February 10, 2007 @ 9:11 am | Filed under: Little House
Thank you so much for the outpouring of support and well wishes you have given in the comments from yesterday’s post. You all are wonderful, and it’s a blessing to have such passionate readers!
Some questions naturally arose in the comments, and I thought I’d tackle a few of them here. One important point is that HarperCollins doesn’t think of the abridgements as dumbed-down. I do, and that I am strongly opposed to the dumbing-down of children’s literature must be obvious from my decision to walk away from a series of books that has been my heart’s work for the past decade. Although I came to the decision many months ago, the shock of it still takes my breath away sometimes. I love Martha and Charlotte, really love them. Like daughters. I have written certain scenes between Martha and Lew in my mind a hundred times. I’m sorry that I will not be sharing them with you, more sorry than I can express.
My decision to quit also had serious ramifications for my family. Had I continued with the series, we would still be living in Virginia; Scott would still be a work-at-home freelancer. So quitting was not a decision I made lightly; it had teeth.
And yet, if you read this blog then you know my stance on giving children the highest caliber of literature—not a slimmed-down version of what had been a carefully crafted novel. And so, when it became clear that my publishers were committed to their decision to abridge, I made what I believe to be the right decision—the only decision I could have made. Doing the right thing, I tell my children, is almost never the easy thing.
Certainly, this was a very hard thing to do.
But as I said, while I see the abridgement as dumbing-down, I must say in all fairness that I don’t believe my publishers see it that way at all. They see this as an opportunity to bring the books to a younger audience, a way to keep the series in print. The decision was presented to me with excitement and enthusiasm; I really think they were surprised that I was dismayed by it.
I bear them no ill will; indeed, I shall be sorry not to be working with my wonderful HarperCollins editor anymore. She is a gem. I simply disagree, quite gravely, with this publishing decision. I do think children deserve the very best books we can give them. The books I wrote, the books that were carefully and lovingly edited by not one, but two top-notch editors (the great Alix Reid, who edited all eight of my novels, not to mention Newbery winner Ella Enchanted, has since left the publishing world for other pursuits), are, I truly believe, literature of high quality. And I don’t think they are too hard, or too long, for young readers. I have heard from too many enthusiastic young readers to believe otherwise.
HarperCollins has made a business decision, and I disagree with it on principle, as an author, a reader, and a mother. I think chopping up the books is a mistake. But—and this is very important—publishers respond to trends in the marketplace. They make decisions based upon what sells. If you, as consumers (readers, parents, booklovers), want to influence publishing trends, you must do it (I am sorry to say) with your pocketbooks. The big publishing houses don’t read our blogs; they don’t know how we feel about literature versus twaddle. They only know what sells.
I see both sides of this coin, because I live on both sides. I’m a homeschooling mom with a modest household income, and frugality is a must. I’m also a writer whose livelihood depends on people spending money on books. Years ago, Scott and I made a conscious decision to strike a balance between these two competing identities: we resolved not to buy used if the book is still in print and the author is still alive. We buy new books in hardcover as often as possible, because that too sends a message to a publisher. And if we read a book at the library and truly love it, we try to buy a copy of it too.
(Now you know why I have cheap furniture and don’t dress well. All the discretionary income goes to books.)
So. I’m deeply gratified that you are ordering copies of my unabridged novels while you can still get them. Deeply gratified—yesterday was a goosebumpy day as the comments and emails came pouring in. But if you really want to show your support for the principles on which I stand, go out and buy a new copy of The Penderwicks. In hardcover, if possible!
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As a writer, and as a wage earning, homeschooling mother, oh how my heart goes out to you. What an incredibly difficult position to be in. I only know you from your blogs, and as an author of books that my children and I love — but that is well enough that I would have been very surprised indeed, had you not made the decision you did.
Good books are a vital part of life, both for adults and children. Certainly, for me and my family, books make up the bulk of my homeschooling/family life budget, right after shelter and food.
I think I already said this yesterday, but I am wishing you the very best on your new writing ventures.
Posted on February 10th, 2007 at 10:03 amThanks for the explanations. I feel guilty now for not buying the all books prior to now, BUT my oldest is only 6 and we just ventured into chapter books a couple of months ago. We were planning to read all the Martha books next fall as we both loved “Little House in the Highlands”.
Posted on February 10th, 2007 at 10:49 amOh, goodness, Jennifer, don’t feel guilty! I only put it out there to let people know there IS a way to let publishers know what kind of books you want them to publish!
Posted on February 10th, 2007 at 11:35 amHi Melissa, I just bought your entire series for my kids. They loved the originals and I had heard how wonderful yours were.
I’m sorry to see that kids are so poorly educated these days that they can’t handle books that my seven year old keeps reading over and over again.
Posted on February 10th, 2007 at 2:07 pmI don’t know what to say, except that my heart goes out to you, too. My “only” is a boy who thought “Little House” was Mom’s thing, and preferred “Redwall” and “Swallows and Amazons” (not bad things!) But I would like to get your books to put away for grandkids (after I read them myself!) Is there any way to be sure I’m getting the real thing and not the abridged version?
Blessings,
Posted on February 10th, 2007 at 5:46 pmI’m saddened to hear that you had to make this tough decision, though as an author (and home educator) I completely understand it. Your contribution to children’s literature and the Little House saga is something to be proud of - as is your decision to stand by your beliefs.
Posted on February 10th, 2007 at 5:51 pmParadise Found says:
You DO matter!
We live in a world where books are pretty much readily available. As home educators, we use those books to our advantage, maybe more than the average family. We lose ourselves in fantasies, romances, and adventures. We absorb knowledge through piles (a…
Posted on February 10th, 2007 at 6:14 pmI must have missed something. Why the Penderwicks?
Posted on February 11th, 2007 at 6:16 amI chose The Penderwicks as an example of the kind of delightful, well written children’s literature I’d like to see more of.
Posted on February 11th, 2007 at 10:09 amYou have given me more to think about, regarding the purchase of books. Thank you.
Posted on February 11th, 2007 at 1:23 pmI picked The Penderwicks as an example of a recently published book which is delightfully well written.
Posted on February 11th, 2007 at 2:22 pmLike everyone I’m so sorry about this! Just this morning my six year old questioned me, “Are you wearing your Saturday gown again? Oops, I’ve been reading too much Martha!”
Posted on February 11th, 2007 at 4:55 pmAh, but we can never read too much Martha.
Posted on February 11th, 2007 at 8:12 pmLissa,
Posted on February 12th, 2007 at 5:44 amI am so sorry they did this to you. In my opinion, it was a very foolish decision on their part. Very short-sighted. And to think they thought you would be pleased! Amazing!I have just purchased all of your books, and am in the process of buying the others. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to find them before they were all gone.
Can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!
Much love,
Jane
I’m sorry you are going through this, but excited for you too when I think of all the new roads you will be exploring in your new books. Congratulations for sticking to your principles.
Posted on February 13th, 2007 at 5:56 pmHi Melissa,
I “discovered” Charlotte reading a review in Heart and Mind magazine on “Across the Puddingstone Dam”. It was delightful to read, as were the rest of the Charlotte books. After reading your posts on the books, I finished up my Charlotte series and bought Martha’s too. I like to buy books for our “home library” and I wonder if you could explain why it’s best to buy hardcover if possible? Why does this make a bigger difference than buying paperback? Sorry if this is a silly question…I just don’t know.
Posted on February 14th, 2007 at 7:21 pmGreengirlsguide says:
I’m in my late 20s and just discovered the new little house books and have been tearing through all of them in my free time this month (thanks to my great local libraries)! They are so grounding in this fast-paced world. I’m so disappointed to hear about this poor choice by the publisher - perhaps they have not considered the large reading base of adults like myself who welcome these thoughtful additions to enrich our understanding of the beloved Little House classic series we cherish from our childhoods.
Posted on April 25th, 2007 at 11:27 pmWhat a brave decision you made, Melissa! I hope it influences some of the less visionary people at Harper Collins: Elise Howard, Annette Hughes, Susan Katz who see books as commodities and do not understand that a well written book lives forever (and increases their backlist sales) but schlock will not endure and is thus counter productive.
ps - I did love Linnets and Valerians, but liked The Little White Horse even more.
Posted on June 11th, 2007 at 8:29 pmI just found this blog today. I have been patiently waiting for the new books in the Martha & Charlotte series since I discovered them a year ago! I am glad that you decided to stand on your principles, and I completely agree with you. By the time I finished the 3rd grade, I had read all of the Little House books 3 times. Needless to say, once I found your books, I read them several times. I have to say that I cried when I found out that I’ll never know how the little Laird’s daughter ended up across the ocean with the blacksmith’s son.
I am sure that you have been asked this before, but is there any chance that you could finish the series with another publisher? Does HarperCollins have the rights to the stories? If you ever have an inkling to finish their stories (on this blog or in a book)…I’m sure that there are many people who would be delighted beyond expression.
Posted on June 13th, 2007 at 5:58 pmDear Melissa,
I understand (with sorrow) your decision and completely respect your artistic integrity. However, if you should ever decide to write Martha and Charlotte’s stories for adult readers, please, oh please remember us. I have only boys, and right now my middle son is still the age to accept “girl” stories, but how I would dearly love to have a book at an adult level that would speak to the mother I am and someday (long time off, I sure hope) as the grandmother I will be.
Warmly,
Posted on August 31st, 2007 at 5:30 pmNancy Paulsen
Dear Melissa,
This makes me so sad. I have been waiting patiently for quite some time (ever since the last two books came out) to find out what happens next. Did Grisie name her baby girl Cora after all? I, too, am proud of you for standing up for your principles but am sad for all of us, your devoted readers, that we will never know the rest of the stories. What happened to Martha’s parents and siblings? Will we ever know? I think that your publisher has been incredibly foolish. Why on earth would they think that they must abridge your wonderful novels? There are new children the right age for the unabridged versions every day, after all. Ah, well, we see what happens when the ones making the decisions are not connected completely to reality, I guess. Anyway, congratulations to you for standing by your beliefs and doing the right thing, no matter how difficult. The best of luck to you, and we, the ones who support you, will always be grateful for what you have given us.
Most Sincerely,
Posted on September 11th, 2007 at 1:53 pmColette Wellman
Dear Melissa,
I too had been waiting on bated breath for a new Martha or Charlotte book and was extremely sad to read this now six-month-old blog and find out there will be no more. I’m extremely grateful to have purchased your books right when they came out (I never found them in hardcover though :[) and won’t have to worry now about trying to find them in their original form (Little House in the Highlands is selling for $50.00!). I’m really disappointed in Harper Collins and their decision to do this to the Little House books and to change the covers, which I find tacky.
I do hope you’d be willing to answer in the future some of the questions we had about Martha and Charlotte that were never answered in the books.
Thanks for everything!
- Olyvia
Posted on October 14th, 2007 at 4:26 pmDear Melissa,
Another heartfelt plea, please, for you to consider sharing the sources for what you know about Martha and Charlotte’s life in Boston–if there are to be no more books about her, I desperately want to make a “pilgrimage” of sorts to Martha’s grave if it’s still there.
Also, I plead for books for my two littler boys–there are not so many historical fiction books similar to the Martha/Charlotte books that are winsome reads for boys ages about 4 1/2 to 8ish. Please write some?
Warmly,
Posted on January 1st, 2008 at 7:50 pmNancy
I came across this website by accident when researching info on Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family–I don’t know why it never crossed my mind before to search under the author of the Martha and Charlotte stories to find out why a new novel hasn’t come out! And now I know why–how extremely disappointing there will be no more by this wonderful author! While my own children aren’t old enough to enjoy the stories yet, I have collected and read them myself because I have been an avid LH fan since childhood. But, even more diappointing is how the publisher is treating these books! Why must everything be about the almighty dollar these days? I’m sure they must’ve been making SOME money from them! Wasn’t it enough? I am so glad now that I bought all the hardcovers right away! I am so sorry there will be no more…
Posted on February 7th, 2008 at 10:04 amJessica says:
Dear Mrs. Wiley,
I might cry about this. I love Laura Ingalls. I UNDERSTAND her so well. It was awesome to be able to read yours, which were similar to hers. Your books were so enjoyable. I will pray you’ll write more one day.
I am very sorry to hear of this. I loved your books! I decided to check your site to see when the rest of the series would come out, only to find they won’t! I was SOOOOO looking foreward to them!
I agree with what you said about abridged versions. You know, people’s volcabularys nowadays are awful. I think this has a lot to do with what they read. We really don’t need any more abridged books.
And now, I must go break the news to my cousin. Bye! J, 17
Posted on February 23rd, 2008 at 8:59 pmI have just finished reading the Charlotte books to two of my girls ( ages 10 and 8). We have read the Martha Years also. I am so sorry that you won’t be writing “the rest of the story”. I, the mom, find myself thinking of Charlotte and Martha during the day and wishing I knew more. Isn’t there SOMETHING that can be done??? We SO enjoyed the stories! Thank you for your efforts. God bless and we look forward to a continuation of the stories in the future. Lori-Lyn Mosby
Posted on April 24th, 2008 at 9:22 pm