Remember the best part of the school year — at least for bookworms?
Connecticut Public visited Roaring Brook School in Avon, Connecticut as they put on their Scholastic Book Fair. We met McKenna, who was in fourth grade at the time.
“It's really fun,” McKenna said. “They do this every year.”
McKenna grabbed the last copy of a title that readers may recognize: “Baby-Sitters Club: Dawn on the Coast.” This latest version of the story is actually a graphic novel, which features the same beloved characters introduced to the world in chapter books 40 years ago.
In 1986, young readers first met Kristy, Mary Anne, Stacey and Claudia and the fictional, coastal town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut. “The Baby-Sitters Club” series became a cultural phenomenon, selling over 200 million copies, beating out Stephen King and Danielle Steele on the bestseller list, and continuing to draw in new generations.
“It's just a really fun series and, I mean, it's about girls,” McKenna said.
A title that resonates
Scholastic, the publisher behind “The Baby-Sitters Club” series, specializes in running these book fairs and book clubs that cater to classrooms.
Back in the ‘80s, Scholastic curated titles from all different publishers. But by 1983 the company wanted to start selling their own original books through these avenues.
One of the people who helped make that happen was then-Scholastic publisher Jean Feiwel, who helped bring to life many childhood favorites for millennials: “Harry Potter,” the “Lunar Chronicles,” "Animorphs," "Dear America" and "Goosebumps."
Feiwel is even on a first-name basis with author R.L. Stine.
These series came to be, in part, because Feiwel started to hire writers to publish their own novels for Scholastic. Her target audience was middle grade readers, like fourth grader McKenna. And Feiwel noticed something about the Scholastic book club list: a 20-year-old book called “Ginny's Babysitting Job” kept selling really well for readers ages 8 to 12.
”Wherever it was put on the book club offer, whether it was page one, two, three, or four, it was always the top-selling book,” Feiwel said. “And I said, ‘Gee, there must be something in that, you know, about babysitting that the kids are attracted to.’”
So she approached a young author named Ann M. Martin.
“She had what was and what is a very sincere and endearing, earnest quality to her writing, with also a wicked sense of humor, which I don't know that everybody knows, and just a very clear eye on girls that age,” Feiwel said.
Martin had actually worked with girls that age as a fourth and fifth grade teacher at the now-razed Plumfield School in Darien, Connecticut, before she moved into children’s publishing.
“I said to her, ‘I think we should do a babysitters club series which features maybe four characters, and go, and come back to me with a proposal,’" Feiwel said.
Shaping the characters we identify with today
“The Baby-Sitters Club” was supposed to be a mini-series – just four books! Other than that, Feiwel said Martin’s original proposal looked very close to the series readers know and love.
Feiwel only had to make one big change.
Stacey McGill, one of the four original members of the Baby-Sitters Club who moved to Connecticut from New York City, was supposed to face a big obstacle.
“Stacey's father originally was going to be involved in some very low-level white-collar crime,” Feiwel said. “And I said, ‘No, I don't think we can do that. I think we gotta do something else for Stacey.’”
So Martin thought a lot about it, Feiwel said, and proposed that Stacey would have diabetes instead. Martin said she got many letters from parents saying they correctly diagnosed themselves or their kids with the condition because of Stacey.
Feiwel remembered Martin pitching the idea as a kind of real-life scenario that could resonate with readers. Martin told her she thought it was a good way to create a challenge for a character that would be significant in her development.
From there, Martin created the four main archetypes many readers still use to define themselves today:
Kristy Thomas, the lovably bossy tomboy.
Mary Anne Spier, the shy and organized club secretary.
Stacey McGill, the fashionable transplant with a secret.
And Claudia Kishi, the quirky artist of the club.
“So that's how it started,” Feiwel said.
Martin put it another way in “Book 1: Kristy’s Great Idea.”
“That’s how The Baby-Sitters Club officially began!” Kristy said.
Learn more
“Generation: Baby-Sitters Club” is the third season of the Connecticut Public podcast series “Generation: The media we love & how it shapes us.” Over five episodes, we ask how these novels shaped children’s publishing and literacy, and inspired future leaders of writer’s rooms, boardrooms and beyond.
New episodes of “Generation: Baby Sitters Club” drop on your favorite podcast feed each Tuesday in October. Episodes 1 and 2 are out now.
Follow wherever you get your podcasts, so you don’t miss our conversation with author Ann M. Martin in our season finale dropping on Oct. 27!
