As a mum of three who is passionate about books it has always been important to me to encourage my children to read.
Mel.
Sometimes this has been easy – when they were little they often begged for yet another bedtime story. Other times this has been an up-hill struggle, especially as my family has now entered teenagedom and digital screens have became far more alluring than the written word!
However, one thing I have learned along the way is that if kids get into a series, then there’s no stopping them! You see, series are a parent’s (and publisher’s) dream; they invariably end in such a way that the reader is desperate to read the next one, eager to find out what happens next.
I read the whole Harry Potter series aloud to my children a couple of years ago and told them that they were lucky because as we reached each exciting conclusion we were able to immediately move on to the next one. Unlike their parents who read the books when they were originally published and had to wait a whole year before they could devour the next one!
The latest series my 10 year old son is into is Skullduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. He says:
“I love series because you never want to stop reading them. I’ve read the Skullduggery Pleasant series and each book ended on a cliff-hanger so I had to read the next one. Now I have read all the books so far and will have to wait a year or two for the next one to come out instead of being able to read it straight away. I can’t wait!”
Following a series can be pricey, especially if there are multiple volumes, but libraries are a great way of letting your child plough through their favourite books without breaking the budget.
Here are some other series that my children loved:
Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney
Warwickshire Libraries 