The Kingfisher Catastrophe
Kingfisher History is out of print! I’ve known this for awhile, but I’ve been in denial, or a state of wishful thinking. One of my vendors called me many weeks ago and told me she could not get any more copies. Well, I thought, that happens sometimes. Quite often when a publisher is going to reprint a book or make other changes, the book will be temporarily unavailable. Even when I checked online and saw OOP mentioned on several sites, I still thought little of it. Surely that just meant this edition is OOP, but soon there will be news of the new edition. Kingfisher does get updated about every 4 years. So I tucked it away and continued working on Modern Times 2. I even commissioned the cover from the fabulous Jana Rade at Impact Studios.
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Well now it’s time to take the blinders off and wake up! KINGFISHER IS OUT OF PRINT! Holy cow! Holy, holy cow! This is huge for our History Odyssey line. I read SWB’s post about having to rewrite a few entries in the new edition of The Well-Trained Mind because of the KFH mess. If only it were that simple for Pandia Press! A few entries—I’d take that and be thankful! For me it means the possibility of rewriting (completely rewriting) 4 courses! That’s four full years of curriculum affected. I always knew when I started HO, that the format made the course dependent upon other publishers and the availability of other books. I took on this risk willingly, thinking I could always make adjustments in rewrites. And in fact we have experienced some disappointments with books going out of print. Most recently was The Usborne Internet-Linked Viking World. I had to offer web links as research alternatives since there is not a good middle-school level replacement for this book. And it appears that Ancient Egyptians and Their Neighbors may be out of print or just on hold, not sure yet. But all of these we have taken in stride and although they caused a few extra days of work, it’s nothing I couldn’t handle. Until now.
HO level 2 is dependent on KFH. And to continue publishing it is akin to manufacturing canoes when no one is selling paddles. I’m not saying uncle yet, but I am seriously considering the options, and there aren’t too many—continue publishing the book and pull from the customer base of those who either already own the book or can get a hold of a copy from used-book sellers, rewrite the courses, or let it go.
I am about three lessons and half a dozen maps away from completing Modern Times 2. I am torn whether I should finish it or not. And I was looking forward to writing teacher guides for level 2. I am considering finishing MT 2 (since I am almost done anyway) and making it available as an eBook only. I would like to wait a few months and see what happens with KFH before making any decision on the series. I am hearing conflicting reports that perhaps Houghton Mifflin sold the Kingfisher line, which would be fabulous since HM appears to have totally screwed-up their financials.
I just can’t fully believe at this time that KFH won’t come back in some form or another. It is too popular a book. Honestly, I don’t know a homeschooler that doesn’t have a copy. I am anxious to hear customer opinions on this. Perhaps I’ll run a poll soon. In the meantime, print copies of level 2 are still available (I have LOTS of copies still) from our vendors and of course the eBooks are still around.
Ah, time to think of something else, this is very depressing. I’m off to make carrot cake. Cake—the cure for just about everything!
on January 20th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I’m using HO ancients 1 and RSO life 1 with my daughter, who is 6. I will admit that my first thought was, “Oh, no, I have to find a copy of that Kingfisher book!” This is jumping the gun just a bit on my part, since we’re not likely to get to HO2 until my daughter is ten. I really sympathize with your issue, though, and hope that they reprint the Kingfisher book!
on January 24th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Please finish MT2. I’m counting on it for the fall!
on January 25th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I certainly appreciated your frustration, but I too was counting on using HO throughout the middle school levels. I hope that you will stick with it, and at least make Modern TImes level 2 available as an e-book. Thanks for all of your good work on this series.
on January 25th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I just purchased the Kingfisher history at Barnes and Noble. I too planned to use all three levels of HO. We are only on Ancients Level One now. I assume what has been done will be available for years as email purchases (I’m hoping! I didn’t want to have to purchase them all right now). Thanks for all your hard work!
on January 25th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Please,please,please finish Modern Times 2 with Kingfisher. This is the best part of your level 2 guides. Many of us have a copy of the KFH and would rather not finish Modern Times history without it.
Perhaps you can release version A with KFH and later a version B with the replacement.
on January 25th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
We are currecntly using HO Level 2 Ancients. I am hoping to go all the way through with my children. Like you mentioned, I am sure many already own the Kingfisher Encyclopedia and hope you would continue with the series until the end.
on January 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I downloaded your Ancients Level 2 ebook and had ordered the KFH from Rainbow Resources some time in December. I just called Rainbow and they said my book shipped on the 21st of this month and that they have it in stock.
on April 14th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I would love it if you finish the HO MT2. Like you said in your post their isn’t a homeschooler I know that doesn’t have a copy already. I just used it with my 14 year old who is looking at using your HS curriculum next year. I do have a 2 year old that I would love to use your curriculum when the time comes.
on June 12th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
You mentioned “Most recently was The Usborne Internet-Linked Viking World. I had to offer web links as research alternatives since there is not a good middle-school level replacement for this book.” We just purchased HO Middle Ages 2 and would like to know about the Viking research alternatives since we aren’t willing to pay outrageous prices for the out-of-print Viking World book. Where can we find the alternatives?
Thanks