Markiet explains that there is “quite a wealth” of finished but unpublished poems in the Silverstein archives. Fans have indeed been loyal-and enthusiastic-over the decades: almost 29 years after its original release, A Light in the Attic continues to be one of HarperCollins’s top-selling children’s books and has sold more than five million copies in North America. “Even though this is not an anniversary year for A Light in the Attic, Shel’s family wanted to publish this edition now, to thank fans and give them 12 new poems and some new artwork,” says Markiet. Silverstein’s family also encouraged the release of the Special Edition. “We included never-before published poems in that book, and got an amazing response from fans, who were just over the moon to read new Shel poems,” Markiet says. The success of the publisher’s 30th-anniversary edition of Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends in 2004 was one incentive for releasing the new edition of A Light in the Attic. Antonia Markiet, senior executive editor of HarperCollins Children’s Books, joined the company in 1973 and worked with Silverstein for a number of years.
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