Leaner, meaner trim size coming your way!

I'm mostly shy about self-promoting. In my real life, I never bring up my profession with people I meet. When asked about it, I usually answer briefly and then change the subject. I've mentioned here before, I spent years doing school and book store visits usually without ever mentioning my books. But there are two consistent exceptions:

RAPUNZEL'S REVENGE and CALAMITY JACK, y'all!

I don't know why it's so much easier for me to tout these books. Probably because they're not mine alone. I co-wrote them with my husband Dean and artist (no relation) Nathan Hale.

Possibly also because they're FREAKIN' AWESOME.

Here's the thing about these books. Librarians who know them and stock them tell me they can't keep them on the shelves. I hear this constantly from school, public, and classroom libraries across the country: the kids fight over these books. The kids read them again and again. My avid readers read these books. My non-readers read these books. My non-readers became readers because of these books.

They're absolutely life-making for me, these comments.

Then I also hear: I can't find these books. Bookstores don't carry these books.

When we first wrote Rapunzel's Revenge, I couldn't name a single other graphic novel for young readers. Children's book publishers were not yet publishing graphic novels. We thought we'd have to try to publish it with a comics publisher. That world was new. Bloomsbury took up the book, and when we decided on a trim size, we chose a comic book size, because that was what had been established.

Shortly thereafter traditional children's publishing got into graphic novels in a huge way, and they all went for a smaller trim size, one that could fit on bookstore shelves beside other novels.

So my publisher, Bloomsbury, has decided to revisit these books. Since their reception by readers has
been so great but bookstores can't fit them on regular shelves, they are re-releasing both books in a smaller trim size. The smaller size will start replacing all the other books in about two months.

What does this mean?

Hopefully that you will start seeing these books regularly available in your local bookstores!

But it also means that the larger size will disappear. So if you like that size (I do) then BUY NOW!

And may I recommend? Boldly again, since I only speak about these books boldly. Buy the hardcover. They get re-read. Lots and lots. And paperbacks fall apart. So invest in the hardcover. That thing, as Nate says, will stop bullets.

Happy reading, and yee-ha!

Comments

[Ashley R.]

Congratulations! I will definitely have to get Calamity Jack soon!
Do you know how soon the big ones will be gone? Thanks!

[Jenna]

I recently borrowed "Rapunzel's Revenge" from the library and it looked like it had been read in the tub. The hardcover held up really well and I loved reading a copy that had been so obviously enjoyed by others. <3

[C baker]

My niece literally started a book club around these books in the second grade. If she forgot to bring them in, there were problems.

[K]

I need desperately to invest in hardcover copies of both...I got the paperback of Rapunzel's Revenge when it first came out, and my younger siblings read it so much that the cover LITERALLY fell off of it.

[Emily]

I love these books. My 8 year-old and 6 year-old are obsessed with them and I'm so glad I bought both books in hardback! They're still in great shape (except the dust jackets which died a long time ago). :D

[Laurie]

These are the two most fought over books in my classroom. A fight am happy to allow. Thank you!

[Linda W]

A smaller trim size sounds great. I hope that means you'll write another graphic novel soon.

[Angela]

I remember when I ordered them, I was surprised by the sizing of them, so they found a home in the "treasure chest:" a footlocker I keep all the other oddly sized books.

[shar]

I thought graphic novels would be difficult for my girls (2 and 4 at the time) since neither could read yet. I thought they might have a hard time following along. But we tried Rapunzel's Revenge out anyway, and was I ever wrong! They both LOVE it. We read a few pages every night before bedtime . . . and have for months. And I've found that graphic novels keep their interest longer than any of the other hundreds of picture books we own. Thank you for trying out something new! We've since read Calamity Jack as well, and it was an instant hit. Definitely hardcovers for us, since we reread these daily. :D

A fun one you might check out if you haven't read it is Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker. It's a collection of short stories in graphic novel form. So much fun and another favorite of my girls. http://agent44.bigcartel.com/product/the-antler-boy-and-other-stories

Do you have a list of favorite graphic novels that are appropriate for younger readers?

[lotzofunmarymomof4]

I work as a librarian and just have to say "I concur. Hear, hear!" even though that is technically not a Rapunzel-esque thing to say.

[Kate]

Aww man, I came running to your site today and then I remembered you don't do April Fool's posts any more! Sad day!

[Meredith B.]

What can I say? The Book industry is quite literally the fastest-moving retail industry that there is. And for a wide variety of reasons, most graphic novels don't have a long window of time for an in-store presence, particularly in the Children's Department. I was seriously impressed that my store was Modeled to carry Rapunzel's Revenge continuously for three years-- it's a testimony to how well the book did do; I would normally have expected to carry that book for less than a year.

That said, most bookstores are perfectly delighted to special order a book for you! Some stores may request that you pay for the book before they order it, but larger stores are often able to order the book for you to look at before you decide if you want to purchase it.

And yes, please, order the hardcover, really-- the price difference between the hardcover and the paperback is literally about four dollars, and the paperbacks copies of graphic novels really don't stand up to continued re-reading; to make matters worse, graphic novels are often more likely to be re-read than novels, since you can read them more quickly, and because re-examining the illustrations offers a high level of value to visually-oriented readers (and frequent readers of graphic novels are generally speaking quite visually-oriented.)

So what I'm saying here is that the probability that you will regret spending four extra dollars to get the hardcover is very small.