Q&A: Christopher Franceschelli
Staff -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2001
Christopher Franceschelli left the world of large, corporate book publishing (he was president of Dutton) to found tiny Handprint Books. Last fall, the independent children's book publisher released his first books. One of those books, Casey at the Bat, illustrated by Christopher Bing, presents Ernest Lawrence Thayer's classic poem about the mighty Mudville slugger who struck out. Although Casey the batter came up short, the book has been a big hit: it was recently named a Caldecott Honor Book. We spoke to Franceschelli, who works out of his home in Brooklyn, NY.
Can you describe what Casey at the Bat looks like for people who haven't seen the book?
It's a book created as though it were an old scrapbook, as though you climbed up into the attic and [went] through your great-grandfather's boxes and happened upon [it]. In opening [the book], you would not have found just the poem "Casey at the Bat" itself, but any number of other things that the grandfather might have found along the way: ticket stubs, old baseball cards, newspaper advertisements... you name it.
Given that Handprint Books is in its first year of publishing, what has Casey's award meant to your company?
Basically, I pinned all my hopes and dreams and livelihood on this little venture, Handprint Books. [The award] certainly helps change the financial picture for us.
Has there been a spike in sales since Casey was named a Caldecott Honor Book?
We noticed that the remaining stock, which at the time was 7,500 to 7,800 copies, sold out in a matter of a day. We've done a second printing.
Why did you decide to start Handprint?
I'm one of those people who always wanted to be a publisher, literally from the age of 15. By the time I was in college, I knew I wanted to be in children's publishing. So it's been the realization of a dream. What triggered most directly starting this company was our daughter's birth. I left Dutton two weeks before she was born, figuring that I needed to jump off into the unknown before her birth. Otherwise I would forever be addicted to a paycheck and would always find another excuse--be it a dentist's bill, or a tuition bill, or who knows what?--not to quit.
