Time for the Annual Hanna’s Christmas Post
Every December I get lots of queries from kind readers wondering where they might find a copy of my out-of-print picture book, Hanna’s Christmas, for something more reasonable than the fifty-dollars-and-upward it’s going for at Amazon Marketplace these days. (Crazy!) Here’s a post I wrote about it in December, 2006. I still don’t have any leads beyond the pricey ones at Amazon, eBay, etc. So sorry, folks!
Hanna’s Christmas
I was commissioned to write the book as a work-for-hire, which means there’s no royalty—the writer gets a flat fee and that’s that, no matter how well the book sells. Most books involving licensed characters or merchandise tie-ins are work-for-hire projects. I don’t do work-for-hire anymore, but it was a good way to hone my craft when I was young and hungry. It was also a good way to pay scary medical bills when we were self-employed.
I’m fond of the Hanna book, although it was a challenge to write. Like every other work-for-hire I’ve done, there were a great many editors involved (senior editor, junior editor, packager, etc). I was hired by HarperCollins to write “a picture book about a little Swedish girl named Hanna who moves to America and is homesick, and it’s Christmas. Oh, and also we’d like there to be a tomten in it.”
They already had sketches of Hanna and the tomten—adorably and whimsically drawn by artist Melissa Iwai. From there it was all up to me. I came up with the storyline, which had to be approved by all the aforementioned folks plus someone at Hanna Andersson itself. Then I wrote a draft, which got bumped back and forth a zillion times as various editors weighed in with contradictory remarks.
Like this. In the first draft, I described the tomten’s hat as “red as a rowanberry.” The junior editor bounced it back with a strikethrough.
“Change to ‘his hat was bright red,'” read the note in the margin. “American readers won’t know rowanberries.”
Sigh. I argued that “bright red” was flat and boring. Okay, I wasn’t that blunt, but that was the gist. I pointed out that we’d be better off cutting the whole sentence, since the artwork would clearly show that the tomten’s hat was red anyway.
Nope, said the editor, go with “his hat was bright red.” So I did, growling at the screen. When you’re reading a book to your kids, you don’t want to get stuck dragging through pedestrian sentences like “his hat was bright red.” Bleh.
And then the next person up the line—the senior editor on the project, whom I’d worked with before, a first-rate editor with an excellent eye—read the manuscript. She sent it back with her comments. There was a note by “his hat was bright red.”
“Flat. Can you punch up?”
Me: “AAAAAAUUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!”
She was absolutely right, of course. I changed it to “red as a hollyberry” and that’s the line that made it into the book. I still think rowanberry was better.
But I digress. Anyway, I loved the story and am really very fond of my slightly grumpy Hanna and her even grumpier tomten friend. I was quite pleased that I got to work in the St. Lucia feast day tradition, since that was already such a happy tradition in our little family. I got a kick out of having Hanna and the tomten make a construction paper crown, because that was what I had done for Jane the December before. I loved the artwork—I have never met or even spoken to Melissa Iwai, but I thought her work was gorgeous. (I keep meaning to check out her other books. Looks like she has a lot of them! Her website is cool, too, especially the process section.)
In the end, I was really happy with the book and was a little bummed it was a merch tie-in, because of course that put it in a different category of book and I knew it would never be reviewed by the critics. To my surprise, it did get a nice little review in School Library Journal, but still, it was a commercial property, not intended for a long and dignified life on library shelves. After all, the characters are all wearing Hanna Andersson clothing. Even the endpapers are Hanna prints. (We actually have a baby outfit in the same pattern.)
But in the end, I’m glad I took on the Hanna project. I liked the challenge of trying to tell an engaging and well-crafted story within the confines placed upon me by the various bosses. There’s a certain satisfaction in trying to make art out of something so commercial.
Last year I was amused to discover that the book had taken on a new life in the resale market. People were actually hunting for it, trying to land a copy. This year (2006) it seems there are no copies on the market at all. I guess everyone who bought it last year decided to hold on to it, which is nice to think about.
Over the years, I gave away almost all of my author comps. The book really is going to disappear for good soon, save for a few scattered copies on people’s Christmas shelves. So to the very nice folks who have written me in recent weeks, asking if I know where you can find copies, I’m afraid I have to tell you I’m unable to help you out. But I deeply appreciate your interest!
Meg says:
bookfinder.com shows a few copies. They are expensive.
On December 8, 2009 at 10:37 am
Charlotte (Matilda) says:
We scored a copy for under $15 back in September. The trick seems to be to look for them off season. We love this sweet book and don’t see it as a commercial at all, but then again, we don’t know that much about Hanna Andersson. Bet they wouldn’t like to hear that now would they?
On December 8, 2009 at 10:44 am
Constance says:
I am surprised someone like Emily Brenner at Harper doesn’t figure out a way to reprint this book. Too bad, it sounds lovely.
On December 8, 2009 at 10:51 am
Lenetta @ Nettacow says:
I’m with Constance – you’d think they’d want to make money off it! The first time you posted about it, Lissa, I jumped on somewhere (ebay maybe?) and snagged a copy for one of my nieces. Kinda wishing I’d have kept it for myself now! :>) I do need to tell my sister in law that if she ever wants to get rid of it to send it my way.
On December 8, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Kathy Ceceri says:
I wonder if you could request the rights to reprint it and offer it through Amazon’s print-on-demand service? Or at least suggest the publisher do so?
On December 13, 2009 at 7:32 pm
susanna eve says:
there is a copy up on ebay just now, starting price $19.99 with no bids on it, the auction has a lot of days to run yet.
On December 14, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Tiffany says:
I use your book every year when I teach my first graders about Christmas traditions in Sweden. They love it-unfortunately, there is only one copy of your book in our library system and even though I request it in early November, I still have a difficult time getting it in time to teach my lesson. Is there anything we can do to persuade the publisher to reprint the book?
On December 20, 2009 at 4:06 am