Mrs. Spitzer's Garden Blooms Anew

by Sally Lodge, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 3/1/2007

Back in spring 2001, Harcourt published a picture book about a kindergarten teacher with a decidedly green thumb—in her garden as well as in her classroom. In Edith Pattou's Mrs. Spitzer's Garden, illustrated by Tricia Tusa, this woman plants seeds and lovingly tends to the plants that sprout and blossom—with childlike faces—giving each the individual attention it needs.

With 86,000 copies in print, this fable clearly struck a chord with parents, educators and youngsters. And the publisher hopes to expand the tale's reach this season with a new gift edition, featuring a smaller trim size (7x7), a lower price point and a sticker on the jacket proclaiming the book "Perfect for your favorite teacher!"

Asked what sewed the seeds for this new edition, due this month with a 50,000-copy first printing, Jennifer Haller, v-p of sales for Harcourt Children's Books, responds, fittingly, "It was an organic decision. Our sales reps had talked about how the original picture book is a great match for the teacher gift market. The book's sales had built consistently over several years and the reps felt that it would sell even better with a lower price point, since spending on teacher gifts remains around the $10 mark."

Haller explains that the edition's $9.95 price point has opened up new sales channels for the book, specifically the mass market and gift market. "Many accounts in these markets had passed on the original version of the book," she says. "But the new trim size and price point has let our reps sell it into those markets. We were able to take a backlist title and give it a whole new life."

Helping Harcourt to do just that is a counter display, also created at the suggestion of the house's sales reps. "It is a great way to catch the eye of those struggling to find a teacher gift," Haller remarks. She notes that she was heartened to learn, from both reps and retail accounts, that teacher gift-buying takes place not just at the end of the school year, but also at its start and at holiday time. "It's reassuring to know that this edition of Mrs. Spitzer's Garden is likely to do quite nicely year round," she observes. Harcourt is also promoting the book in mailings to parent- and teacher-oriented magazines.

Haller is not concerned that the gift edition will compete with the 2001 edition of this title. "In the same way we don't feel that board-book adaptations cut into sales of picture books, we believe that this gift edition will not hurt the original book," she states. "We may see a slight decrease in sales of the larger edition, but that is likely to happen anyway as part of the natural aging process of the backlist. There is still a strong market for the larger trim size in the institutional market, since teachers want a bigger format for reading aloud. By selling the gift edition into new markets, we are adding to rather than cannibalizing sales. This book has been such a special favorite in-house that we are all thrilled to give it additional exposure."

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