From: Carla K <carlak_56>
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 15:29:13 -0800 (PST)

    The Betsy-Tacy series still counts with me--I'm a know pusher of these at my branch library! I hold them, All-of-a-Kind Family, and series by Enright and Estes and Lloyd Alexander then, and authors like Pullman, Rowling, Waugh, McKay and many others in a different category from the Nancy Drews/Hardy Boys/and the many, many newer (and usually paperback) series available today: The characters in the former, while still familiar and comforting to the reader, do grow and change (as do the plots). In the latter, they stay pretty much the same, even if they get modernized as Nancy D. has been over the decades.
   
  There probably are terms to describe the two kinds of series--all I can think of is "mass market" for Nancy Drew, etc. For lack of a better term, I'll use that.
   
  I recognize the love (bordering on obsession) that readers develop for the seemingly endless array of series out there (most of which seem to go on forever.) I do attempt to support that, while also supplying the books I think are unique and wonderful (and beautifully written.) I keep remembering that I embraced the unique when I was young. I would discover and fall in love with author, and read and reread everything he or she wrote. The mass-market type of series book did not interest me as much; they were more for reading when I didn't have my favorites on hand. But I did get a bit addicted to the Alfred Hitchcock "Three Investigator" series, and looked forward to reading each new one.
   
  Currently, I find that Goosebumps and Baby Sitter Club books do go out, and I do get asked for them on occasion, but the mania of 10 and 15 years ago (respectively) has died down. Whenever we purchase books from one of the newer series (Magic Tree House--well, that's not so new anymore!--Geronimo Stilton, A to Z Mystery, you name it), they circulate very well. Pokemon and Yugiyo get asked for regularly. Graphic novels/manga are very popular.
   
  I often offer Encyclopedia Brown to 2nd to 4th graders who like mysteries, especially those who are ready to move beyond Cam Jansen. So they, too, circulate here. For those just starting chapter books, I always suggest Horrible Harry (and the others by Kline), and Howe's Pinky and Rex series.
   
  But I get a special kind of joy when readers take to my other suggestions--especially Betsy-Tacy. Especially satisfying was Elena, whose parents equally loved reading them to her. Her father's family is Lebanese, and he was much appreciative of Maud Hart Lovelace's respectful handling of the Lebanese community within her Minnesota town, circa 1900, in those books. Lovelace's stories reminded him of the ones his mother told. I am glad to have several mass market series available for readers, but I get a bit sad when children resist reading anything but one or another of those.
   
  Carla Kozak
  San Francisco Public Library, Chinatown Branch
  ckozak at sfpl.org




Carla Kozak"Librarian by Day, Catwoman by Night (Gone to the Dogs)"
                
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Received on Wed 23 Nov 2005 05:29:13 PM CST