Series Books are the "Cool Books"

*Just a friendly reminder!

Series Books

For each of the four libraries I have "flipped", I found it easier for the children, the parents, my clerk, my volunteers and myself to have a section of series books. These books were always reading level 2.0 and higher and the MOST popular books the kids really LOVED to read! 

(See previous posts for Kindergarten and First grade level books.)

Here is just a "suggested list" of what kinds of books would fall into this section:

Clifford, Charlie the Ranch Dog, Scooby-Doo, Froggy, Fly Guy, Barbie, Lego, popular TV characters (Spongebob or Dora), Magic Tree House, Amelia Bedelia, Fancy Nancy, Junie B. Jones, Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter and Tabby, Annie and Snowball, Who Would Win, I Survived, and graphic novels.

You can also put popular authors: Arnold Lobel, Patricia Polacco, Margie Palatini, Mo Willems, Dr. Seuss, and Eric Carle (just to name a few). 

Any books you seem to have a lot of, you may want to consider putting in the Series section. This makes it easier for kids to find the more "popular" books independently. I have had sections labeled: super hero, princess, ninja, dogs, cats, pirates, mysteries (A to Z, Calendar Mysteries, Third Grade Detectives), boy books (Horrible Harry, Oggie Cooder, Stink), and girl books (Judy Moody, Amber Brown).                                                       

As you are cleaning the shelves, weeding the books and learning your collection, it will become apparent what books you will want to have in the Series section. This will be the most used section in the library. It will be the section which will motivate your Kindergarten and First Grade level readers to want to move up levels. 

*This is a sample bookcase from a series section. 

**It is good to try to leave space on each shelf to display either an item, like we discussed in the last post, or a book to grab the children's attention to the shelf. 

Now, this section I actually shelve differently from any other section. I start with and move toward:

* Easier picture books (Fancy Nancy, Froggy, Clifford, Splat the Cat....)

* Harder level picture books (Lego,Barbie ,Who Would Win, Scooby-Doo)

* Beginning chapter books (Annie and Snowball, Fly Guy, Mr. Putter and Tabby)

* Easy chapter books (Magic Tree House, Junie B,  Zack Files, A to Z Mysteries)

* Harder chapter books/Graphic Novels (I Survived, American Girl)

*You want kids to transition easily from one level to another.

By arranging the shelves this way, your children who move from First Grade level books will learn how to transition to harder picture books, easy chapter books, then longer chapter books with pictures, to finally chapter books without pictures. I have even put the level 4 and higher chapter books in a separate section entirely to encourage the children to read in progression.

Why? Well, books made into movies sometimes do not help when kids are at the primary (K-2) level select books which are best for them to learn to read. (Not all kids at this level are reading to learn.) Example: Just because a child has seen the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" movies, doesn't mean he is ready to read the books (which are level 4 and 5) when he is only reading on a first grade level. Now, if his grown up wants to read them to him, BY ALL MEANS, but we really want to encourage them to read books more suited to their level. 

I will tell kids: "If you like Elephant and Piggie books, you will probably like Froggy books." "If you like Fly Guy books, you will probably like Henry and Mudge books." "If you like Junie B. Jones books, you will probably like Amber Brown books." This transitions them to books which are similar in length and increases the reading level without jumping too high.

For the first few weeks of checkout, I open up just the Kindergarten, First Grade and Series sections for kids to explore and checkout. This gives them a solid understanding of those sections and the types of books in them. They gain confidence and independence and it gives you time to really train them on the checkout process (future post). This also gives you time to work on the last few sections of the media center without too much pressure!

Next post: Picture Books and Chapter Books!