Ep. 62 - David Levithan on How The Baby-Sitters Club Became a Publishing Juggernaut
The Baby-Sitters Club. You may know the books, but do you know their story? David Levithan--Editorial Director at Scholastic; Founding Editor of Scholastic’s PUSH imprint; and New York Times bestselling author of 23 books, including Boy Meets Boy, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist (co-written with Rachel Cohn), and, most recently, The Mysterious Disappearance of Aidan S. as told to his brother--invites Eve and Julie into the Baby-Sitters clubhouse to talk about the impact and legacy of the 300-book (and counting) series. With more than 176 million copies sold, this juggernaut has inspired spinoffs, graphic novels, a movie, and two different TV series. Julie and Eve discuss David’s journey editing the series for nearly three decades--starting as a 19-year-old Scholastic intern--and what it’s taught him about writing and editing; what it was like to work with Ann M. Martin--the original author of the series--to create a literary world that multiple authors have collaborated on; and how the series has influenced a generation of writers, from Elizabeth Acevedo to Jenny Han. Eve also shares with David her personal connection to Scholastic. Find us on Twitter (@bookdreamspod) and Instagram (@bookdreamspodcast), or email us at contact@bookdreamspodcast.com. We encourage you to visit our website and sign up for our newsletter for information about our episodes, guests, and more. Book Dreams is a part of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you’re listening to Book Dreams, we’d like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows about literature, writing, and storytelling like Storybound and The History of Literature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices