Ann M. Martin has shaped so many lives with her children and young adult fiction ever since the 80s I believe. The first Martin classic has lived on in pop culture with reboots and reprints is The BSC-The Babysitter’s Club!

With five later eight distinct girls, readers lived vicariously through their business and babysitting adventures. She imbued the series with realistic events that tweens could relate to like friendship drama, moving, first loves as well as some more timely issues of the week like diabetes, autism and abuse. The friendship that glues the series together is, I think, one of the reasons that it has lasted so long. You really feel like you can connect to these girls and want to be like them. Not to mention wanting Claudia’s amazing wardrobe.

My favorite Martin series was Main Street. It is set in a small town and is made up of mundane scenes of life, but with Martin’s writing it is not mundane. It’s thoughtful, and comforting like a warm blanket. She gives a “Peek in the window” to everyone in Camden Falls, not just Flora and Ruby as they settle into their new town after their parent’ untimely deaths.

It might sound boring, but the same spirit of friendship and closeness pervades the book that make ou feel as you could walk on Main Street with the rest of them. Plus it’s just nice to see how the characters subtly grow and shift. You don’t always need big action or drama to enjoy a book as Martin demonstrates.

Her historical quartet Family Tree demonstrates Martin’s ease in using generational stories to create a moving story of mothers, daughters, secrets and growing up that is movingly brought to full circle. Plus her desriptions of Abby, Dana, Francie, and Georgie’s life are especially distinct as she illustrates the time period each lives in and how the world has changed from the 30s to 2010.

This can also be seen in her stand-alone novel Here Today which takes place in the 50s as young Eleanor struggles with her position as oldest child to a flighty fame-obssessed mother. Despite the poodle skirts and prejudice of the times by WASPy kids, the struggles and dramas that Martin puts into Ellie’s experience are universal no matter the era.

Those are just a few of my favorites, there’s also A Dog’s Life, A Corner of the Universe, The Doll People and so many more!

While I prefer her realistic, slice of life stories that drop you into the world, she deftly can fit into fantasy and historical fiction, all focusing on the bonds of friendship, family and coming of age.