[Podcast #265] Celebrating Book Series with Dawn Smith

Brave Writer Podcast

Is there anything better than the warm, magical feeling you get from a good book series?

In today’s podcast episode, Dawn Smith, Brave Writer’s Director of Publishing, joins us to discuss the power of children’s book series.

Dawn Smith
Dawn Smith

We talk about the unique delight of reading a book series, getting immersed in the characters and the world they live in. We also dig into how series help build kids’ confidence through repeat exposure to an author’s writing patterns. 

Tune in to hear some of our favorite book series and the memories they helped us make with our kids.

Show Notes

If you’ve ever seen a kid fall in love with a book series, you’ve witnessed the power of the medium. Kids (and parents) form strong bonds with book series, often embracing them for life. What makes book series so lovable? And what can that teach us about kids’ reading and writing development?

Characters and Setting

Book series often feature a large cast of characters, making it possible for a child to find one they really identify with. Series then allow those characters to deeply develop over time. You can’t help but form relationships with them!

Book series also create detailed settings over time, establishing a familiar reality that readers can easily slip right back into as soon as they open the cover.

These characters and settings create a “joy of returning” that delights children.

Reading and Writing Confidence 

As kids devour a series, they’re exposed to repetitions of vocabulary, grammar, and storytelling patterns. With repetition, kids develop more confidence. Often kids get to a point where they can even identify the repetitions and apply those skills to their own writing. 

There’s an important parent hack when it comes to series: Read the first book in the series aloud with your kids so you can help them more build the characters and settings in their mind. Then unleash them to read the other books in the series on their own, reporting back to you what they’re learning. You’ll spare yourself having to read all 15 books in a series about dragons while still engaging with your kids’ development.

Resources

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Produced by NOVA

Brave Writer Podcast

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