seriously serious about series?

Are we in the book reading world really serious about series?

I have found great pros and con's to all the series being published at lightning speed these days, and am starting to question the quality of each.

What once started as a good idea or premise for a book gets milked to the utmost until the pages run dry.... As I watch my own 4th grader anticipate the latest title in the 'Mysterious Benedict Society' series, and eagerly await yet another Sisters Grimm, I wonder how well written, how intricately plotted, and really, how intriguing these books can be? I cannot keep up with them all, because they are published at astonishing rates. Even books that were great as 'stand alone' titles have been relegated to the 'series' shelf by what I perceive the publishers greedy push for MORE MORE ($ that is) to be. If it was a succes the first time round, then let's keep the formula and replicate it over and over. And yet...... those young readers out there are more savvy then we might think - many of them switch between series half way through, figure out the endings of the book before they turn the last page due to familiarity with formula, or plain don't finish title umpty due to boredom. I was astonished to see a sequel to 'The higher power of lucky' and saddened by the multiples of Penderwick books.

The pro's of the series are clear - they hook the reader, they are predictable and therefore comfortable, they are easy to recommend to young patrons because they are popular, and parents are kept happy because their child is reading.

I would urge these (often very talented authors) to examine the writing of their readers: few children in school write constantly about the same issues and characters. Most young writers use their imagination to help them 'reinvent' themselves and the world around them. There are no series of 'my vacation' or 'our favorite pet', no sequels to term papers and no applause is to be had from the adult population when students reproduce the same formula over and over :

We ask students to be creative, imaginative, and individual in their literary musings -

Lets ask ourselves to do the same.....