Last week, I reported that Harper Lee’s estate had killed the mass market edition of the classic novel, which was published by Hachette. The death of the mass market edition, which was widely taught in schools, meant that the only edition available to readers and schools would be the more expensive trade paperback edition.
On Tuesday, HarperCollins, the publisher of the trade paperback, announced a special promotion for schools. Starting April 27, two days after Hachette has to stop publishing its edition, HarperCollins will allow schools to “effectively purchase the book based on an $8.99 cover price,” which was what the mass market edition cost in retail stores. This means that, for the foreseeable future, schools will not have to spend more money than usual to purchase and teach To Kill a Mockingbird. Of course, promotions don’t last forever, but a HarperCollins spokesperson informed me that this promotion is “open-ended” and will be evaluated “on an ongoing basis as [is done] with other sales promotions.”