One of the classic titles in American literature will soon be offered at a discount to U.S. schools.
HarperCollins Publishers plans to offer paperback versions of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird—a book widely-read among young students for decades—to K-12 schools in the U.S. at a discount of roughly 40% off the original list price, the company said earlier this week. Starting April 27, the publishing giant will offer a promotion that allows schools across the country to buy the trade paperback version of Lee’s classic 1960 novel for $8.99 apiece, rather than the list price of $14.99.
The promotion’s announcement comes just days after the Hachette Book Group announced that it will discontinue the mass market edition of the book, which costs $8.99 and had been a popular format for students and schools for years, selling millions of copies. According to the New York Times, Hachette told booksellers that the mass market edition’s discontinuation was due to the end of a licensing agreement that was not renewed because of “the wishes of the author.” Lee died last month at the age of 89.
“We are happy that schools will be able to acquire our trade edition of To Kill a Mockingbird—a superior reading experience, with its larger trim size and greater durability—at the lower price they have become accustomed to,” Michael Morrison, the president and publisher of U.S. General Books and Canada at HarperCollins, said in a statement.
HarperCollins also publishes hardcover and e-book editions of Lee’s classic novel, which deals with issues such as racial inequality and rape in the context of mid-century southern culture. Last year, HarperCollins published Lee’s sole follow-up novel, Go Set a Watchman, which follows many of the same autobiographical characters from To Kill a Mockingbird.
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