Kristy looks for a way to help a little girl with autism in this special entry in the classic hit series. Kristy’s newest baby-sitting charge is Susan Felder, who goes away to a special school. Susan isn’t like most kids. While she can play the piano and sing beautifully . . . she can’t talk to anyone. Susan is autistic. She lives locked inside her own secret world. Kristy thinks it’s unfair that Susan has to be sent off to school and is treated differently from everyone else. But Kristy’s going to try to change that—by showing everyone that Susan’s a “regular” kid, too. And then maybe Kristy’s new friend can stay in Stoneybrook for good. The best friends you’ll ever have—with classic BSC covers and a letter from Ann M. Martin!

When Ann M. Martin was asked to write the first four Baby-sitters Club books in 1985, she had no way of knowing she was about to change the face of children s publishing. Martin s writing is influenced by a combination of her pretty wonderful childhood, her experience as a teacher, and her work in children s publishing. Now, 20 years after the first Baby-sitters Club book was written, with more than 300 books and a Newbery Honor book to her credit, Martin continues to write novels that not only find a place on best-sellers lists, but also in the hearts of readers. It is clear that she is one of the most widely read and beloved children s authors of all time. In a one-volume reference, Ann M. Martin details the life and real-life influences of this famous author, revealing the person behind the words, and the author behind the literature.

The Susan Southerland Secret has given me techniques to make the most of the time I have with clients to take my sales to another level, build a better relationship with clients, and give me an even better understanding of their personalities. Thank you, Susan Southerland Secret! Maria Shafer, Celebration Expert Sales and marketing are as important to a wedding business as creating a beautiful, memorable day for the bride and groom. Yet, those two words can be intimidating, even to the most dynamic, energized, and experienced wedding professional. Fear no more. In The Susan Southerland Secret, three industry experts share valuable tips that will provide both novice and seasoned wedding professionals a renewed confidence in selling and marketing. Susan Southerland, Kristy Chenell, and Karen Gingerich rely on their extensive backgrounds in wedding planning, marketing, and sales to offer their secret to successa distinct concept called personality marketing. Wedding professionals will learn how to identify bridal personalities and their buying decisions; recognize a brides strengths and weaknesses; win a brides confidence through tailored sales and marketing messages; stand out from the competition and close the deal. The Susan Southerland Secret offers incredible insight into a brides mind, ultimately helping wedding professionals become superior salespeople, expert contract negotiators, and champions of customer service.

Young people who feel marginalized due to physical differences or disabilities may benefit from discovering fictional characters who face similar difficulties. This unique bibliography surveys the field of children's and young adult literature published since 1990, identifying 200 quality books that deal with a wide range of contemporary health and self-image topics. Coverage includes physical handicaps, Autism, burns, scars, and disfigurement, obesity and anorexia, speech disorders, skin color, and basic issues of popularity and fitting in. The literature covered here includes picture books, chapter books for middle school readers, and young adult novels spanning different genres, such as mysteries, historical fiction, and poetry. Annotations provide brief plot synopses, full bibliographic information, publishers' age-level suggestions, and subject key words. This resource is perfect for obtaining information about authors, titles, and age levels of books on particular subjects, or to determine the subject of a particular book. Four indexes-Title, Author, Subject, and Age Level-facilitate easy reference for all users and readers.

Kristy is torn between her feelings for Susan, the young autistic girl for whom she baby-sits, and the sad realization that Susan will never be one of the regular youngsters.

"We Are the Baby-Sitters Club is the ultimate companion guide for a generation of devout superfans. This book revisits the beloved series through grown-up eyes—but never loses the magic we all felt the moment we cracked open a fresh new book. BSC forever!" —Lucia Aniello, director and executive producer of The Baby-Sitters Club Netflix series A nostalgia-packed, star-studded anthology featuring contributors such as Kristen Arnett, Yumi Sakugawa, Myriam Gurba, and others exploring the lasting impact of Ann M. Martin's beloved Baby-Sitters Club series In 1986, the first-ever meeting of the Baby-Sitters Club was called to order in a messy bedroom strewn with RingDings, scrunchies, and a landline phone. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, and Mary Anne launched the club that birthed an entire generation of loyal readers. Ann M. Martin's Baby-Sitters Club series featured a complex cast of characters and touched on an impressive range of issues that were underrepresented at the time: divorce, adoption, childhood illness, class division, and racism, to name a few. In We Are the Baby-Sitters Club, writers and a few visual artists from the original BSC generation will reflect on the enduring legacy of Ann M. Martin's beloved series, thirty-five years later—celebrating the BSC's profound cultural influence. Contributors include Paperback Crush author Gabrielle Moss, illustrator SiobhÁn Gallagher, and filmmaker Sue Ding, as well as New York Times bestselling author Kristen Arnett, Lambda Award–finalist Myriam Gurba, Black Girl Nerds founder Jamie Broadnax, and Paris Review contributor Frankie Thomas. One of LitHub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021, We Are the Baby-Sitters Club looks closely at how Ann M. Martin's series shaped our ideas about gender politics, friendship, fashion and beyond.

An estimated 1 in 110 children in the United States has autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although the public awareness of autism has grown significantly, teens are not as educated about this subject as they should be. When accurately and positively presented, literature has been shown to help the classmates of those with ASD better understand the disorder. Increased familiarity with the subject will, in turn, help foster acceptance. In Autism in Young Adult Novels: An Annotated Bibliography, Marilyn Irwin, Annette Y. Goldsmith, and Rachel Applegate identify and assess teen fiction with autism content. In the first section, the authors analyze how characters with ASD are presented. Where do they live and go to school? Do they have friends? Do they have good relationships with their family? How are they treated by others? The authors also consider whether autism is accurately presented. This discussion is followed by a comprehensive bibliography of books that feature a character identified as being on the autism spectrum. The novels reviewed in this volume date as far back as the late 1960s and include works published in the last few years. As more and more authors of young adult fiction become sensitive to ASD, they are featuring such characters in their novels, creating more realistic works for their readers. This study will help librarians and others collect, choose, evaluate, and use these works to educate young adults.

As autistic self-advocates, our personal stories hold a lot of power: they are sources of strength, tales of overcoming barriers and adversity, and a way for us to assert agency and receive the support we might need. But how do you actually disclose your diagnosis? How do you tell teachers, support staff, colleagues, friends, or anybody else about your disability and account for their varied reactions? Or, if you're a parent or ally, how do you tell the person you're supporting about their own neurodivergent identity and culture? Disclosure is often a thorny topic, but in this powerful and supportive book, Haley Moss explores the language, history, and stigmas that influence how people perceive autism, breaking down ways to approach conversations about neurodivergence in different contexts. By deconstructing fears around disclosure, Talking the Talk About Autism shows how the experience can be made more impactful, safe, and less nerve-wracking for all those involved.

The Baby-sitters Club investigates the terrible noises coming from the old Hennessey place, which is sitting on top of a graveyard and may be haunted.

The book focuses on individuals writing in the '90s, but also includes 12 classic authors (e.g., Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, J.R.R. Tolkien) who are still widely read by teens. It also covers some authors known primarily for adult literature (e.g., Stephen King) and some who write mainly for middle readers but are also popular among young adults (e.g., Betsy Byars). An affordable alternative to multivolume publications, this book makes a great collection development tool and resource for author studies. It will also help readers find other books by and about their favorite writers.