Series

"Reading Matters: What the Research Reveals about Reading, Libraries and Literacy (Ross, McKechnie & Rothbauer, 2006) which has several pages devoted to the importance of reading series to developing readers. Six pieces of research that focus on why children like series are summarised and the reasons include:

titles (summary beginnings) and forecast coming titles (preview endings)
 * provide a sense of continuity as they integrate elements of earlier

identify
 * involve characters and situations with which children can easily

community of readers as they buy, trade, give, read and discuss the same titles
 * act as a cultural currency and allow children to participate in a

putting stories together and extrapolating meaning
 * provide practice in some key skills ... such as making patterns,


 * act like "training wheels" for reading development

Ross concluded that series books provide lessons in reading and that, "far from being harmful, might be for some readers an essential stage in their development as powerful literates".

When I talked to some students about why they liked series, they told me that it was because they already knew the characters and their relationships so they could concentrate on the plot and the action, and they felt like they were part of the story because they themselves had developed relationships with the characters which they just continued from title to title. They felt confused if a 'goodie' became a 'baddie' and vice versa, but they didn't like characters who were too good to be true.

Each section of the book has suggestions for what libraries (school and public) can do, and for series, these include:


 * include entries in the catalogue so it can be searched by series

series that might be enjoyed
 * creating pathfinders that list titles in the series in order and other

within each series
 * shelve series separately from other fiction and in numbered order

From an email by Barbara Braxton through OZ_TLnet 1/6/2011
 * create displays to showcase series