When I was a kid, I never read any of Ann’s non-BSC books, not until P.S. Longer Letter Later came out. Why, I’m not sure. In my elementary school’s library they were shelved right next to the BSC books, and I would pretty much read any chapter book I could get my hands on as long as it was not fantasy, horror, or sports.

But I’ve started reading them recently, and maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up with them, as other people’s responses, the responses of those who did read them as children, are much more enthusiastic than my own. So far I’ve read Stage Fright, With You and Without You, and Missing Since Monday. I made an unsuccessful stab at Ten Kids, No Pets, but got bored, and plus I was reading a British or Australian edition* and trying to change all the “mum”s to “mom”s was irritating me. Stage Fright was ok, but nothing special, and I felt that the other two weren’t quite as deep, emotionally, as they should have been, considering their serious subject matter. And they both used dates with boys as the bandaid to the really terrible and tragic situations which occurred in the books, which seems odd to me. If my dad died or my little sister went missing, god forbid, I would be FLIPPING MY SHIT. The protagonists of these books seemed to almost take things in stride.

I still really want to read Slam Book. It seems so dark! But reading these early Ann books and comparing them with, say, Main Street (I haven’t read Belle Teal or A Corner of the Universe or any of her other recent books, but they seem to be doing well and winning awards so I assume that they’re pretty good books)… I can really see how Ann has grown and matured as a writer.

What do you think about Ann’s early books? Did you read them as a child or only as an adult or not at all?’

*sorry to my non-American friends, but I really hate reading BSC in non-American English!

Pigeonrat set up a cool new feature on the wiki which has the latest BSC-related headlines. I read this news story, and can’t help feeling jealous of this girl.

Her prize $500 gift card, well, “that’s sort of all gone now,” says Emily, a fifth-grader at Arnco-Sargent Elementary. She bought a trampoline, an American Girl doll — Molly, if you’re curious — Legos for her little brother and doodads from Claire’s Accessories. Books, too.

But there’s another part to the prize: Martin, the author, in the flesh.

Martin’s writing schedule usually keeps her from book tours, but she’ll be in Newnan on Monday to greet fans and sign books.

Emily is so excited, so nervous, she doesn’t even know what to say to the writer.

She expects to start with “hi.”

Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah, I doubt they would have picked a 22-year-old’s entry as the winner. But still. Completely and utterly jealous.

I always enjoy reading the Letters From Ann on her site. In this letter, Ann takes us through her home.

Here is Ann sitting at her “desk”. As you can see, there is no computer! Ann is writing a book out on a yellow legal pad in this picture. There’s also what looks to be a finished manuscript–the next Main Street book perhaps? You can also see Sadie lounging in the lower right corner. Ann seems to have a fondness for strong, dark wood furniture and woodwork.

Ann’s kitchen. Can you spot the Wizard of Oz street sign? I also spy some cat tchotchkes. Ann’s kitchen is actually smaller than I imagined. Perhaps it opens up into a larger eating nook. The notecards that seem to be hanging precariously over the stove worry me–seems like a fire safety risk. Cook carefully, Ann.

Ann likes to exercise in her den. Sadly, in this shot she’s just sitting in her chair. Looking at her tv, I see that Ann has still not made the switch to a DVD player. Maybe she was holding out during the HD-DVD/Blu-ray battle? I also notice that there is no cable box. I hope that Ann is prepared for when analog broadcast ceases. She has until February 17th of next year.

Here is Ann’s complete collection of BSC books. I wish this were a higher quality pic so I could see what languages the books were. I once called Scholastic to see what exactly these nineteen languages were that the books were published in, but no one had an answer.

Ann at her sewing table. She seems to really like working at the end of long wooden surfaces.

And here, Ann appears to be making a Christmas card. How Claudia! Ann also has some heavy-duty tools laying around: a hammer, a blue electronic device that I can’t identify. And some more vaseline lotion like she had in the kitchen. Ann must also suffer from winter skin like me. I recommend LUSH Dream Cream.

And lastly, an oil painting Ann painted in second grade. Is it better than a Hodges Soileau painting? You decide!

Ann’s house features many small flower prints, dark wood, and the color yellow. That seems very Mary Anne to me.

Everyone rolls their eyes when they recognize that the last name of the Australian Hobart family is a city in Tasmania. But did you know that Kent (last name of Victoria, the British Princess), is a county in England? And that Ramsey is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey?

Are there any other examples of this phenomenon?

There are two instances in the series where the characters are based off of real, existing people and Ann has admitted this.

The first is that the characters of Mary Anne and Kristy are based off of Ann and her childhood best friend, Beth. Ann is kind of mousy and quiet, whereas Beth is loud and outgoing. Notice, however, that Ann gave herself a hot boyfriend–something that never happened in real life. Hmm. Anyway, so their friendship dynamic is based on Ann’s and Beth’s, and so are the personalities, just exaggerated.

The other instance of real-life people purposefully brought into a character happens with the Perkins family. The Perkins family in the books is a fascimile of the Perkins family in real life, forever frozen in Stoneybrook time. There is a real Myriah, Gabbie, and Laura.

Why did Ann choose to put this real family in the books? Why, Mrs. Perkins is, in real life–wait for it–Beth, childhood best friend. So when Kristy (adolescent Beth) moved away, Mrs. Perkins (adult Beth) moved in. When Kristy sits for the Perkins girls, she is in fact sitting for her future children.

Freaky!

Ann has updated her site with some pictures of her house in the Hudson Valley.

I’m kind of jealous of her playhouse and vegetable garden enclosure thing, although I hate gardening/yardwork. Also, does anyone else think that the little girl in the pictures looks like an Olsen twin from the early days of Full House?

Another thing about the biography which I forgot the mention is the rampant feministness of the whole thing. I consider myself a feminist–I don’t really see how anyone who believes in male/female equality could not–but this book takes it far. When it mentions Ann’s mom, the author makes sure to let you know that in those days, women didn’t have a choice in terms of keeping their name. And when Ann’s mother stayed home with Ann and Jane until they had both gone to school, Margot Becker R. wants you to know that women also didn’t have a choice in this respect.

I think this point is quite classist of Margot Becker R., since my grandma went back to work as soon my mother stopped nursing because she couldn’t afford to not work.

But anyway, yeah this part of the book is almost the most ridiculous part. Not quite, but close.

Inspired by Alula’s hilarious/thoughtful assessment on the boards, I recently purchased Ann M. Martin’s biography (written by the oddly-named Margot Becker R.) off of Amazon for exactly 1 cent. It arrived today, and since I am so smart and a fast reader, I read it one sitting.

If you have never read it before, you really should. The author mentions several times that Ann is a real 9-1-1, as Sheila MacGregor would say. However, looking at the evidence provided in the books, everything else, well, points to the contrary. Perhaps Ann is just not photogenic–I myself fall into this category–but ummmm. Sorry. Don’t see it. Basically, this whole book is written to show How Wonderful Ann Is and How Perfect She Is. Ann always got good grades and is really organized and gets up early and never forgets anyone’s birthday, and if the birthday-person is a child, she will make a lovely handmade outfit for the child to wear. It reads more like a biography of say, Lenin or Chairman Mao written at the height of their importance to their respective Communist societies than a biography of a children’s book author.

The best part of the book, however, is the quote from Paula Danziger:

[Ann] has a real heart for things. She cares. She’s a good friend to call when I’m having problems with dating, hair, clothing choices, and other world-shattering issues, like dust in my contact lenses. I can also count on her to call me when she’s terrified of a spider she’s found in her house, when her cats do something she thinks is funny, and when she wants to tell me about an I Love Lucy episode she’s seen for the eightieth time.

This quote made me really sad Paula died, because she always seemed like such a funny, interesting person and I always loved her books and am sad there will not be any more. I also always knew that Ann and Paula were friends, but I didn’t know that they were this close. Paula’s quote is, I think, the absolute number one most real thing in the book. It is exactly how I imagine being friends with Ann would be like.

There are two things the book does not mention at all, and they are: 1)wild n crazy times 2)romantic entanglement. Although it does mention that Ann became really good friends with someone on Fire Island. This woman is never mentioned again in the biography. Anyway, #1 makes sense because Ann doesn’t have a spleen, which makes drinking and drugging difficult. Thus, for Ann a wild night of partying during her college days was a half gallon of ice cream from Friendly’s and the Exorcist on the tv.

Basically, Ann seems like a sweet, slightly boring person and a really good friend. But this biography tries to make her seem like she is the Ideal Human. So yes, you should read it immediately, since this makes it pretty hilarious.

Edit: I wrote “Margot Kidder R.” for some reason, when it is really Margot Becker R. Margot Kidder is a Canadian actress who used to date Pierre Trudeau. She has never written an Ann M. Martin biography. Sorry for the confusion.