Telgemeier and Galligan Reunite to Launch Baby-Sitters Club 40th Anniversary Graphic Novel

Detail from the cover of The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special: Baby-Sitters on Board, adapted from the book by Ann M. Martin by Raina Telgemeier and Gale Galligan, set for release September 15, 2026

Courtesy of Scholastics

Four decades after Ann M. Martin first gathered the Baby-Sitters Club, the middle-grade franchise has become a rare intergenerational pop culture phenomenon. Nowhere is that more evident than in the first-ever collaboration between the two creators most responsible for translating Martin’s novels into graphic novels: Raina Telgemeier and Gale Galligan.

The duo is joining forces to adapt the 1988 BSC Super Special, The Baby-Sitters Club: Baby-Sitters on Board, into a graphic novel for the first time, arriving September 15, 2026 via Scholastic’s Graphix imprint. Though longtime friends, Telgemeier and Galligan had never collaborated before, and they have formed their own “Baby-Sitters Club club” to tackle the project with evident enthusiasm.

A Super Special Graphic Adventure Doubles the BSC Fun

“I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed drawing a graphic novel more, and this has been the most fun career of my life,” Telgemeier said in a joint Zoom interview with Galligan last month. Telgemeier first brought BSC to comics in 2006, adapting the first four graphic adventures before launching her own best-selling titles including Guts, Smile, and The Cartoonist’s Club. “I had a big smile on my face the entire time, and I like to think readers can feel that joy on every page.”

“This is by far the largest Baby-Sitters Club book ever,” Galligan said, noting that she succeeded Telgemeier and drew the subsequent four titles in the series. “It’s twice the size of a standard BSC book. Every character gets their own adventure, sometimes appearing in the background of another character’s story. There’s so much going on that we really got to flex our drawing muscles—it’s visually exhilarating.”

Telgemeier and Galligan divided the chapters between them and collaborated closely on pacing, costume continuity, and staging. Setting the adventure on a cruise ship and a theme park rather than the traditional Stoneybrook, Connecticut, backdrop allowed both artists to create fresh settings for Kristy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey, and the rest of the cast.

“Gail and I got to invent our own theme park from scratch,” Telgemeier said. “We had a blast doing it!”

Connecting Generations of BSC Fans

Telgemeier became a BSC fan at age nine in the mid-1980s; Galligan discovered the books as a child in the 1990s and later became the second cartoonist to continue the series. Now, celebrating this milestone, both creators recognize they are part of something special: a franchise that connects mothers, daughters, and even granddaughters.

“I have a fond memory of doing a signing with Raina and Ann early in my time on The Baby-Sitters Club,” Galligan recalled. “We had lines of fans—people my age, Raina’s age—coming up to Ann saying, ‘Here is my crumpled book. You changed my life. I love you so much!’ And then kids would come up and say, ‘Hey, I love your comic book!’ It’s amazing that these stories connect grownups and kids like that. It’s very special.”

From Best-Selling Series to Groundbreaking Graphic Novels

For Telgemeier, who is celebrating her own 20th anniversary with the BSC, the graphic novels’ continued success alongside the prose books validates the experiment Scholastic undertook in 2006, when editor David Saylor launched the Graphix imprint and took a chance on the first BSC adaptation.

“Girls loved comics, manga, anime, and television,” Telgemeier recalled. “No American publisher had really committed to putting money behind a series aimed at girls, starring girls, created by women, and giving it a hard launch. I don’t think they had data to support it, but it felt like a magic moment. Someone just had to throw the first pebble in the pond.”

In the past 20 years, graphic novels have evolved from a questionable middle-grade format and a risky expansion of comics into one of the industry’s most important engines for creating young readers and diverse audiences. Scholastic has been the biggest beneficiary of that shift.

Galligan says there is still plenty of room for innovation. Publishers should be more willing to take chances: “Continue pushing for inclusive storytelling, both on the page and behind it. Continue trusting kids. There are so many weird, wacky, and wild stories kids would love if publishers and gatekeepers trusted them to read.”

Evolving With the Times While Staying Grounded

BSC has remained popular for four decades across various media—including streaming adaptations, podcasts, and comics—by evolving to fit the times while staying true to its characters and values. Ann Martin continues to innovate, introducing new twists for the cast and broadening the range of characters readers can see themselves in.

“A lot has changed, but kids still wonder, ‘Do other people like me? Do I like other people? Why are we fighting right now?’” Galligan observed.

Telgemeier added that BSC is about more than friendship. It’s about girls organizing themselves, assigning roles, solving problems, and earning money while learning to see things from different perspectives.

“There’s a universal quality to Ann’s writing, and each book is told from a different character’s point of view, so you get to see everyone’s side of the story,” she said. “It was a powerful way to empower your own girlhood through these strong female role models.”

Will the “Baby-Sitters Club Club” Meet Again?

Now that the 40th anniversary collaboration is imminent, is there a chance of another collaboration between the “Baby-Sitters Club club,” or will readers have to wait until the 50th?

Telgemeier and Galligan, close friends with great mutual respect for each other’s work outside this first formal collaboration, seemed to relish the idea as the interview wrapped up.

“It was so much fun to bounce ideas back and forth with someone,” Galligan said. “We got to embody the ethos of this collaborative story, which was the best part.”

“What if we did an unofficial spinoff?” Telgemeier mused, intrigued. “Unbranded, but there’s actually more there.”

“I would love that—yes, yes, yes! We have a very long Google doc. We can make something happen.”

“My wheels started spinning,” Telgemeier said with a mischievous smile.

Meanwhile, generations of fans who grew up with Ann M. Martin’s The Baby-Sitters Club can enjoy the return of two pivotal creators. “It’s like I’ve come home after traveling,” Telgemeier said.

For a franchise passed from one generation to the next, it may be the perfect description.

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