Why Kids Don't Have Series Books

Amy Goldsmith

If series books are powerful, don't kids already read them? The surprising answer is no: they need more help. Taking full advantage of series is harder than it looks for a number of reasons. Some adults consider almost any series book the literary equivalent of a twinkie: junk literature. Since any adult in a child's life can block their access to series, the junk argument may manifest in many different ways.

Twinkies or Real Reading?

Those who disdain series fiction argue that "some kinds of reading are harmful" and "one wouldn't say about someone who only ate twinkies, 'Well at least she's eating'" (Ross, 1995, p. 206). But if starvation were the alternative, would anyone hesitate? For some children, literary starvation is painfully real: "40 percent of weak fourth grade readers in a 1990 Texas study claimed they would rather clean their rooms than read. (Sad, but perhaps understandable, if success at room-cleaning seems attainable, and success at reading does not.)" (Truby, 2003, p. 22). For readers that truly struggle to find books, series are vital. Reluctant readers are starved for material. They have little confidence that they can or will find something to read.

We all know reluctant readers: the child who says "no" to almost every suggestion, or who looks longingly at a book, flips it, and says "I can't read that yet." That child needs success, confidence, and hope. If we can find these readers an entire series that is "just right," rather than a single book, we can help them achieve reading success for a sustained period of time. Series give them what they need and want: "the exact same book again, but different" (Rosen, 2000, p. 39). For those who would rather clean their rooms than read, we need to tip the balance for reading from struggle to enjoyment.

Essentials for making series books more available

An earlier column explained why series are surprisingly important. Children must read in quantity to become fluent, and series can help provide large quantities of reading material. In early childhood, where many lifelong readers get their start, series have particular power. Realizing that power requires commitment from the library:

• commitment to providing series in the first place
• commitment to developing a robust collection of series and keeping them complete
• commitment to helping readers discover "what comes next."

To provide a robust collection of series, a few vital tools are needed. Rebecca Thomas and Catherine Barr's Popular Series Fiction for K-6 (2005) is an 800 page book detailing over 1000 series for K-6 alone. Thomas and Barr includes genre, approximate grade level, and a paragraph describing the series as a whole. There is a companion volume for grades 7-12, also published in 2005. In addition to series descriptions, Thomas and Barr lists the volume titles, in order. Neither of these works are in readers' hands, because they are priced as reference works. They are sizable (816 and 528 pages) and costly ($62.00 and $45.00 new); not even every library owns them.

Adding to the number of series in a library need not involve adding only new series. Older series have some advantages. They've stood the test of time, and the number of volumes is generally higher than in a brand new series (20-30 volumes vs. 2-5). For every new series that disappoints adults who tend to do selection, doing the footwork to find an established one is an excellent antidote. As with individual books, many terrific series (new and old) are little known. It is essential to insure that existing series are complete. Completeness is vital, for both series and authors. Getting readers excited about a particular series (or author) is similar to getting them excited about a particular book. One would never dream of book talking or shelving a book with missing chapters, or chapters out of order, or the last few chapters left out. For reluctant or beginning readers especially, omissions result in lost momentum, and a lower quantity of reading.

Series are analogous to long books, with each chapter packaged as a book. Readers should start at the beginning. The order of chapters should be obvious. All chapters should be present, up to and including the very last. Some chapters are better than others. Many readers will go back to reread favorite chapters. If chapters are missing, many readers still want to read them years later, and derive great satisfaction from finally finding them. As with puzzles, there is beauty in completeness, frustration in missing pieces, and no puzzle at all if only a few pieces are present.

Getting the "chapters" or volumes of a series in order is surprisingly tricky. Readers need a list of the titles, and they need the correct order. But publishers often avoid numbering books because of the bias against "popular" fiction. Little House on the Prairie is the most obvious example, of many. If the books are numbered, or listed in a volume in the reader's hand, the list goes as far as the series went when that copy was printed. The most complete lists are in the most recent volumes, which are usually checked out.

The next logical place for readers to turn for a volume list is the library catalog. But series name and volume number are often omitted from library catalog entries. So volume data may be missing from the catalog, even for series in the library. Volume numbers are so rarely present that most catalogs cannot sort by volume. For readers who are old enough, or have an adult helping, online booksellers are the most obvious source of volume number information. Discovering volume order that way is possible, but painful.

Resources for Series Fiction

Given that volume lists are difficult to obtain, readers rarely have them, or know where to find them. They need help at this step, and a little series knowledge goes an extremely long way. Thomas and Barr's Popular Series Fiction for K-6 is an essential print resource. An outstanding online source is the
Mid-Continent Public Library (MCPL). MCPL lists 23,500 books, in order, accessible by author, series title, series subject, or book title. For those reading or maintaining series, MCPL is an oasis. It is so up to date that the last volume listed for ongoing series is often awaiting publication.

Thomas and Barr and MCPL are complementary. The descriptions, genre, and age level in Thomas and Barr are helpful. MCPL will remain complete for series that are growing, because it is online. While MCPL is the most accessible and up to date source, it offers book lists only, and the extent of age range guidance is Juvenile Easy vs. Juvenile vs. Young Adult. MCPL and Thomas and Barr are superb in tandem: one is helpful for finding series, the other for keeping them complete. Voracious readers (for whom one book is never enough) enjoy browsing series descriptions in Thomas and Barr , if it is made available.

The numbers involved make series challenging to maintain. A library with a modest collection of series (50 perhaps), with an average of 20 volumes each, is trying to provide and maintain 1000 books. A robust collection of series involves large numbers of books. Like other popular titles, the books are heavily used, and disproportionately out, lost, and in need of repair. Providing series and keeping them complete requires a firm commitment to readers.

Many series strategies work equally well to showcase non-series authors, whose oeuvre can be seen as "series" of works. Contemporary Authors is exactly what is needed to treat the oeuvre of any well regarded picture book author as a "series" for author study. Biographical information, complete list of works in publication order, and background information are all included. This information is not present in MCPL or Thomas if the works are not a series. Contemporary Authors and Something About the Author are less useful than one might hope for series, because the library community remains skeptical of series' value. Many series authors are too new, or are not considered worthy of inclusion. Articles even a few years old are likely to be missing several titles for series that are ongoing.

The effort, expense, and expertise needed to maintain series, particularly a diverse collection of them, all argue for libraries providing them. All but perhaps one or two favorites are beyond the means of most patrons — particularly those in elementary school, who may need them most to become life-long readers.

Nutritional Value?

Finally, on the "junk" argument: not everything that is essential has nutritional value. Water has no nutritional value, but is still essential to life. Fluency in reading (and hopefully, joy) is similarly fundamental, and any tool that helps readers achieve it is valuable. Series are a tool that helps put books in readers' hands, over and over, until they become accustomed to having one, and cannot do without.

The elementary grades are a key opportunity to help children become life-long readers. Elementary school in particular — when we are most assured to see children often, and children can likely bring themselves to a library 180 days per year — is a crucial but short opportunity. Studies show the importance of free voluntary reading, but also show that free reading drops off markedly by seventh grade (Cullinan, 2000, p. 9 of 26). Students who are weak readers exiting elementary school are at risk of being weak readers for life. The best window for building life long readers, at school, is from the time a child learns to read until the end of elementary school. For children who learn to read relatively late (those fourth graders who would rather clean their rooms), the window is shortened, from five years to only one or two years.

The author has argued that reading nutrition is sometimes irrelevant, postponing the issue of literary merit, because determining merit requires value judgments. Should anyone rush to judge readers' choices? Especially readers who prefer cleaning their rooms, and are struggling to climb through a brief window of opportunity? Voluntary reading must be the reader's choice, not the parent's, or teacher's, or librarian's choice. To respect readers, we must respect their choices. Imagine a reluctant reader, who has found a book he or she loves: any book! If that child rushes into the room, eager to tell about it and find more like it, who's to judge? Those inclined to judge may succeed at shutting down both book and reader.

It can also be argued that those who find all series to be junk need a deeper knowledge of what's available. For every series that is lightweight, there are others that are more substantial. The twinkie argument is older than twinkies themselves: over 100 years old. The library community has been skeptical, even hostile, to "popular" fiction since it first become available in the 1880s. Undoubtably there are literary twinkies, and no library has the budget to stock everything. But along with the twinkies, series offer nourishing literary fare.

Resources and References

Cullinan, Bernice E. "Independent reading and school achievement." School Library Media Research 3, Article 7 (2000). www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/slmrb/slmrcontents/volume32000/independent.cfm

Krashen, Stephen. The power of reading: Insights from the research, 2nd ed. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2004.

Hearn, Michael Patrick. "Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas City anymore… or Detroit… or Washington, DC!" Horn Book 77 (2001, January/February): 16-34.

Mid-Continent Public Library. "Juvenile series and sequels." Mid-Continent Public Library, 2007. http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/readers/series/juv/ .

Rosen, Roger. "The inside story: A publisher's perspective on series for reluctant readers." School Library Journal 46 (2000): 39.

Ross, Catherine Sheldrick. "Reading the covers off Nancy Drew: what readers say about series books." Emergency Librarian 24 (1997, May/June): 19-23.

Ross, Catherine Sheldrick. "If they read Nancy Drew, so what?: Series book readers talk back." Library and Information Science Research 17 (1995): 201-236.

Schramm, Wilbur. "How communications works." From The process and effects of mass communication . Urbana , IL: University of Illinois Press, 1955. 3-10, 13-17.

Thomas, Rebecca, and Barr, Catherine. Popular series fiction for K-6 readers: A reading and selection guide. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005.

Thomas, Rebecca, and Barr, Catherine. Popular series fiction for middle school and teen readers: A reading and selection guide. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005.

Trelease, Jim. The read-aloud handbook. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.

Truby, Dana. "A fresh look at series books." Instructor 112, no. 8 (2003 May/June): 21-23.

Amy Goldsmith became a lifelong reader at age 8, while living next door to a friend with a Happy Hollisters subscription. Moving our school and library to remodel made Linda Sue Park's A Single Shard resonate. Thank you Los Gatos and Monte Sereno for our beautiful new school.