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I have a lot of series books to catch up on, both adult and
young adult. And yet the books keep on coming.
What is it about series that keep us reading? Sometimes, when the previous book has ended in a cliff-hanger, it’s the need to find out what happens next. For other series, it’s the comfort of knowing what you are getting, that the story will follow a certain pattern and provide a certain outcome.
For me, it’s always been about the characters. A lot of the
series I read are mysteries. While the suspense is always there to draw me in,
the ones that keep me coming back are the ones where the characters have a life
outside of the mystery, where they age and change and grow. It’s like visiting
old friends and catching up each time a new book in one of my favorite series comes
out.
I have begun dropping some of my series. I talked about that
with the kids the other day when I was book talking…when is it time to give up?
I asked them why they like certain series what kept them reading. Almost always
it had to do with them being able to identify with the characters. Sure they
like the genre or the action of the story, but mostly it was about the
characters and finding out what happens to them that keep them coming back to
Percy Jackson and Greg Heffley.
Most of the series I have dropped are because the stories
have become formulaic and the characters, even the main ones, are static. They
don’t grow and change, they are stuck in and Groundhog Day cycle of having the
same things happen to them over and over and over, and never being able to move
on to something new. If I can’t connect to the characters, then I can’t connect
to the story. The kids say drop series because they out-grow them if the characters
don’t age with them and have the same experiences they do.
Characters are the easiest way for us to connect to
literature, and those characters we meet can seem just as real as the people we
interact with each day. This week my Pre-AP students will write short stories
to give them a break between tests, and character development will be a key
component of their evaluation. I am anxious to meet some great new characters
this week.
You are very right: "It’s like visiting old friends and catching up each time a new book in one of my favorite series comes out." I feel the same.
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