A Part of the Publishing Conversation
On November 10, 2013, the Children’s Collection celebrated its tenth birthday at McNally Jackson Books of New York City. Edwin Frank moderated a panel of children’s literature experts to discuss the changing nature of children's publishing.
“It was a gathering of publishers, agents, critics, and above all readers, with, cumulatively, I don’t know how many years of experience in the business. Lots and lots,” Frank says. “People came away with a strong sense of how children’s publishing has changed over the years, from the point of view of retailing in particular, but also how central children’s books have become to the way we live now—many, many children’s books, it’s important to remember, are books for parents too—and how precious and vital a legacy of children’s books we have from the past.”
The Children’s Collection plays a special role in the world of children’s book publishing by reminding us of old classics from beloved authors. These time-honored tales are just as important to future generations as they were to us and our predecessors.
Advertisments
Feature
Making Classics Contemporary
The New York Review Books Children’s Collection
How many of you have had a beloved childhood classic go out of print? Whether it’s a book or a particular edition, this is an all-too common occurrence for lovers of the written word. Sure, you can sometimes find the text online or buried in the billions of manuscripts available on public domain sites, but that’s never quite the same as having a hardcopy in hand.
Enter New York Review Books (NYRB) Children’s Collection. For ten years, they have been bringing favorite storybooks and novels back into print. Some of the most notable books include Wee Gillis, (a Caldecott Honor Book by the creators of The Story of Ferdinand); The House of Arden by E. Nesbit; James Thurber’s The Thirteen Clocks and The Wonderful O, both with illustrations by Marc Simont; and James Cloyd Bowman’s Newbery Honor Book, Pecos Bill. (You can view the complete catalog here.)
The Children’s Collection gives childhood favorites from around the world a new life in the modern age. Targeted at children ages 3 to 14, the collection is full of everything from an illustrated edition of Pinocchio to old-fashioned adventure tales such as Smith: The Story of a Pickpocket. Award-winning and critically acclaimed books and authors are the norm—a welcome reprieve from the oversaturated market of the present. These editions have been praised for their beautiful and sturdy design, and the imprint is incredibly selective about which books they will publish. (However, if there is a book you want to see back in print, you can make a recommendation!)
Below, series editor Edwin Frank speaks about how books are chosen for the Children’s Collection, why their mission has been successful despite the digital revolution, and what’s up next for the imprint.
IP: What led you to creating the Children’s Collection?
EF: We had no prior experience in children’s book publishing when we started the Children’s Collection. We had, however, been publishing our Classics series since 1999, and we had included a number of titles in that series that I was confident had appeal for children, or at least to young adults. I also had every intention of including classics of children’s literature in the Classics series at one point or another since the great children’s books are quite simply great books. The problem, however, was how would we get these books into the hands of children. The best way seemed to be to start a new list with a distinctive appeal for children and their parents.
IP: How are the books chosen for the Children’s Collection, and how do you know when you've found a successful book?
EF: We publish books that we think are good books, and we get recommendations of books to publish from readers and editors and others all the time. We’re very grateful for that. We’re very happy if they sell well, but our first consideration is quality.
IP: The Children’s Collection walks a fine line of classic (“old”) books being brought back into print in the digital age. Where do you see the future of this imprint, and how does the digital revolution influence your work?
EF: The important thing is that people read in one format or another, and of course we want to make, and are working on making, our books available electronically as well as in print. That said, my sense is that an inevitable effect of the digital revolution is to make people that much more aware of printed books as a specific kind of object, with a variety of qualities that may or may not translate into electronic formats: an illustrated book on screen is quite different from an actual illustrated book.
IP: What does the future hold for the Children's Collection?
EF: Next fall we’ll be doing Otto Preussler’s Krabat: The Sorcerer’s Mill, one of the real masterpieces of postwar children’s literature. I’m looking forward to that.
Keep an eye out for more great things from the Children’s Collection (and don’t forget the Classics series too!). You can learn more about New York Review Books on their website: www.nybooks.com/books.
* * * * *
Jillian Bergsma is a writer and contributing editor for Independent Publisher. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in English. She welcomes any questions or comments on her articles at jbergsma (at) bookpublishing.com.