[UPDATE October 18, 2010]:
Check out the comment below from Sydney Veldhuis who is offering to do some of the translating if Scholastic won’t!
Currently in the U.S. there are four volumes of the Ulysses Moore series published in English. There are nine original books in the series (in Italian). Readers of this blog have wondered fro quite some time whether or not the rest of the series would be translated here. According to Rachel, a reader here, Scholastic sent this reply:
“I’m so sorry. We are not planning on translating the rest of the books. I thought perhaps the British publisher might have done a translation that you could purchase. I did make the editor aware of your interest.”
While I don’t believe in overwhelming an employee (it’s certainly not her fault that the books aren’t being translated… unless of course she’s the person who makes the decision, but I suspect she’s just the outreach person), we’ve all seen how grassroots campaigns can make a difference.
But the key is to be organized. It’s possible that a petition would work, although I’m not sure how to go about setting one up. If anyone wants to take the reins on that, please do. In the meantime, I think the best thing is to sent a polite email saying how much of a fan you are of the series and ask that they do continue to translate the books.
I think a good sign of continuity would be if everyone used the exact same wording in the subject line as well. Unless someone has a really catchy phrase, I’m suggesting:
We need more Rick and Julia–please translate the rest of Ulysses Moore.
I’ll post here what I’m going to email. Obviously, you can copy what I wrote, but if you have something better or want to get some other things across, please wrote your own message!
Dear Scholastic.
It has come to my attention that you do not plan to translate the remainder of the Ulysses Moore series into English. I hope you will reconsider this decision. I have found the series to be engaging and very enticing and I hate to leave the story of Rick and Julia suspended in mid-action. Plus, I think with proper marketing the series could be quite successful (the scholastic webpage for the series is very out of date).
I am librarian and have recommended the series to a number of people, both adults and children, and they are all wondering when the next books in the series are coming out. I also host a blog and have received a tremendous amount of mail about the series, mostly from fans wondering when they can read Book 5.
Please know that there are many Ulysses Moore fans out there, and there are many more to be found, if we can just get the books!
Thank you
Paul Debraski
The contact person is Linda Schenker, and her email is LSchenker@Scholastic.com.
[…] out this new post for some sad news about the future of the series Possibly related posts: (automatically […]
Oh my gosh! YES! This is the ONLY place that I can find online about Ulysses Moore. I loved that series. I definitely think that they all should be in English. What did Scholastic say?
Did you ever get a reply? I sent an email today as you suggested and used your email as a template with my own personalization. My 10-year-old son has me looking for the next book, and I am not looking forward to telling him that the remaining books are not available in English.
Our library only had book 1 and 2, but thankfully had book 3 and 4 as an audio book, so we were able to continue with the series. Haven’t been able to find anything else on the series. I’m disappointed as this was a very engaging series and even my two teenagers enjoyed listening to the audio books.
Thanks!
I am so sad! I am an elementary librarian and just started these books. I just got my 6th grade class to listen to book one in audio. The kids hate to end a chapter. I just sent an email also. THank you for posting this information. Keep us updated!
I just finished the first book in his new series Century. It was very good but I still need to know how the Ulysses Moore series ends. Ring of Fire references the other series a couple of times so maybe it will generate enough interest that Scholastic will pick it back up. I hope I don’t have to learn Italian to finish the series.
We love the series–we’ve listened to Michael Page’s narration from the first book–and were so disappointed to learn Scholastic isn’t planning to translate the rest of them. I’m posting something about your “grassroots campaign” over on my blog, so maybe, just maybe something will come of it. I’ve already emailed both Scholastic and Brilliance Audio and received a “thanks for your interest; we’ll pass it along” kind of message back.
Random House is publishing the new series by Baccalario, so I’m thinking it might be worth an email to that publisher to see if they might pick up where Scholastic left off.
Looks like books 5 & 6 have been translated into French and German (and are available at amazon.co.uk), so there’s an option if anyone reads one of those languages (and not Italian). I had a year of French in college, but I don’t think that will get me very far, darn it. ; )
Thanks for keeping the grassroots alive. I can only hope that someone with more power than I can get something done!
Thank you for providing the Scholastic contact information. I just sent an e-mail to them.
I checked these books out from the library for my 6yr old cousin. When she starts one she hardly puts it down until she’s finished; she finds them so exciting! Though she does insist on calling them the “Useless” Moore books. Now I have to break the news to her that there won’t be anymore “Useless” books to read for the foreseeable future. But I feel better for having been able to do something, no matter how small. Thanks again!
By the way, I’d be interested in a review of his other series that was mentioned in one of the other comments. Century/Ring of Fire? Have you read that? Is it the same reading level as the Ulysses Moore series?
Hi Trixie, I wish I had more of an update to post, and if I do ever get any updates I’ll certainly let everyone know. But it’s still silence. There is always a chance that the new publisher will pick up the series…it’s obvious that Scholastic didn’t know what to do with it.
I have yet to read Ring of Fire. My library hasn’t received the copy yet. But I sure hope to soon.
I like that books from ulysses moore , I was read three books and I can’t wait a long time to read the other books from “US” (Ulysses Moore)…
that explains soo much!! i was wondering why there wasn’t a continuation if the book ended in such an awesome cliff hanger. They have to translate it though!!! the books are soooo good and i gotta know what happens!
btw thank you soo much for setting up this website! this is the only site that actually has useful information about ulysses moore!
Thanks for reading. And I am quite bummed that I have to have these posts, too. I can’t believe no one with more power than I have can convince SOMEONE to translate the rest of the series!
Well, I’ve read the fifth book–don’t ask. I thought it was the final book as it was named The Final Truth or something like that, but I didn’t know that there is nine books, until now. I really wanna read it!!!
I too am a great fan of UM. thanks 4 creating thisk website. keep me updated.
I ‘m reading this website, and the series of ulysses moore for a second time. I adore ulysses moore. I want to continue the series. the four book, as you know ends with a … which is really annoying!
I had this though about buying/renting the rest of the books in italian then translating the whole book on google to pages then reading it. Does anyone know a library in the edmonton area that rents out , no sells these books?! I’ll probably try to do this(I’ll try harder than i did at reading war and peace) so comment if you want a copy!
Jennifer or Sydney…
That is pretty awesome. I’m going to edit the post so that everyone who reads it will check out your comment here. Let’s hope that someone in charge of publishing the books sees your effort and does the work so you don’t have to!
Sydney – if you do get it translated yourself, I would definately buy copies from you!
Im sure many of us will love to have the series translated! 🙂
We are definitely interested in reading the translation! We love the series too! Please keep us posted!
Here in Portugal the Editorial Presença have already translated 6 books and the 7th will be out soon. I hope that Scholastic translate them too for you to read it. I love the books.
If anyone an get me those books in Italian then I will do the translating!
Hey Paul
I’m bilingual (French and English). For homework, I used to have to read in french, and my mom borrowed this series in french for me. I have read all nine books, and since I am better in English than French, wanted to re-read it in English to understand all the details better.
I’m so dissapointed that only four books have been translated. Naturally, all four are now on hold at my local library, but it’s already annoying that I won’t be able to read the following five.
Do you know why scholastic decided to discontinue their translations?
What about your idea to start a petition? I’d definitely sign it and I’d do my part to advertise it in any way I could.
I’m also amazed that this is the only place I could find any useful information on this series. I don’t think there’s even an English wikipedia page about this!
From a fellow Baccalario fan,
Ryan
Edit: 6 books. I’m pretty sure there are only 6 books in the series, with a 7th book (sequel that’s not really part of the series) that I’ve never read (not carried at my library).
Wish there was a way to edit/delete posts…
So yes, 9 books in the Italian original series
7 have been translated in french
4 in english
So even I don’t know the ending! Although I remember the ending to the 6th book to be satisfying enough that I didn’t question if there was actually more after that…
I feel like the last couple of books are sort of recently tacked on. But I’m basing that only on a translated Wikipedia page. Ryan, so far you know more than the rest of us! I just hope by the time it does get translated (and, yes it must!) I won’t have forgotten what was happening.
I saw the same page and here is the list:
The door of Time
The long lost map
The house of mirrors
The isle of masks
The stone guardians (2006)
The first key (2007)
The hidden city (2008)
Master of lightning (2009)
The shadow labyrinth (2009)
The village of ice (2010)
The Garden of ashes (2010)
Imaginary Travellers Club (2011)
If you want this removed, I can. But it’s nice to see the thought process, right?
Hey Ryan,
I’m jealous of your bilingualism. Are you from Montreal? Actually, hmm, maybe your French would be better if you were. Oh, nevermind.
I am appalled that my site is one of the top Google search results for this series. C’mon Scholastic! Get with it.
After the holidays I’m going to write to Scholastic again and see if I can get some kind of response. And, if not, then a petition it will be. I’ll keep y’all posted.
hi, i love the series and i’m proud that all 9 are translated to turkish ( obviously i’m turkish) i can’t believe that these last books are not available in the us or france. i then owe a thank you to the publisher in istanbul . iam here to check if the series will continue beyond book 9. does anyone know about this? book 9 ends as if there may be a 10th book but there is no mention of a following. they should continue.
Hi ege,
We are very jealous of turkish readers!
According to the Italian Wiki page http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierdomenico_Baccalario#Ulysses_Moore
there are ELEVEN books in the series now.
Hi paul I am working on a project about Pierdomenico Baccalario and i was wondering if you new any more info on him so if you do please help me out i want to get a good grade
Esther, it’s amazing how little information there is about this guy. Unless you speak Italian (which I don’t). There’s an interview at Powells with him: http://www.powells.com/blog/?p=8695 but I don’t know much else. He won’t even friend me on Facebook!
Our family recently discovered the Ulysses Moore books and were horrified to discover that we won’t be able to hear “the rest of the story”!!! It sure would be wonderful if someone could find the right key to turn in order to get the entire series published in English.
My son is currently reading the series to me after school (he has to do at least 10 minutes reading aloud for homework). We’re both enjoying the books very much, and were excited to hear there were more in the series… and then devastated to hear they’ve not not been translated into English!
That being said, whomever translated the copies we have, translated them into American English, despite the books supposedly being set in Britain. That is really irritating, especially when words and phrases come out of the children’s mouths that they wouldn’t say – it pulls you out of the story.
Does anyone know if there are British English versions?
To the best of my knowledge there are no British versions either.
Ah, well. I suppose it’s a teaching moment, isn’t it? ‘That’s American English for *insert British English word*…’
this is the current list: (roughly translated)
The door of time
long forgotten maps
the house of mirrors
The Isle of Masks
The guardians of stone
The first key
The Hidden City
master lightning
The Master of Lightning,
Shadow Labyrinth,
The land of ice
The Garden of Ashes,
The Travelers Club Imagination
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_Moore
Just checking to see if there any update on translate to english for book 5 and up????
Last I heard, PB was trying to buy back the rights to the books to give them to another company. I’m waiting to see if that came true. As soon as I hear, I’ll post!
i cant belive they will just stop
what is the name of book number 5
The guardians of stone
Hi, I just read the first book, the first end in an awful away! I need the next! So I came online and found out that out of 11 there is only 4 available and of those I can only find 2 to buy. So I read all comments and there are several translated to portuguese, I speak both english and portuguese and have worked as a translator in the past, do anyone know where can I get the portuguese books?!
Did you se the earlier post from Diogo Silva?
Here in Portugal the Editorial Presença have already translated 6 books and the 7th will be out soon.
You can check Amazon.com and eBay.com , they will have books available from sellers.
I am a fifth grade teacher who has used Ulysses Moore -The Door To Time (Book #1) as a class read-aloud novel for the past 3 years. My children literally hang off the ends of their seats when I do our read alouds, and I feel its an exemplary text for teaching about the mystery genre. In my local bookstore, (I live in a very small town), the owner wanted to know what all the fuss was about this “Ulysses Moore” book, as so many of my former students have tried to find other books in the series. Scholastic also has a website which opens with a really great simulation where one can explore Michael Merriweather’s laptop,read his email and listen to his phone messages.
Link: http://www.scholastic.com/ulyssesmoore/
PLEASE continue the ulysses moore series i love them!
I have been waiting for the books to come out forever…i have so many questions that arent answered…i just might learn how to speak in Italian so i can read them….
I was completely serious about translating the books on my own. But I never thought my comment would be taken as serious as i meant it. Thank you Paul for taking notice of my comment. I’m going to start translating the books as soon as I get the copies of the following 5 books.
Dear Sidney- I admire your determination….I will suggest that you put up your own website concerning all this and you can make it simple and ask for copies I know there are enough fans out there of Ulysses Moore that would try and help you in any way they could to get you the copies of the books…help you with whatever you need, etc…all you have to do is ask….I know a lot of people young and old are waiting for the “The Stone Guardians”.
Sydney Veldhuis, I’m sure we would ALL support you if you tried to translate some of the books for us. Me and many other Ulysses Moore fans would probably be willing to help or support ANYONE to do ANYTHING at this point. Everything that can be said probably has been said here, so I’ll leave it at that.
You know, this makes me feel motivated to buy the books and translate them manually. But, then again… If worst comes to worst.
Sydney,
Thank you for being willing to translate! I will eagerly await your work. I got into this series with my son, when he was about 10. Now that he’s 15, this weekend he was cleaning out his “old” books, and found the first books. I remember being very frustrated at the cliff-hanging and inability to find further books in what was obviously a well-planned “series.” So I googled, and ended up on this blog. A total of 12 books, only four in English? Sheez. Hopefully the author can get the rights back and sell to another publisher. Any news on that?
My 10 year old son has just discovered this series through our public library and is chomping at the bit for more!!! Please keep us posted as to the rights/translation plans. Otherwise, perhaps we will learn Italian!
I keep hoping he’s going to get a new publisher. His other series is doing well and I have told him about the groundswell of support here. We just have to be patient (or learn Italian).
Why would Scholastic continue to hold the rights to Books 5-12 and beyond, if it has no intention of translating them into English?
hi!
I have read 1st part of this series almost two and a half years ago and I request SYDNEY VELDHUIS to plz translate all the series as fast as possible so that I can read all the series of this book at once without any more books left to be translated .and plz tell me if I could be of any help.
thank u.
Hi ! , i have read till the 9th book of ulysses moore series (in my native language) but the book company in my country is going to close. When i learnt that i decided to order the books in english , just to improve my language skills and continue the serie. However , when i went to order them from a book shop they told me that they haven’t been translated in english yet ! It was an extreme surprise for me ! everyone complains about having the 5th or 6th book translated in english and i am looking for the 10th ! At least you have the chance of getting a company publish them ! what about me ? the company is closing and not many children are aware of the serie for another company to keep translating … In the end we’ll have to learn italian !!!
I need the books in English. My daughters and I have read the first four books and we need to know what happens next. Does the series have an end? I already know that I cannot learn Italian. I believe there is potential for an increase in popularity if only the public had a chance to read this series.
What can we do to help?
Elena
We just finished book four and are dumb founded that we cannot get the rest of this series in English.
By the way, Sydney, if you would translate we would be readers too!
I do not understand – why start something like this and not finish? I am very confused as to why Scholastic will not finish translating. My boys (and I) really enjoy these books and would love to read more…. very frustrating! I am also going to contact Scholastic. Thank you for the link.
Oh Megan, how do we get Scholastic to see this? Almost every comment I get is about this series! So many readers want to finish it.
My daughter and I NEED to finish this series!! We would do anything to be able to continue the adventure!
My daughter is a teenager now, but when we were talking the other day about our most favorite books ever, this series came up. I had to check one more time for any hope of translation, and found your post. I’m sure she’d still go back and read it now if she could. Heck, I would too! As both a parent and a librarian, I am disappointed with Scholastic, and sorry that I missed your email-writing campaign several years ago. Even though it was unsuccessful, at least your voices were heard. I am so surprised that a British publisher never picked it up.
I’ve read the books of the series that are translated in English at least 3 times! I couldn’t get enough of it. I recently remembered it (haven’t read it it 1 1/2 year) and was hoping that there we translations, but obviously not. I feel like I’m willing to learn Italian just to read it, but that’ll never happen 😦
We just stumbled across the Ulysses Moore series & want to read more! Has any more of the series been translated into English? This is the only place I have found any information.
do anyone know the update of these series??
Does anyone know if Sydney Veldhuis was able to translate the remaining books???