Diane M. Huot
This unit is designed to provide a background to serial writing as well as the mindset, motivation, and goals of reading serialized fictional texts. The first book in a series is like a circus barker who leads us into the funhouse. The subsequent books are the magic from which we never want to emerge. The series is the best kind of trap. Reading serial chapter books now may well point toward the adult’s interest in reading mysteries that all feature the same detective or, yet more ambitiously, in reading more than one book by a single author. We shall try to discuss why this is so, and put our conclusions into practice in the classroom. By examining the thought process behind writing and reading books in a series and the interest of students in this type of reading, we shall enable students to choose books on their reading levels and open the door to a lifetime of reading enjoyment.
