So, you know, I stop by the used bookstore whenever I figure I don't need to eat this week

[conuly]

And it's in this way that I've discovered and re-discovered several classic/vintage kid's books.

Is it just me, or have children's chapter books become more... um... well, for lack of a better term, more arc-based in recent years? I'm reading one that has its reading level neatly marked on the back (5th grade), published in 1975, and each chapter is a self-contained story. Nowadays, it seems like all the chapter books, even the ones for first graders, are one whole story, not several. But this is far from the only one where each chapter was self-contained, or nearly so. Compare Ramona to Clementine, or Pippi Longstocking to... well, you can't compare Pippi Longstocking to anybody, I guess, but find someone.

And of course there were chapter books of the other sort back then too - certainly there's a coherent plot in Half Magic (even if each chapter *is* about a separate adventure) or in The Secret Garden - but... oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm just making things up in my head? Or reading the wrong newer fiction?

Comments

[leora.livejournal.com]

*nods* That makes sense. Show that kids will read them and it creates more willingness for people to give such stories a chance.