The Time Has Come, the Walrus Said...

...to talk about Little House. Many of you have written to ask when my next Martha or Charlotte book will be published. Plans have been in flux for over a year now, but it's time to address your questions.

As I mentioned here recently, HarperCollins has launched new paperback editions of Laura's books which feature photographic covers and no longer contain the Garth Williams illustrations. (The Garth Williams art will remain in the hardcover editions and the colorized paperback editions.)

There are also going to be some changes in the other Little House series. The Martha, Charlotte, Caroline, and Rose books are being reissued in abridged editions. If you wish to read these books in their original, complete forms, you'll want to pick them up now before the unabridged editions go out of print. In at least one case ( On Top of Concord Hill, a Caroline book), the original is already out of print and is hard to find. (A reader recently told me copies are selling for hundreds of dollars on eBay.)

The abridged editions of my books and the Caroline and Rose books will be released with new covers this summer. They are significantly shorter; in some cases more than a hundred pages have been cut from the original edition.

In light of these changes, I have decided not to continue writing Martha and Charlotte books. Although it is indeed strange to know that I will not tell the rest of their stories (especially the story of Martha and Lew's romance, for which I have been sowing seeds since the first books), I do not think it is such a bad thing to end my part of the story with Beyond the Heather Hills and Across the Puddingstone Dam. In both of those books, I had the opportunity to say something about what is good and true and enduring in this world. Martha glimpsed it, looking into the eyes of her infant niece. Charlotte glimpsed it in the eyes of her mother, the grown-up Martha, who endured the worst kind of loss but, through faith, managed to keep hold of—and share—her joy.

It will be difficult to say goodbye to these girls who have been to me like my own children. I have loved watching them grow. I am deeply honored to have had the opportunity to, in the words of Gail Godwin, "respectfully imagine" them and chronicle their stories.

As I said, my decision to leave the series has been in the works for quite some time. Meanwhile, I've been working on new projects and am quite excited about my current novel, which is about neither a Scottish lass nor a New England villager, but something completely different. Stay tuned...

Comments

[Jennifer]

Oh no. That doesn't sound good at all. I will be placing a big order at Amazon soon to complete our sets. Why the alterations?

[Christine M]

Best of luck with your new novel. Keep us posted!

[Mrs. Happy Housewife]

My daughter loves your books and I know she will be sad to hear you will not write any more of them. I understand your reasons for stopping though. It seems to me a bit like someone giving your child a nose job without your permission. Shame on the publisher for abridging the books. Haven't we been dumbed down enough yet?

[Mary G]

Oh Lissa, we will miss those books. But know that you are on to bigger, better and more fun things on your California adventure!

[Stephanie]

We'll have to hurry to replace our books. But could you explain how to tell if a current series has be abridged. The question came up in the main AO group and I seems I gave a wrong answer. Thanks.

[Love2learn Mom]

That is SO sad, Lissa.

[Jennifer]

I ordered all the books last night. I am so sad that my daughter will not have the same opportunity to read the original books to her daughters and sons. Maybe I should pick up an extra set to save for her one day. I'm so sorry.

[Jean]

If Harper Collins insists on abridging these books, why not continue to provide the option of the unabridged copies for those of us who prefer not to short our children and ourselves the full joy of reading them? However, I deeply admire your stand-- it must be difficult to imagine not writing the stories you so obviously love, but your decision demonstrates even more clearly how much you care about them! I have spent the past hour hunting down the last few not in our home!

[Mama Squirrel]

I agree with the comment about the nose job! Are today's children really so unable to read even the books as you wrote them? That's the most pathetic part about this.

[radmama]

Oh no! They are on our "to be read list" and many friends of ours have enjoyed them.

My kids rebel at abridged books: something is always missing.

:-(

[keepermom]

My daughter and I were so looking forward to the continuation of Martha's and Charlotte's stories. Why on earth would the publisher feel the need to abridge them?? They were wonderful just as they were. I guess we'll have to search out the few books we don't yet own and get them ASAP.

Anyone know if there's any way we could change HarperCollins' mind about abridging these books???

[Melissa Wiley]

Keepermom and all, thanks for your comments. No, the new books are already well underway and will be released this summer. HarperCollins spent many months looking at the series before making the decision to abridge them. My own decision to leave was made months ago, but I did not want to announce it until all the loose ends were tied up.

[Melanie]

oh, that's terrible. Ya'll will have to fight me for copies of the remaining books. Shame on HarperCollins. I'm so tired of having to search for unabridged books to read to my daughter....

[Elizabeth H]

I haven't read your books to my children yet -- they're just a little too young -- but it was a treat I was looking forward to. I'm really sad and sorry to hear this news. Good on you for being (publicly!) positive about it.

[GailV]

I get all teary-eyed whenever I read about you leaving Martha and Charlotte. Thank you for the 8 books you *did* give us. I love them for those special things you put in them (I often thing of the scene where Martha tells Charlotte that she *will* survive the loss of her brother; surely I can survive whatever life hands me).

I've been amassing copies of all the Little House books for a few months now, all the way through Rose, and just completed my sets last week. I found the Concord Hill book on Vegsource at a very decent price. Also, readers may want to check places like the various museums associated with the Little House series for some of the out of print titles.

[Tracy]

WHY abridge them? don't they think children can read things! I love books like these, especially since I have a daughter who can read very well for her age (she was at 6th grade reading level when she was in 1st grade) and it's HARD to find age appropriate material that isn't see spot. see spot run...

sigh.

whimpering now - whyyyyyyyy?

p.s. I just finished the first Martha book (my library has them all) and enjoyed it. the now 5th grader has it on her future reading list.

[Beth]

Oh, this news brought tears to my eyes. I am so sorry (and angry!) that they are going to be abridged! I get quite hot under the collar when books are dumbed down for children. **sigh**

I understand your decision completely. Best wishes to you on your new writing ventures!

[Helene]

It looks like The Road from Roxbury is already out of print. Amazon and every other site where I looked doesn't have it. :(

[Jeannine]

My heart is heavy for you, Lissa. This makes me sorry, angry, and sad. I am ashamed that HarperCollins would shortchange our children by abridging your books, and I am shocked that they would remove the Garth Williams illustrations from the Little House books! Our children deserve better. In any case, thanks for the head's up. I'll be scooping up the current books while I can, even though we're slightly young for them in our little house. God bless you and your future work!

[Bethany]

I'm so upset at this. Little House was always my favorite book as a child and I probably read them when I was about 8 or 9. I guess it's asking too much of most children today to read more than 200 pages. I saw the pre-quels and sequels when my 4 yo was 1 and couldn't wait to read them, I guess I'm buying them sooner than I thought. I placed orders at Amazon and Bookcloseouts.com for the entire set (less On Top of Concord Hill)! The Road from Roxbury is available at Bookcloseouts.com but they are only showing 22 available. Get it soon!

[Molly]

It is really disappointing to read this! Your books have been such a treat for my oldest and we are sad that we will not get to hear the end, so to speak. My younger girls haven't even started them, yet!

I completely understand your stance, though. It is really insulting both to you and to your readers. What children need are more interesting, well-written books to help form their minds and hearts, not more twaddle.

Harper Collins seems to be missing the point of these books. A child cannot fall in love with the characters, become part of the story and be left with a beautiful memory, if a book is gutted to become an "easy reader". Instead, she gets another check mark on her summer reading list to create the illusion of a well-read child. Sad!

We are so looking forward to you new book! Shame on you for teasing us, without any hints!

[Angel]

Lissa, will you still be writing for Harper Collins, or will your new novel be coming out with a different publisher? (Or might you not be at liberty to say yet?) I went ahead and ordered as many books as I could this morning. I had been wanting to read them with my 7 yo dd. Did Harper Collins not feel that the sales of these books were up to snuff? That would seem a little hard to believe, unless it's just because book sales are down in general.

[Jenn]

It is such a shame that HarperCollins is dumbing down these books. Your contribution to the lives, memories and hearts of our children will last so much longer than any profits HarperCollins will gain from this shameful choice. Thank you for the contribution you've made to the lives of our children.

[Nicole in MN]

I was really looking forward to you finishing out Martha and Lew's romance! So sad...

[Melissa Wiley]

Angel, HarperCollins felt that the only way to keep the books in print at all was to reissue them in shorter editions.

Nicole, it is very likely that Harper will find another writer to finish out my two series. I don't know any details about that, though.

[Hannah]

Reading your version of those stories was a real joy, I will be very sorry to see you finish. Thank you for all your efforts. And as people have already said, why abridge books? I was reading Pickwick Papers before I was ten!!

Anyhow, I look forward to seeing more of your work. I'll be here, lurking on your blog for news on that!

[Christine]

This is so sad! A lot of children are going to be deprived of excellent read-alouds and personal reading. Martha, Charlotte, and Caroline rank among my children's favorite characters. I can't imagine abridged editions.

[Maria Ashwell]

For the past month I had fought the urge to just go out and purchase all your books. I have deprived my children of them for far too long. I even had some of them waiting in my cart at Amazon. Today I bought them all, including a used copy of Road to Roxbury. I'm planning on getting the Caroline and Rose books in the next two weeks as well. Lissa, can I be sure that these will still be the full text? I guess I'm asking how long do we have before they disappear. I told all my friends at co-cop today to buy up these books quickly.

[Melissa Wiley]

Maria, you'll be able to tell by the covers. Painted covers like the ones in my sidebar = original editions. Photo covers = abridged editions.

The abridged books won't hit the shelves until summer.

[Paula in MN]

I think it is awful that HarperCollins decided to do this. I'm sorry for you, Lissa, and for all the children and adults who haven't read your books yet. They will be missing out and sadly won't even know it.

[KC]

This really is such disappointing news. We've really enjoyed slowly reading through these books out loud. Sniff. Can't wait to read your new stuff though.

[Nicole in MN]

The news of your books becoming abridged makes me sad and angry! If anything, my kids want more details not less! The details allow them to "know" the characters better. If one only visits with someone for a short time, they become just an acquaintance and not a close friend.
How sad.

[Kristen Laurence]

I just placed my orders on Amazon. I'm so sorry to hear the sad news. But we will all be looking forward to your new novel!

[sarah]

I'm so sorry to hear about this! I just discovered you AND your books this past fall and read them ALL while nursing my newborn. I can't wait to read them to my children (and I'm not thinking "abridged"---the originals are perfect). So sorry for your loss...and for ours. We'll treasure our copies and keep them for our grandchildren. Shame on HarperCollins!

[Margaret in Minnesota]

I, too, just placed an order for all eight books on Amazon. The Road to Roxbury had to be purchased from an individual seller but it was a new copy and I was pleased as punch to see it offered.

I am not pleased as punch about all the rest of this, however. I'm sorry, Lissa. From what I've read both here and over at Elizabeth's, the big publishing houses are not above making Really Bad Decisions.

Trust in God and in His will (especially when it's manifested by the really bad decisions of other people). We're looking forward to your new novel.

[Emily]

This is so sad! I just discovered these books a short while ago, and was going to purchase them next year to go with our history studies. Well, I just loaded up my cart at bookcloseouts, and I'll be getting them early!!

It makes me absolutely furious to know that more and more books are being dumbed down. Why do they think children are unable to read good literature???

[matilda]

I second what Emily said above. We will be looking for the unabridged versions and getting them now. Not interested in the abridged, thank you very much Harper Collins!

[Melissa]

As much as I dislike the idea, I can almost understand the updated photos to appeal to a new generation. But to re-publish these books as abridged is just terrible. Shame on Harper Collins!! I'll certainly think twice before making a purchase from them in the future.

[Karen in SC]

Just thought I'd pass this on in case it would help anyone...I went out to Books-a-Million tonight to see if I could complete my collection before it was too late. I found all the books I lack, and they were all priced at buy-two-get-one-free. I was so glad to find them!

Karen in SC

[guitarnan]

Well...I'm sure you know how I feel...and, as a fellow writer I can understand how hard it is to make this choice. I really respect you, because you decided to stay on the path of integrity, and to stay true to Laura Ingalls Wilder's vision for her own books. Nevertheless, it's hard to read your words and know that you won't be finishing the stories for us.

I am very unhappy with HarperCollins. I've already told my literature-loving friends about their decision to change the books and eliminate the original illustrations. (They've all bought complete sets of the REAL books.)

Thank you, dear Lissa, for all of your hard work and loving attention to the true spirit of Little House books. You're a heroine, you really are.

[Sarah]

I'm new here, and my daughter is still too young for the Little House books or your books, but it won't be long...and I am so outraged to hear about the abridging of them. I am disappointed indeed to hear that HarperCollins equates "improvement" with "cutting" and to the denigration of all our children! Thank you for your hard work, and best of luck on your future work.

[Mirissa]

I'm so disappointed to hear that your books will be abridged. Is our society is becoming so lazy, they don't want to read a whole book?! I thought it was bad enough Harper Collins was dropping the Garth Williams illustrations in the originals, but to put out an abridged set is really the final straw. I'm hoping the have the sense to continue to provide the unabridged copies so our children can experience the whole story.

So sorry to hear you won't be completing the series. It must be hard to walk away from something you love.

[xixi]

Oh Lissa, I'm so sorry, it's terrible for you to have to say goodbye to characters that you have lived with for so long. Especially with untold stories.

[Keri]

What a shame!
My seven year old has read all the Little house books on her own and has learned so much from them.
What are they thinking?

[Shelly]

Is there any way to get them to change their minds about the little house books? We so wanted to read about their romances?
these books got my daughter into reading.

[Beate]

Oh Lissa - how sad!!! My girls will be terribly disappointed. My oldest esp. has been waiting and waiting to read more about Martha and Lew.

[Donna Marie]

Oh Lissa, I am so sorry. My twins are deeply saddened to hear this news. We can't believe they want to do this. They were already planning to share these books with their own children...yep, thinking of sharing the love with future generations at the ripe old age of 13.

We really wish this publisher had better sense. We are very proud of you!!
((((HUGS))))

[patty (awesmom on flickr)]

Melissa,
My daughter and I both teared up when we read your news a few days ago. Thankfully, Emily already has all of your books (remember the apartment buildings she built out of them?) She's now a bit panicked about the Rose years, however, and asks every day if I will buy her the whole set.

I think she's been waiting to hear about Martha and Lew ever since his first mention in Little House in the Highlands. She already knew they would marry someday, because her grandma gave her a geneaology chart of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which she promptly memorized. She has a question that I can't answer...If Martha and Lew are real people, can't you write about them anyway? Does Harper Collins own the rights to their story? Can you self publish a book about them that we could all buy? (I think I'm in the denial stage of grief, while I've noticed that other posters seemed to have moved directly to anger!)

[Joan Peterson]

L -
You rock . . . very loud and very long. We admire your courage and determination and look forward to new and exciting stories and adventures.
J,J,J,J,D,L New Bern

[Liz]

I've only just discovered the Martha years books. My kids are grown up and I probably wouldn't have bought them except for the warning on Karen E's site that they were about to be abridged. I've been reading them aloud to my husband's 92 year old aunt while she's in the hospital with pneumonia. She has aphasia and doesn't really speak anymore, but you should see her eyes light up at some points in the story (particularly when there's a fairy story within the story). I'm a spinner who also dyes her own fleeces. I wondered whether you actually tried out the processes before doing the writing. You certainly conveyed a good sense of the challenge of learning to spin. Anyway thank you from Auntie and me for making some rather discouraging and bleak moments a whole lot brighter. I hadn't found anything else that she seemed to enjoy listening to.

[Steph]

Hey,
So I came on your site here to see when you were going to release more Martha books. Im so sad that there won't be any more. I was really looking forward to reading the rest. I loved the little house books when I was little and I love yours still even though i'm probally to old for them now. (18) My copies are well read. If one day you reconsider I'll be buying them, although never an unabridged version!

However, I have to disagree with those who think all abridged books are bad. When I was very little (7or8ish) I had a set of abridged Classics (tale of two cities, gullivers travels ect.) which I loved, and they moved me to read many of the unabridged copies of the books when i got a little older and could understand them.

I will miss your series!

[J. M. Lynch]

I have all the original unabridged Little House on the Prairie book, as well as the complete unabridged Martha, Charlotte and Caroline series. I am so sad that I will not be able to read the conclusions to the Charlotte and Matha histories. Will you ever be able to complete them, even with another publisher? I'm sure the fan base would make it worthwhile...

[Lindsey]

I am so sad! I just Googled your name in hope of discovering information about new books; to learn that none are forthcoming is terrible news! I've been reading the auxiliary Little House books for years, and I absolutely love Martha's story. Even though I'm almost 19, I will always think fondly of Laura and her female relatives. Thanks for the books you did write. Where can I learn more historical information about Martha and Charlotte? :)

[Lisa]

Hi there Melissa,
I am not sure if this website is still active or if you check the comments here since the last entry was the middle of last year. I recently called the museum in DeSmet (probably not spelled correctly) and they said that the Little House series with the new covers did not sell one copy for a whole year and they are returning to the old covers (they had just received a new shipment). I guess what I am getting at is that maybe we as collectors and readers of your works and others still have hope that they will go back to the unabridged copies of the stories. I have successfully purchased all of your stories except The Road From Roxbury...where I have found I just cannot afford what they are going for. I wish there were somewhere I could get it affordable since I am a stay at home Mom and it would complete my collection of your books. I would love to hear your answer on the ability to publish the books with a different publisher though. I too would love to see your version of the conclusion to these series. I hope to hear a response from you soon. Thanks for all you have done, I guess I just started reminiscing too late!!
Lisa

[Anne]

I too would like to see these books re-published. There is still a market out here