief merchant of the Scholastic Children’s Book Group, noted her personal and professional connections to the series. “This is truly a full-circle moment,” she said. “As a girl growing up in the ’80s, I found comfort and kinship in the Baby-sitters Club. The books brought pure joy and I have fond memories of many trips to the mall with my mom buying my very own copies—spotting a new Super Special book was always a notable highlight!”
She added that after four decades, “Scholastic is proud to be the longtime publisher of this iconic and beloved brand and excited to publish these amazing new books on the series’ milestone anniversary.”
