Purple House

2011 Update!

2011-08-24T11:29:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! It's been a busy year so far, with several new releases coming up this fall:

Giants Come in Different Sizes another great Jolly Roger Bradfield book!
Henry the Explorer by Mark Taylor and Graham Booth
The Mad Scientists' Club 50th Anniversary Edition by Bertrand Brinley
And together at last in a single volume Time at the Top and its sequel All in Good Time by Edward Ormondroyd!

All in Good Time was illustrated by Roger Bradfield and we were lucky to have Charles Geer paint a new cover. You can read more about these books on our website. They're all due to be in our warehouse during Sept-Oct. Happy reading!

Lower prices in the bargain basement!

2010-12-21T11:46:00.005-05:00

Hi All, for a short time we will be selling all our bargain priced books at 60% off to reduce inventory. Happy hunting on finding titles you want :-)

A few examples of what we have are: Ann Likes Red for $3.98, David and the Phoenix for $3.60, TAL for $5.18, The Shy Stegosaurus of Cricket Creek for $4.80 and more! Stock up with our lowest prices ever before they're gone!

Fall is here! Along with lots of good books!

2010-10-27T12:24:00.012-04:00

It's getting cool outside, I'm so happy :-) As long as we don't get too much snow or ice, this is one of my favorites times of the year. And Thanksgiving is right around the corner...

At the purple house of books, we've got plenty of news! TWIG is out again, flying around with the sparrows and the Fairy Queen. If you're a fan of The Mad Scientists' Club, we've combined all four books in one large paperback. You can have all of the stories at your fingertips now, with shipping starting the first week in November. Next up are Mad Scientists' Club coffee mugs in time for the holidays, featuring Henry Mulligan the Vice President and Chief of Research for the Club. More info soon on that one.

Last but not least for new releases is Henry the Castaway. Henry and his dog Laird Angus McAngus are back, taking you with them on an ocean voyage. The rest of the series is in the works for 2011.

We were so happy to read actress Julianne Moore's comment in Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop newsletter about our book Ann Likes Red: "My mother bought me this book in a supermarket when I was six years old and I have never forgotten it. I loved it because it is about self-determinism!"

Your response to The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher has been fabulous, thank you so much! Here's a sneak preview of the cover to The Pickle-Chiffon Pie Olympics, the much anticipated sequel to our bestselling Pickle-Chiffon Pie by Roger Bradfield. It's the hilarious tale of a 14th century Olympics (that included Dragon Wrestling, the Giant Climb, and the 100 yard Moat Swim) in which the winner won the hand of the fair princess. We think you'll love the plot twist. Way to go Jolly Roger! After nearly 50 years he has definitely not lost his touch.

The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher is in town!

2010-05-07T12:47:00.008-04:00

Hide your cookie sprinkles, the Snitcher is loose! We have released our new edition of The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher and it's been tremendously popular so far, thank you everyone!

Our next piece of news is that we're reissuing The Big Kerplop! by Bertrand Brinley with nine all new illustrations from the incomparable Charles Geer! That's sixten new pages of pictures :) Books will be done before June. This is a must have for Mad Scientists fan, you won't be disappointed!

At the same time we will also be releasing The Space Child's Mother Goose by Frederick Winsor in paperback. Later this summer we plan to release TWIG by Elizabeth Orton Jones in paperback as well.

Currently I'm finishing up on Henry the Castaway and also working on a sequel to Pickle-Chiffon Pie. Yes you read that right! After more than forty years Roger Bradfield has created a wonderful sequel to his classic, and it has a surprise ending! Look for more coming up about the Pickle-Chiffon Pie Olympics here soon.

Christmas Cookie Sprinkles and what's next

2009-10-27T12:13:00.004-04:00

Hi all :) It's been awhile, here's the latest. I'll be working on two books starting next week, Henry the Castaway and drum roll please.... The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher!! It's by Vip (Virgil Partch)and Robert Kraus. Hope to have both out in the spring, so you'll have plenty of time to read about Christmas cookie sprinkles before next Christmas! Please tell your friends and family what's coming up, I'd hate to see them paying $500 for old copies.

I've enjoyed seeing which books you loved as a child.

Happy Halloween, Jill

March update

2009-03-02T10:27:00.003-05:00

Hi all, here's a little good news which I hope puts a smile on some faces today :) We just got the rights to publish another Roger Bradfield book! It's Hello, Rock, a small, sweet book about a young boy who finds a rock and imagines all the things he can do with the it. But in the end he decides he likes the rock just the way it is.

Stan the Hot Dog Man is being printed right now, I hope to have it in our warehouse by April. Hanna's Cold Winter is almost complete, it's been so much fun working from original art for the first time ever. When it's finished work on Hello, Rock, Henry the Castaway and Henry the Explorer will begin.

In between these projects I will be working on Kindle editions of The Mad Scientists' Club and David and the Phoenix, our first ebooks ever!

News, upcoming books and more!

2009-01-12T10:40:00.006-05:00

Thank you to all the nice people at American Profile magazine, especially to Marti Attoun for taking an interest in Purple House and writing this article on January 11th about what we do! The response has been amazing :-)

If you want to follow which books we're releasing next and want to be notified about them, please subscribe to this blog. You won't be overwhelmed with messages since I plan to update it once a month or so, with our latest news.

Here's what's in store for 2009 and in to 2010. We were so fortunate to acquire the rights a wonderful series of books by Mark Taylor and illustrated by Graham Booth! An imaginative young boy named Henry explores the mountains, jungles and seas near his home, accompanied by his faithful terrier Laird Angus McAngus. First published during the 1960s-1970s, we will be reissuing two books in 2009 and two books in 2010.

Henry the Explorer and Henry the Castaway, fall 2009
Henry Explores the Jungle and Henry Explores the Mountains, spring 2010

In addition to this we're also proud to be doing another Jolly Roger Bradfield book, Giants Come in Different Sizes. If you're a fan of Pickle-Chiffon Pie or The Flying Hockey Stick, you'll enjoy this book too.

Currently, I'm finishing up on Ethel & Leonard Kessler's book Stan the Hot Dog Man and the next title I'll be working on is Trish Marx's picture book Hanna's Cold Winter.

Happy reading!

Welcome to our house

2008-11-25T18:54:00.001-05:00

Pull up a chair, get comfortable with a mug of hot chocolate and let's talk about books. My name is Jill, republishing books is what I do – the ones worth reading and sharing with our children, even if they are fifty years old! Favorite books are like old friends, having them in hand again brings back times from our youth spent buried in books.

In future posts I'll bring news of upcoming books and special items we'll be adding to our Purple House editions, such as notes from the authors, extra drawings from the illustrators, and possibly interviews with them. If there's something you want to see here, ask! It might be possible to bring here for you :–)

Suggest books. Let's discuss them. What did you read as a child? Is it hard to find now? Who read to you, how old were you? Please share what you remember from those days, I'd love to hear about them.

I'll get us started, when I was little my favorite was Mr. Pine's Purple House. I remember sitting on my dad's lap when I was three, looking for the picture which showed fifty white houses all in a line on Vine Street. I loved knowing Mr. Pine wanted his house to be different from everyone else's.

As I grew older I adored the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. She enjoyed so many simple things in life, no phones or tvs for her! I imagined myself growing up as Laura in her dugout on Plum Creek.

What about you? What books were important to you?