HarperPerennial's Mockingbird Gift Card Wins Raves, Sells Out

ABA's supply of HarperPerennial's limited edition To Kill a Mockingbird Book Sense gift card and coordinating presenter is now sold out, according to ABA Marketing Director Jill Perlstein, who termed the cards "a terrific success."

Booksellers snapped up the bright red cards, which feature a single quotation from the Harper Lee title. The cards were offered to stores participating in the Book Sense Gift Card Program as part of HarperPerennial's relaunch this summer with a new logo, new book jackets, most titles with P.S. sections, and an in-store display kit.

To Kill a Mockingbird has always been a bookseller favorite, but the gift card won raves as well. Tracy Wynne of Cover to Cover Booksellers in San Francisco told BTW, "We got them, we love them, and I'm keeping them in reserve for fall.... There's a fine little quote, and the print is good and clear."

Across the country at Brownstone Books in Brooklyn, New York, Crystal Bobb-Semple echoed Wynne's enthusiasm. "I've had them for about two weeks, and I've just started using them. The idea is absolutely brilliant: the design is striking, and I was sold immediately.... It's fantastic." She continued, "We get a lot of people in who want to give gifts to people at stores all over the country, rather than at just one individual store."

To Kill a Mockingbird was the right choice to feature on the card, according to Bobb-Semple, because, she said, "There's a nice move afloat toward reviving classics and introducing them to people who may never have read them. The independents are leading that movement." --Nomi Schwartz