| |
|
|
 |
Biography
Ann
Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton,
NJ, with her parents, her younger sister, Jane, and a lot of pets. Aside
from being big cat lovers, Ann and her family also had hamsters, mice,
turtles, guinea pigs and fish at different times throughout the years.
After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an
editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer. Ann
gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based
on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories
and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events.
All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club,
are made up. 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. Ann 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. After living in New York
City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York
where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and
Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing
to do is to make clothes for children.
Fast
Facts
- Ann
was born in Princeton, New Jersey, during Hurricane Connie. She was
the biggest baby in the hospital.
- When
Ann was little, she thought foxes lived under her bed. Since she didn't
think this was a good thing, she kept the overhead light on in her room
all night.
- When
the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, Ann's ancestors (on
her mother's side) were on it!
-
When Ann was 11 years old, she fell off of a ladder while climbing down
from her treehouse and had to have her spleen removed. (The spleen is
a small organ that helps to clean the blood, but luckily, you can live
without it!) She had to stay in the hospital for a week.
- Ann
became pen pals with one of the first readers ever to send her a fan
letter, Kathy Ames. It was because of Kathy that Ann and Paula Danziger
met. Paula and Ann became great friends and writing partners (P.S.
Longer Later Later and Snail Mail No More.)
- Ann
loves scary books, and Stephen King is one of her favorite authors.
- Ann
still gets very, very nervous when she has to talk in front of a crowd,
even though she's been doing it for years!
- When
Ann was just learning to sew, one of her first projects was a set of
white, blue and red curtains for her father's art studio. They hung
in his studio for years until he retired.
- Until
a couple of years ago, Ann wrote every one of her manuscripts in longhand.
Now she's very comfortable working on her computer.
- At
one time when Ann was growing up, the Martin family had nine
cats! (Five of them were family cats and then one had kittens.)
- Sadie,
Ann's three-year old beagle mix/golden retriever puppy, is the first
dog she has ever had.
- Ann's
father is a well-known cartoonist whose works were published in The
New Yorker (a famous literary magazine).
- When
Ann was little, she had a special blanket that she named Mommy Blanket.
All these years later, she still has it (although she swears she can
fall asleep without it!).
- Ann
and her best friend, Beth, loved to play a game called Secret Agents.
They'd spy on people and pretend to be talking on walkie-talkie
sets.
- On
a train trip to California as a teenager, Ann read Harriet the Spy.
She and her sister spied on the other passengers and took notes in a
secret notebook.
- One
summer, Ann and her friends set up a library in Ann's room with
lots of books for the kids on Dodds Lane to check out. They had due
dates and late fines, too.
- Ann
has always been an early riser. Her parents had to make a rule that
she couldn't wake them up before 6:30 a.m.
- Ann
never went to sleep-away camp. She got all her story ideas about
camp from listening to her more adventurous friends!
- Ann
spent many of her teenage summers vacationing at the beach on the Jersey
shore with her friend, Beth, and their families. The girls swam, sunbathed,
took walks, flirted with the lifeguards, and ate doughnuts at the jetty
on the beach.
- Ann's
favorite classes in junior high and high school were English and French.
Her least favorite class was Math. She always uses a calculator, and
if she has to, she'll count on her fingers!
- Ann
hates to wear lipstick. She says it feels funny on her lips and that
it smells bad!
- Ann's
favorite old-time movies are The Wizard of Oz and To Kill
a Mockingbird.
- One
summer during college, Ann and a friend drove to Kentucky in a huge
Chrysler that had been named Quasimodo. Ann was so nervous driving
this monster car, and she was very happy when they arrived home safe
and sound!
- Ann
loved writing about Karen, Kristy's little sister. She thinks that
Karen is her alter ego, the kind of girl she wished she could have been
at the same age.
- Most
days Ann is dressed in jeans, a polo shirt or a turtleneck, and a pair
of white sneakers. But she's always happy to get dressed up if she
has something special to go to.
- One
of Ann's favorite childhood memories is watching The Wizard of
Oz on her friend's color television set. These were very rare,
so it was a real treat to see everything turn to color when Dorothy
lands in Oz.
- Ann
loves the I Love Lucy show. She has almost all of the episodes
on videotape, and her favorite one is The Operetta.
- Ann
has a sweet tooth (especially ice cream and chocolate). But she makes
sure she doesn't keep a lot of treats in the house, because if they're
there, they might get devoured!
- Ann
hates to cook, which is unfortunate, because she enjoys eating.
|
|
|
