When I shared the list of my books that were most borrowed from UK libraries last year on this blog in January, top of the list was picture book Cleopatra Bones and the Golden Chimpanzee illustrated by Ed Eaves. A couple of months later the book’s publisher told me that, due to low sales, they were taking the book out of print. Although I was sorry to learn this, it did not come entirely as a surprise. I’ve long known that my most borrowed books are not necessarily my most bought books. I believe this discrepancy has some unfortunate consequences for children’s literacy as outlined in this Twitter thread.

The book is a sequel to The Silver Serpent Cup, which was also very popular in libraries for several years, but was also out of print. Ed and I had developed this first book together before offering it to publishers and we were proud of both books, which is one of the reasons why we have now re-published both of them in new print-on-demand editions. We have also published a new “Tandem” omnibus edition containing both stories, which were published as the Fast and Furry Racers series in the US.

A limitation of the print-on-demand format is a maximum page width of 8.5 inches (216 mm). This restriction means the new editions are about 80% of the size of the original editions, which is why we are listing them as “small paperback editions”. On the plus side, we have increased the number of pages in both books to include extra material. The two pages showing Ed’s design sketches for each vehicle proved very popular with young readers in the original editions. So, in the new edition of The Silver Serpent Cup we have expanded these into a six-page “Spotter’s Guide to the Racers” with a little information about each vehicle. Similarly the new edition of Cleopatra Bones and the Golden Chimpanzee contains a four-page “Spotter’s Guide to the Treasure Hunters”.  The Spotters Guides for both books are included in the new Tandem Edition.