It has happened again. For the second time, a famous author has chosen the title of one of my books as the title for his newest work.
The first time it was Louis Sachar. The long-awaited sequel to his marvelous Newbery winner, Holes, was called Small Steps. Since Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio is one of my most popular books, I was chagrined by this, and worried that there would be confusion.
Now John Grisham has published the second book in his middle-grade series about Theodore Boone, The Abduction. I liked the first book in this series a lot and have ordered this new one but I do wish Mr. Grisham had chosen a different title. At least there’s a The on his title to distinguish it from my Abduction.
Titles can not be copyrighted, and I’m certain neither Mr. Sachar nor Mr. Grisham intended to cause me distress. But I can’t help feeling these were MY titles and wishing they’d chosen something else.