This is the sort of thing that drives me nuts...

Someone probably goofed, either at Writer's Digest or at Atheneum with the entry. Most publishers would request one or the other.

In any event, I'd just send the query letter. Save yourself postage. If you send the sample chapters they'll probably only read the first few lines of the first page anyway before they form their opinion. You'll need to grab them in just a sentence or two either way. Atheneum is huge. I'm sure all they'd want is the query.

A query letter is definitely not a partial. If they like your idea and your approach they will request the sample chapters. The process takes forever but that's how it works.

Write the best darn query letter you can though. I can't stress this enough. It's your foot in the door, so to speak. It has to be your very best writing.

In my experience they take forever to respond, so I would send the whole MS for a picture book or first 3 chapters if it's longer. . .the difference in postage is quite small to save an extra 6+ months if they were to request your material off a query. Point to the part of WD that backs you up if needed

Query

A query can be a letter, or it can be a partial. It's whatever a publisher says it is. By itself, the word "query" simply means no complete manuscripts.

A query letter means no chapters. The word "query" by itself, however, can mean many different things, which is why new writers need to get the details. Many publishers and agents who simply say "query first" will also look at partials.

In a previous issue of CW&IM, an editor from HarperCollins was bemoaning the perception that the market is closed to anyone except celebrities and previously published authors represented by agents, and how unfair it was. They LOVE new authors. They CHERISH discovering new talent!

The HarperCollins listing in the same edition specified in bold type Agented submissions only and the homepage of their website was devoted entirely to the Julie Andrews Collection.

Right hand doesn't know, etc., etc., eh?

The editor means, "We cherish discovering new talent as long as someone else (an agent) discovered it first so we don't have to read any slush."

Shouldn't slush bet spelled with four letters?

That's two zombie reanimations in a day. Are we heading for a zombie thread apocalypse? Old threads, marching across your desktop, moaning and eating your icons...