If there are two names associated with The Baby-Sitters Club besides Ann M. Martin, it has to be cartoonists Raina Telgemeier and Gale Galligan. Telgemeier wrote and drew the first Baby-Sitters Club graphic novel adaptation back in 2006. The book was such a huge hit that she then drew 3 more follow-ups before stepping way from the series. Galligan then took over adaptation duties on the next four books in the series before moving on to write and draw original graphic novels of their own.
The pair return to The Baby-Sitters Club with the latest graphic novel in the series, the recently released The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special: Baby-Sitters on Board. This is the first time the two share a credit on a book, but as revealed at this year’s New York Comic Con Scholastic Graphix Party, it’s not the first time the duo has worked together.
Shortly after graduating from NYU, Galligan found themself with a lot of time on their hands. They were living in Queens and spotted a LiveJournal post by Telgemeier looking for an assistant. Gale wrote to Raina with a great reason for why she should hire them: they lived 5 minutes away from Raina’s Queens, NY home. After a short meeting, Raina hired Gale. Quickly, Gale went to work erasing Raina’s pencils on page after page of inked pages, and other assistant duties.
Both of them them looked back fondly on Gale’s tenure as Reina’s assistant. It introduced Gale to how a professional cartoonist operates, and helped to guide them at the start of their own cartooning career.
Now, many years later, the pair have reunited on this The Baby-Sitters Club Special. Raina and Gale trade off on art duties throughout the book. Raina loved working alongside her former assistant on this graphic novel. She told Gale, “Getting to work with you, it made me level up every day.” Talking about their working relationship on this graphic novel, Raina described it as “unhinged Google Docs for days.”
Now that The Baby-Sitters Club Special: Baby-Sitters on Board is out, the pair have been touring around various bookstores and conventions promoting the graphic novel. They both love meeting fans, some of whom now have kids of their own getting into The Baby-Sitters Club. “We have people saying your books meant the world to me for X amount of years,” said Gale, describing the tour.
It was nice seeing the two together in person. You can tell there is a real friendship at the foundation of their working relationship. The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special: Baby-Sitters on Board can be found at comic shops, your local bookstore and online.
Stay tuned to The Beat for more news from NYCC ’26.
