Children’s Series: Building a Generation of Book Junkies | about competitions academic political student life art & lifestyle opinion PRINT ISSUES LEGISLATION CHILDREN’S SERIES: FALL 2015 EVENT COVERAGE BUILDING A GENERATION OF PRINT ISSUES BOOK JUNKIES April 10, 2017 · by The Liberator Magazine · in Academic, Art & SPRING 2016 WRITING Lifestyle, General Content, McKenzie Hohenberger. · COMPETITION Written by: McKenzie Hohenberger CATEGORIES Childhood literacy, like most childhood hobbies and skills, bears an Academic invaluable developmental responsibility. What starts as flipping through a picture book quickly transforms into the liminal body of ~~ "The Language Issue" ~~ Art & Lifestyle literature called children’s series. This specific area of literature Current Staff streamlines every last bit of its utility toward building a reader. Amina Amdeen Annyston APRIL 2017 Pennington Children’s series cater to a need for M T W T F S S Christina Lopez stability, a short attention span, and a 1 2 real desire for learning—all of which Elizabeth Teare define readers, ages six to twelve 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Emily Lang years old. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Jacob Hood McKenzie 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Hohenberger The episodic structure of series such as Magic Treehouse, Amelia 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Nikki LaSalla Bedelia, and even Captain Underpants has one intention—to create an addiction. Children’s series are a gateway drug and the dealers Rebekah « Mar May » are our librarians, teachers, and mothers. The goal is to string Edwards https://theliberatormagazine.com/2017/04/10/childrens-series-building-a-generation-of-book-junkies/[9/18/2017 12:16:27 PM] Children’s Series: Building a Generation of Book Junkies | children out on the hard stuff: academic literature. Robyn Yeh Samantha Bolf General Content Past Staff Andy Cerecero Cole F Watson Cynthia Turner Dylan Preston Frances Molina JoJo Phillips Julian Munoz In previous centuries, children’s reading material concerned itself Villarreal with moral instruction and religion. Thus, reading was considered quite the dismal and stuffy activity. Most likely, children Kristi Kamesch living during the early 1800s in America dreaded reading as much as Madeleine modern American children dread wearing starched suits and Kenney dresses to an Easter Sunday service. Mubarrat Choudhury Unfortunately, early American children’s literature was just as itchy, uncomfortable and boring. The idea that children’s entertainment Olivia Mizell should consistently implement religious and moral instruction still Sarah Lynn Neal lives on today, but the majority of its supporters have betrayed William religious conservatism for a more liberal, imaginative opinion. Moessinger Political Student Life This shift in national identity occurred around the 19th century, and Voices of Liberal children’s series subsequently Arts became a niche in developmental Event Coverage entertainment, as opposed Guest Articles to education. Freelance Contributions Because of their commoditized nature, children’s series flourished in Spring 2016 the wake of American Progressivism and consumerism. As Writing guardians witnessed the voracity with which their children devoured Competition The Elsie Books and The Rover Boys, they lessened their Opinion dependence on literature for educational and spiritual purposes–– Print Issues and increased their dependence on reading for their child’s intellectual stimulation and growth. The Language Issue The Narrative https://theliberatormagazine.com/2017/04/10/childrens-series-building-a-generation-of-book-junkies/[9/18/2017 12:16:27 PM] Children’s Series: Building a Generation of Book Junkies | Issue (Spring 2016) ARCHIVES September 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 This is the idea that millions of American teachers, librarians, and January 2017 parents had to hold on to when they realized that the bland, instructional material that had dominated children’s literature from December 2016 the time of the Puritans was falling by the wayside and being November 2016 replaced with imaginative tales of adventure, or even danger. October 2016 May 2016 April 2016 America’s youth had begun to reclaim March 2016 their right to literary entertainment. February 2016 January 2016 Now we are faced with the question—why series? What do these December 2015 thin, often cheaply-bound sequential novels offer that can’t be November 2015 discovered in Moby Dick or Jane Eyre? To the educated parent, it October 2015 seems as though the literary classics would offer more to a precocious child than a series like Goosebumps or Harry Potter. After all, the classics are relevant to adult academics, they are unanimously supported as fine literature, and they aren’t unfriendly to a young, interested reader. But the reason that children’s series continuously trump all other avenues of developmental literature is because they offer the possibility of permanence. Children who nourish their minds with series are learning to incorporate reading into their daily lives. https://theliberatormagazine.com/2017/04/10/childrens-series-building-a-generation-of-book-junkies/[9/18/2017 12:16:27 PM] Children’s Series: Building a Generation of Book Junkies | Children’s book series are a secret drug with which agents of academia hook an upcoming generation. The strategy of a book series is to rely on the velocity of the storyline to create an ongoing and personal camaraderie with its characters and to capture the attention of a fidgety young reader. Every component of the physical object seeks to build that momentum of consumption. In part, this is accomplished through a short and swift organization or format. A single middle–grade series book has an average page- count of about 100 pages. Because the child’s mind demands reward for effort, especially within educational activities, the text within a series book is typically large and bold, so that the words are dark and adequately spaced. This rhythmic style guides the child’s eyes down the page with ease. When the little reader finds that they can turn the page every three to five minutes, they usually feel empowered, and eager to finish the book. From the genre’s debut in the nineteenth century, children’s book series have claimed responsibility for generations of word-hungry Americans. In the same way that teenagers give smoking a try beneath the bleachers, children are encouraged—pressured, if you will—by their educators and guardians to take up a short paperback https://theliberatormagazine.com/2017/04/10/childrens-series-building-a-generation-of-book-junkies/[9/18/2017 12:16:27 PM] Children’s Series: Building a Generation of Book Junkies | book and try it out. Budding readers learn to open their favorite series books in study hall, after finishing their homework on a weeknight, or in the backseat on the way to Grandma’s. Just like cigarettes become an oral fixation, even obsession, for long-time addicts, books become a mental fixation for teens and adults who began their journeys with the half-inch sliver of a book and the promise of adventures to come. 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