Having skipped with you through some of the delights of picture book series last time, it’s now the point to change pace.
Taking a series into chapter book land is a different kind of endeavour. There may be pictures still, but the pictures alone will not add the same unifying elements to the stories.
You need good characters – and exciting situations. It’s time to move beyond everyday scenarios, and into the area of what we would like to have happen.
It’s also time for team dynamics, extending the cast with new characters, and finding other means to convey consistency across the series.
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I’ve alluded to these series before, and the author Steve Cole clearly understands what’s needed to create a series that keeps on giving.
Collector cards are a popular choice – not just here, but in Hiccup the Viking stories too. They appeal to the Top Trumps afficianados, keen to compare relative strengths and weaknesses of heroes and villains (and even dragons).
Add in the elements that will introduce a new reader to the universe, wherever they’ve come in to the series: some back story for how the main characters came together, what their mission is. Now the scene is set.
But don’t stop there. Add in a map too, particularly if your heroes are gradually exploring more of a given universe. For those keenly following the series, the map is the reminder of previous missions and places visited.
All set? Then make sure your cast is appealing. Borrow from other known ensembles: particularly space ship crews. You need the boffin; the engineer; the loyal second-in-command; the communications person to help you explore messages in unknown languages.
You may have a hot-head, ready for a fight – or a hero who is also just as keen on eating as on battles. There are types, sure, but there is potential for nuances too – especially if a new mission causes them to alter, or to question loyalties.
When I learned more recently that Steve Cole had kept Dr Who books etc going during the years between the Old and the New series, it all made sense. Puns, moving your characters on from one desperate situation to another, one species trying to wipe out another: it’s all there.
Astrosaurs has as much space as you want – and an acknowledged enmity between plant eaters and meat eaters. Cows in Action is all about time travel – and there’s plenty of times to visit too. Natural series-building empires, both.
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In a similar vein, the author of the Jack Stalwart books has a natural basis for extending a series. This time, it’s geography.
Plenty of other writers use different geographic locations for their books. It adds variety, allows you to include local places and customs.
Square this with writing for kids, and you have a series that informs as well as entertains. Plus, as we’re dealing with a boy spy, of course there are gadgets.
Junior Reader’s first port of call would be the gadgets page in each book. These give you a taster of the possible adventures to come. Some gadgets repeat in different books, others are known just in their individual book.
An interesting element to the Jack Stalwart books is the little underlying current of backstory: Jack’s brother, also a boy spy, who has since disappeared, although his parents think he’s at school abroad. Some of the stories help Jack, and us, learn a little more, and come closer to finding him.
Some of the books work better than others, it has to be said. Some kids may take the opening info on a given country and want to know more – others will just come along for the ride, and that’s OK too.
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I feel the need to offer a few earlier series too, and Pippi is someone where you can’t wait to find out her next adventure.
Imagine a girl who she lives alone (apart from a horse and a pet monkey). She does not lack for money, thanks to her father’s profession of pirate king. She is hugely strong – and fully able to look after herself.
Into her world come next door neighbour children, Tommy and Annika. Their mother disapproves of Pippi, but Tommy and Annika love their adventures with the thoroughly unconventional Pippi.
Each chapter gives you a new adventure with Pippi, whether taking on burglars or even attempting a day in school. It is easy to keep reading and to share Pippi’s distrust of adult norms and preferences, choosing instead to live as she likes.
There is also some plot movement across the books – including a reunion with Pippi’s father. Right at the end of the third book, Pippi, a little like Peter Pan or Christopher Robin, faces the possibility of growing up, and uses her own resources to guard against it.
Ideally, of course, there would be neverending stories of Pippi. For, you see, there are never-ending ways in which children’s preferences and adults’ do not match – and Pippi is the catalyst for exploring these.
For wider exploration of Pippi’s influence – and different illustrator styles – have a look at Tygertale’s treatment, where Pippi is included in the series of ‘Bad Girls’.
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Another well-loved series, the character of Anne, making her home on Prince Edward Island in Canada, is one that remains deservedly popular.
Anne and Pippi have various things in common – auburn hair, often in plaits, and a certain stubbornness. Anne, maybe less so than Pippi, is also in love with language, beauty, learning – but, back in common with Pippi, makes plenty of mistakes along the way.
With eleven decent-length books in the series, there is much to munch through, once the Anne bug has bitten. And unlike some stories, L. M. Montgomery is not afraid to show Anne moving on through time, into work, marriage, motherhood and more.
Part of the delight of the books is the way Anne’s individual experiences move around the emotions, often evoking humour, but also anger, sadness, grief, loneliness, and so on. Anne may learn from her earlier experiences but that does not automatically make the path ahead of her straight forward.
In a sense, particularly in the early books, it seems possible for Anne to have limitless adventures and experiences – and indeed she covers many of the possibilities we might think of, and more besides.
Whether having disasters over dyeing her hair, or dealing with meanness from classmates, celebrating having a great best friend, or dealing with teasing, Anne is both the person we might like to be, as well as the person we often are, right now.
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There are so many other series to choose from, but all of those mentioned above use ways in which characters may grow, explore new situations, but still with plenty of variety and novelty.
Whether we prefer believable worlds – or created ones – series tap in to many of the situations we find ourselves in as children.
We want characters who will take us to new places, but we want ones who are not so far from us: ones with flaws, ones who go through difficulties as well.
Sometimes we may have to face hard truths: such as the end of a given book series. But we can be assured that there are plenty more out there to choose from – and plenty of reasons to see just why they are so easy to keep reading.