Jessi's Secret Language by Ann M. Martin

It was all quite enjoyable, but I wondered a bit about the representation. Eventually, the two storylines come together for a feel-good night at the ballet. But Jessi finds she needs to pay more attention to his sister, Haley, who is having some sibling issues with resentment and coping. She also takes on a new babysitting job where she agrees to start learning ASL as one of the children, Matt, is deaf. Jessi starts at a new ballet school and has a brief, mild conflict with a couple other dancers that doesn't amount to much. It's nice to have a BSC book that concentrates almost entirely on one member! Even so, 30 (thirty!) other characters manage to make appearances throughout the book. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.Īfter 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. They inspired her to become a writer herself.

Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.Īnn has always enjoyed writing. But many of her characters are based on real people. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. She's now a full-time writer.Īnn gets the ideas for her books from many different places. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane.

Ann Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955.

Jessi's Secret Language by Ann M. Martin