Patricia Lee Gauch, Editor-in-Chief, Philomel Books
Patricia Lee Gauch has had a unique view of the children's book field. Over the last 40 years she has been involved with children's books as a mother, teacher, writer and editor. Since 1976 she has been Editor in Chief of Philomel Books, where she has edited such well-known authors as Brian Jacques, Patricia Polacco, T. A Barron and Tasha Tudor. In addition she has edited three Caldecott medal winning, books Owl Moon (Jane Yolen and John Schoenherr), Lon Po Po (Ed Young) and So You Want to Be President (Judith St. George and David Small)
Patti began her writing career at Miami College when she joined the school newspaper and found she loved reporting and writing. After graduation she moved with her new husband Ron to Louisville Kentucky where he was stationed with the Army.
While there she worked as a reporter for the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper Louisville Courier-Journal. When she became pregnant with the first of her three children she left reporting to concentrate on her family. Patti reports, "In those days women didn't mix work with family." Wondering what she could do to stay in the writing profession, Patti wrote to a former professor who suggested the field of children's books. Patti's profound memory of beloved children's books, among them Millions of Cats and The Story of Ping, convinced her that this could be a rewarding career.
After the Gauch family moved to the metropolitan New York area Patti participated in a writers group led by Jean Fritz, noted children's author. Patti credits Jean with developing her skills as a writer for children and as an editor. Patti vividly remembers her manuscript pages covered with Jean's careful suggestions. In 1970 Patti's first books My Old Tree and A Secret House were published. That same year she received a master's degree in teaching and a doctorate from Manhattanville College and began teaching at the Gill-St. Bernards School in Gladstone, New Jersey. She taught for over 10 years and her students as well as her own children became inspirations (and critics) for her continued writing. To date that career includes over 30 titles.
Although she continued to write and publish books for children, Patti's career as an editor began when her children left home. She remembers, "I knew that I needed to get out of that empty house." One day when she was turning in a novel to Margaret Frith, her editor at Putnam. Patti noticed how distressed Margaret looked. She told Patti that for six months she had been hoping for a new editor to come on board, and he had just turned her down. When Patti commiserated, Anne turned to her and said, "You wouldn't want to be an Editor-in-Chief would you?" After much agonized deliberation and consultation with her husband Ron, Patti agreed she would.
Patti found the transition from writer to editor to be difficult at times. "Publishing is so complicated," she reports, "there are forty different procedures. I was constantly in the wilderness." She was also horrified to learn that her company president expected her to produce twenty books in her first year. "I appeared to have gotten myself into hot water," she recalls. However unschooled she was in the publishing business, her talents as a writer and her instincts as a reader came to her aid. In her first year at Philomel she came across the manuscript of Brian Jacques's Redwall and offered him a contract. Their relationship has continued through 17 books and millions of dollars in sales. In addition, Patti also inherited from her company illustrators Eric Carle, Tasha Tudor and Barbara Berger and their books gave her some breathing space as she sought to develop her own list of authors and illustrators. Her success was established only a year and a half after arriving at Philomel. A manuscript by Jane Yolen called Owl Moon came across her desk. Several other publishers had turned the manuscript down but Patti loved it. In trying to decide upon an illustrator, Patti turned to one of her former high school students, Ian Schoenherr, already a fine artist. Ian felt he was not ready to take on a thirty-two page picture book but suggested Patti contact his father, John Schoenherr. The result of the serendipitous contact was a Caldecott medal for John's illustrations for Owl Moon. With that honor, Patti's place was assured at Penguin Putnam. She has since edited two other Caldecott winning titles, and a Caldecott honor winning book (Ed Young's Three Blind Mice).
Patti feels that she has several skills that contribute to her success as an editor. One is a sense of space. "There's something that happens in my insides that tells me when something is right," she explains. She also feels she can "put art and text together with a fair degree of skill."
Patti also thinks her experiences as an author have shaped her work as an editor. "Because I'm an author first I'm not afraid of anything. Ron said when I went to this job at age fifty, 'be free—you don't have to work- you go in there and be free.' I've never ducked anything. When they [the company, marketing] see me coming they know I know what's good for an author—they know I'm going to fight, to be difficult because I keep seeing myself there. I'm very pro-author and I think at this point they appreciate it."
Patti is aware of the changes that have affected children's book publishing over the years. As mega corporations have bought out more and more small houses, sales and not quality seem to predominate. In addition to her best selling titles Patti feels she has had the freedom to pursue books such as Coolies by Yin and Chris Soentpiet or On the Road to Lhasa by Barbara Berger. Although these books have not sold millions, they have been successful and they are "where her heart is" She declares, Penguin Putnam "is one of the finest [publishing] houses in New York. All the editors have been here at least fifteen years. Regina Hayes has been here thirty-five years. That's very telling when you look at many houses where people are in and out." Her decisions about books are not second-guessed by an editorial board, often the case in other big houses. "We have no editorial boards. At another house that had a board, if I wanted to do a book I'd have to bring it to an editorial board. The chance that a book like Coolies would get past the board is minimal. I wouldn't make it there because I'm always doing something that doesn't fit anywhere."
Happily, Patti Lee Gauch has found a fit. As Editor in Chief of Penguin Putnam's Philomel Books she has found a place in a big corporation that makes her feel like she's "in a tiny brownstone down the street." Her award winning books must certainly have contributed to the degree of freedom she has earned. However it is just as likely her success as an editor as well as a writer come from her special sensibilities and her intuitive and learned understanding of what makes a good book for children.
