NEW YORK — It was love at first sight — literally.

Nine-year-old Raina Telgemeier had discovered "The Baby-sitter's Club" book series.

"I read the first book at least 20 times throughout my childhood," the 28-year-old cartoonist says.

Now, 20 years later, Telgemeier has returned to the world of preteen friends Kristy, Claudia, Stacey and Mary Anne.

Her graphic novel adaptation of "Kristy's Great Idea," the first in author Ann M. Martin's hit series, is making its debut on Scholastic's Graphix imprint.

A modern, visual twist on an 1980s favorite, it's being marketed not only to 8-to-12-year-old girls, but women of Telgemeier's age who grew up with the original books.

Raised in San Francisco, Telgemeier identified most with Kristy, the scrappy 12-year-old who starts a club catering to parents in need of baby-sitters. Telgemeier began baby-sitting at age 11.

Set in the small town of Stoneybrook, the books deal with lighthearted issues as well as serious subjects — what Telgemeier calls "the three Ds: divorce, diabetes, death and sibling rivalry."

Scholastic launched the series in 1986 and it soon became a breakout hit. Offshoots followed, with more than 175 million "Baby-sitter's Club" books in print, and 132 books in the regular series.

The series officially ended in 2000.

About that time, Telgemeier was attending New York's School of Visual Arts for illustration and putting out her own 12-page autobiographical black and white mini comics, selling them "for a quarter to my friends," and to stores.

In 2003, Scholastic, mining for graphic novel ideas, asked Telgemeier what she read as a kid.

"I said, 'Oh, I was a Baby-sitter's Club fan,' remembering it was Scholastic's property," Telgemeier says. "And they thought it was sort of a good idea. I was very skeptical, at first. ... Then I thought, 'Why not?"'

With Martin's blessing, Telgemeier worked on the first graphic novel for a year, finishing it last September as part of a two-book contract.

The adaptation of "Kristy's Great Idea" runs about 190 pages, compared to the original's 150 pages. Telgemeier's second adaptation will be "The Truth About Stacey," coinciding with the series' third book, and is due out in November.

Joanna Sondheim, an assistant librarian at a private elementary school in Manhattan, got into the books at age 7, and says she's interested in reading the graphic novel to spark "memories."

"Graphic novels can be a really tough sell. In my library, at least, kids don't seem particularly drawn to them," she says. "But something like 'The Baby-sitter's Club' may work because there's a real story line."