From: kimnorman at charter.net <kimnorman>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 10:48:03 -0500

Popping in for my first post to say that series probably DO have a bad reputation in some circles. I know many parents who try to steer their kids away from some series (which they consider pulpy, I assume) and force feed them books they consider more worthy. I've always thought this was a good way to teach your children to hate books.

My parents never censored my reading, (and I read some real JUNK, series and non-series). I learned to be more discerning as I grew older but never lost my love of reading. When my children came along I got to relive (almost made a typo, "relove," which would be just as good a word!) some series I'd enjoyed as a child, such as Oz & Freddie the Detective, as well as many new ones, like Redwall.

Like their opposing vegetable preferences, my 2 boys' tastes in series fiction differed too. One preferred Redwall, Goosebumps (sigh), Indian/Cupboard, Oz & Beverly Cleary books, (he was much more open-minded about "yucky girl" books); the younger preferred Narnia and was an earlier reader so proceeded to most other series on his own, such as T.A. Barron's Merlin series.

When I say they had opposing tastes, I mean OPPOSING. They weren't just lukewarm about the books they rejected. They REALLY disliked them. The only overlap that both enjoyed was Harry. Maybe that's a microcosmic market sample of why Harry sold so well.

Kim Norman

http://www.kimnormanbooks.com/ JACK OF ALL TAILS, Dutton, 2007 Contributor, ROLLING IN THE AISLES, Meadowbrook, 2004
Received on Sat 03 Dec 2005 09:48:03 AM CST