Liz West, University of Reading
The New Windmill Series is part of the Heinemann Educational Books Archive at the University of Reading Special Collections. The archive, which covers the period from 1949-81, reveals an interesting interplay between publisher, teacher and teenage reader.
Judging from a report written in 1949 by the author Ian Serraillier, who was to become the series editor, secondary school classroom bookshelves did not contain much in the way of engaging material for their young readers. Serraillier’s assessment was damning: he was critical not only of the poor content of many of the books on offer, but also of their poor production, binding and printing. Many illustrations were, in his words, ‘crudely drawn and reproduced’, for example.
A New Approach to School Editions
When Heinemann Educational Books created their own school list, the New Windmill Series, the recruitment of Ian Serraillier as its editor was a wise move. As an experienced English teacher his knowledge and expertise were complemented by the appointment of Anne Serraillier, Ian’s wife, and also a trained teacher, as joint editor two years later. The result, a highly successful school list for 11-15 year olds, reflected a growing consciousness of teenagers as a discrete market demanding books that would bridge the gap between children’s and adult literature.
Margins were tight, however – if the books were to appeal to teachers managing small book budgets, the price had to be right. Books in the series were hardback, favourable for their longevity and ability to withstand heavy handling, but more expensive to produce than paperbacks. Despite this, the breadth and scope of the titles selected by the Serrailliers was quite astonishing. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1970) and Doris Lessing’s The Grass is Singing (1968) sat alongside the works of Nevil Shute, Georgette Heyer, Arthur Ransome, Dodie Smith, Harper Lee, Alexander Solzhenitsyn… to say that the list was eclectic was an understatement.
The Importance of Teachers’ Support
Whilst titles needed to appeal to teenage readers, if teachers did not like the look of a book, then they would not buy it. Archival correspondence casts light on debates surrounding acceptable content. One recurring theme was the need to flag appropriate reading ages. Although the series catalogue clearly identified the books which were intended for ‘older readers’, it was not always failsafe. In 1968 Serraillier was forced to respond to a teacher’s complaint about A River Ran Out of Eden (James Vance Marshall). He wrote:
There is a wide range of views among teachers as to where the line should be drawn between “suitable and unsuitable” books for these near-adult readers, and there will inevitably be the occasional title in our list which would not be to everybody’s choice.
The Serrailliers had a clear sense of what they should be able to include. Dangerous, ‘difficult’ subject matter was not flinched away from, nor should young people be talked down to. However, in order to maintain the series’ reputation for reliability, the Serrailliers sometimes had to play it safer than perhaps they would have liked. In a review of The Thundering Good Today (JM Cooper), ultimately rejected in 1972, Serraillier found that although ‘the appeal of this salty and lively novel is to ‘young adults’, thoughtful, questioning, intelligent, of the caliber to study for A Levels…’ he questioned, with regret, how teachers might respond:
How many teachers are going to write in objecting to the number of times the word “crap” is used (v. frequent) or “bugger” (less frequent), quite unimpressed by the fact that this is the way that many 15 plus-ers speak…
The Difference Between Private Reading Matter and Class Books
It was not simply the case that teachers were more easily shocked than teenagers, however. The Serrailliers understood that a class book was different to the same title sold as private reading matter. In the case of National Velvet (Enid Bagnold, 1954), for example, although the paperback Puffin version was extremely popular, the school edition, as Serraillier points out, served a different purpose:
Of course, boys and girls read the Penguin of this book and take it in their stride. I should have no hesitation in giving it to any boy or girl to read as it stands. But to a teacher reading it aloud in a mixed class or using it as a reader, these are obvious objections. What is the standard which you, as publisher, wish to adopt? Teachers’ opinions will differ. Are you prepared to take the risk of letters objecting to damn’s, blast’s, hell’s and so on? or does it get a bad name for the series and put teachers off and affect sales?
This response reflects the continual balancing act that the Serrailliers had to achieve in order to build the New Windmill list. Not only did they need to meet their own high standards in terms of quality, but they also had to remain conscious of sales figures, and balance the views of teachers with those of their young readers. That they sustained this level of success and commitment for nearly forty years was quite an extraordinary feat.
Author Biography
Liz West is a Post-Doctoral Researcher with the Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing at the University of Reading. Her research centres around Twentieth Century publishing history, particularly focussed on women and children’s literature. Her forthcoming monograph, The Women who Invented Twentieth-Century Children’s Literature: Only the Best will be published by Routledge.
All correspondence quoted are from the Heinemann Educational Books Archive, University of Reading Special Collections. Thank you to the Estate of Ian Serraillier and Pearson for permission to reproduce this material.