The Nanny Diaries is a 2002

2002 in literature

The year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...

 novel by Emma McLaughlin

Emma McLaughlin

Emma Lanier McLaughlin is an American novelist.-Private life:McLaughlin graduated from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study...

 and Nicola Kraus

Nicola Kraus

Nicola Kraus is an American novelist.-Private life:Kraus graduated from New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She met Emma McLaughlin while both were attending New York University, and working as nannies...

, both of whom are former nannies

Nanny

A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...

. The book satirizes upper class Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

 society as seen through the eyes of their children's caregivers.

The writers were students at New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

's Gallatin School of Individualized Study

Gallatin School of Individualized Study

The Gallatin School of Individualized Study is a small interdisciplinary college within New York University. Gallatin aims to provide a "small college" feel, while being located within one of the largest private universities in the United States. Students design their own interdisciplinary program...

 when they wrote the book. Both had worked as nannies for about 30 different wealthy families on the Upper East Side

Upper East Side

The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park and the East River. The Upper East Side lies within an area bounded by 59th Street to 96th Street, and the East River to Fifth Avenue-Central Park...

, where the book is set. As a child, Kraus lived at 1000 Park Avenue

1000 Park Avenue

1000 Park Avenue is an apartment building on the Upper East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Park Avenue and East 84th Street....

, and claims she modeled some of the characters, particularly Mrs. X, on other building residents.

A film adaptation

The Nanny Diaries (film)

The Nanny Diaries is a 2007 American comedy-drama film, based on the novel of the same name by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. Written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, it stars Scarlett Johansson, Alicia Keys, Paul Giamatti, and Laura Linney; and was produced by Richard N...

 starring Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...

, Paul Giamatti

Paul Giamatti

Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the...

, and Laura Linney

Laura Linney

Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress of film, television, and theatre. Linney has won three Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She has been nominated for three times for an Academy Award and once for a BAFTA Award...

 was released in the United States on August 24, 2007. The novel was also released as an audio book

Audio book

An audiobook or audio book is a recording of a text being read. It is not necessarily an exact audio version of a book or magazine.Spoken audio has been available in schools and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops since the 1930s. Many spoken word albums were made prior to the...

, read by actress Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts

Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...

.

In August 2011, it was announced that Gilmore Girls

Gilmore Girls

Gilmore Girls is an American family comedy-drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. On October 5, 2000, the series debuted on The WB and was cancelled in its seventh season, ending on May 15, 2007 on The CW...

creator/producer, Amy Sherman-Palladino

Amy Sherman-Palladino

Amy Sherman-Palladino is an American television writer, director, and producer who is best known as the creator of the television series Gilmore Girls.-Life:Sherman-Palladino is married to writer and producer Daniel Palladino...

 has started to develop a Nanny Diaries TV series to be produced by Ryan Seacrest Productions and The Weinstein Company

The Weinstein Company

The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...

 for ABC.

Kraus and McLaughlin recently released a sequel called Nanny Returns, in which Nan and Harvard Hottie are happily married (for the most part). A drunken Grayer appears twelve years later and causes Nan to be involved with the Xs all over again, leading to a frenzy of emotions, including compassion and guilt.

Nanny Hutchinson

Originally in college when the first book began, Nanny Schuester was the primary nanny to Grayer X, and eventually began to love him as a son. Mrs. X fires her after the interaction between Nanny and Grayer, jealous that her son sees Nanny as a mother over her. The X's force Nanny to leave without letting her say goodbye to Grayer, something that haunts her. In a rage, Nanny records herself on the "NannyCam", accusing the X's of being bad parents and begging them to love their son. While working for the X's, Nanny meets and falls in love with a boy who lives in the same building as the X's, someone she nicknamed "Harvard Hottie", as that is where he went to school. In the sequel, Nanny Returns twelve years have passed since the conclusion of the first book. Now married to Harvard Hottie, they move back to New York after spending six years traveling the globe through his UN program. There, a sixteen year old Grayer turns up on her doorstep, drunk. Still feeling guilty for how she left when Grayer was four, she decides to help him anyway she can in order to atone for what she did. Thus, this brings her back in with the X's, who have not changed in the past twelve years. However, putting all her focus on helping Grayer puts a strain on her relationship with Harvard Hottie, who feels like it is not her place to be Grayer's "nanny" anymore.

Ryan Hutchinson aka "Harvard Hottie"

Originally living in the same building as the X's, HH runs into Nanny in the elevator while she is hanging out with Grayer. Nicknamed Harvard Hottie by Nanny (as he attended Harvard), they begin to gain a rapport, however their relationship almost crumbles when she runs into him and his high school friends, who he doesn't stop when they insinuate that she is only a nanny so she can have affairs with the rich husbands. However, after much apologizing, they begin a relationship. In Nanny Returns, Harvard Hottie (his real name was revealed to be Ryan Hutchinson) is now married to Nanny, and after moving around the world due to his UN duties, decide to move back to New York. However, their relationship gets strained because he wants to immediately start a family while she is hesitant to do so. He also does not support her getting sucked back in into the drama of the X family, as he knew that it took a toll on her the first time.

Mrs. X

Grayer's mother, Mrs. X is self-centered and not a very good mother. Leaving all the parenting work up to Nanny, Mrs. X spends most of her time in seclusion or spending money. However, she doesn't like to spend money on others, as she poorly compensates Nanny for working overtime and fires workers whenever she feels like it. Her relationship with her husband is almost non existent, due to his constant cheating and his constantly long work hours. However, she begins to grow jealous of Nanny once Grayer starts seeing Nanny as his mother over her. She then fires Nanny and prevents her from seeing Grayer once last time. In Nanny Returns, she is just the same as ever, although she now has another son (from Mr. X). She becomes severely depressed, due to Mr. X leaving her for a younger woman. She kept Nanny's video from the "NannyCam" in case she had to sue Mr. X for custody of their children. However, she finds out that the reason that her husband had so much money was that he was a con artist and the police were starting to suspect him. Not wanting to lose the lifestyle she has (as she will get nothing in the divorce if he is caught), she decides to turn a blind eye. However, Grayer tells her that he will financially support her when their father gets caught only if she acts like a real mother to her other son.

Mr. X

The very much non existent father of Grayer. He is married to Mrs. X but continuously cheats on her with other women. He similarly works very long hours at his office and would rather not be a father to Grayer. In Nanny Returns, it is revealed that he is a con artist, which was how he was able to get so much money. He tried to convince Grayer that he wanted to spend quality time with him, but actually wanted to use him to steal something. He also has left Mrs. X for a younger woman, and cut off much of the money she was given.

Grayer X

The son of Mr. and Mrs. X. He is four during the events of the first book. He becomes very close to Nanny and begins to see her as his mother, as his own would constantly neglect him and his father would ignore him. Unknown to him, Nanny was fired due to a jealous Mrs. X and prevented Nanny from saying goodbye to him, something that emotionally scarred him as he grew up. In Nanny Returns, Grayer is now sixteen with a seven year old younger brother. He shows up on Nanny's doorstep drunk, after having seen the "NannyCam" video and looking up her address from his mother's files. He is still hurt by Nanny's seemingly abrupt disappearance from his life, as she was the one person who really cared for him. Thus, he does not trust her, however he wants his brother to succeed, so he enlists Nanny's help. He eventually finds out why she had left so suddenly, and he forgives her. He decides to move out of his mother's house and live on his own, as he realizes that his father and mother never really cared for him. Nanny offers to adopt both him and his brother, but he turns her down, saying he needs to do things on his own. He promises to stay in touch, however before he leaves Nanny gives him a charm that he gave her when he was four, telling him to always remember their time together and to never forget, because she never has.