What is Ann M. Martin?
{{Infobox writer | name = Ann Matthews Martin | image = Ann M. Martin at the 2019 National Book Festival.jpg | caption = Martin at the National Book Festival on August 31, 2019 | birth_name = Ann Matthews Martin | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1955|8|12}} | birth_place = [[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]], [[New Jersey]], United States | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Author | nationality = [[United States|American]] | genre = Children's books | subject = | movement = | influenced = | signature = Ann M. Martin signature.jpg | website = {{URL|http://www.scholastic.com/annmartin/}} }} '''Ann Matthews Martin''' (born August 12, 1955) is an [[Americans|American]] [[Children's literature|children's writer]]. Ann Martin grew up in [[Princeton, New Jersey]] with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. She graduated from [[Smith College]]. After this, Martin became a [[teacher]] and then an [[editor]] of children's books. Now, she is a full-time writer. Martin finds the ideas for her books from many different things. Some are based on what she has done herself. Others are based on childhood memories and feelings. All of the characters that Ann uses in her books, including the members of ''The Baby-Sitters Club'', are [[fiction]]al. However, 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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=10541_type=Contributor_typeId=3343 |title=Ann M. Martin &#124; Scholastic.com |access-date=2012-04-01 |archive-date=2010-03-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100307232625/http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/collateral.jsp?id=10541_type=Contributor_typeId=3343 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1990, she started the [http://www.scholastic.com/annmartin/foundation.htm Ann M. Martin Foundation]. This gives money to causes which help children, education/literacy programs, homeless people and animals. ==