From: Florrie Binford Kichler <fkichler>
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 10:48:12 -0500

Hello all--I've been following the discussion on series books with interest as I created my company specifically to bring back into print a children's book series that began in 1932 and ended its original incarnation in 1976. Some of the baby-boomers on the list may remember what many of us affectionately called the "orange biographies"--the original Childhood of Famous Americans Series. In my childhood library, they were shelved not by the Dewey Decimal System but in alphabetical order, oddly enough by first name of the subject of the book. I remember "Abe Lincoln, Frontier Boy" was first and "Zeb Pike" was last, and I read every one.

Back then they were called biographies and some still refer to them as such, but of course they were actually historical fiction. Many of the comments during this Series discussion have focused on the formulaic nature of some series almost as if that were a detriment, and certainly the Childhood of Famous Americans Series were definitely written to conform with a series of strict, written, editorial guidelines. However, I cannot tell you the literally hundreds of people my age (let's say 40 and over) who have approached me in person and via email telling me how much they loved these books when they were young, and how the books fostered in them a love of history and biography and reading that remains to this day. Many of them even remember which of the books were their favorites.

Good stories, series or not, stand the test of time--when I visit schools today, and read aloud from any of the books in this Series, third, fourth and fifth graders listen with rapt attention. Pretty good for books that are a half century old!

Thanks for letting me weigh in on this topic.

Best,

Florrie Binford Kichler
    www.patriapress.com Hook Kids on History with the Young Patriots Series of fictional biographies. Visit http://www.patriapress.com and sign up for monthly notification of new titles! mailto:fkichler at patriapress.com 317-577-1321



-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.ad.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.ad.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Megan Schliesman Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2005 9:38 AM To: Subscribers of ccbc-net Subject: [CCBC-Net] Favorites of the Year

So many people have had thoughts to share about series books--thank you for taking part in the discussion.

We are scheduled to discuss Favorites of the Year for the month of December, and I'm sure many people have been waiting for the opportunity to weigh in on the reading they've done throughout 2005. So today we will begin that discussion. If you have any final thoughts on series books, please share them in a message labeled "Series Books."

And let's get started on hearing about the 2005 books you can't stop thinking about!

Megan

Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706

ph: 608-262-9503 fax: 608-262-4933 schliesman at education.wisc.edu

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Received on Tue 06 Dec 2005 09:48:12 AM CST