March 2023 Series CAT

The March Series CAT focuses on child and YA series.



Readers have an abundance of titles from which to choose. Maybe you will decide to revisit some favorite books from your own childhood reading. This might also be a good time to strike off in a new direction. Take a look!

If you are interested in "old school" series, try out Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, the Bobbsey Twins, Trixie Belden, Cherry Ames, or Sue Barton.

Classic series include Chronicles of Narnia, The Borrowers, Ramona Quimby, Betsy-Tacy, Junie B. Jones, Amelia Bedelia, Little House, Mary Poppins, Doctor Doolittle, Ann of Green Gables, Winnie the Pooh, Malory Towers, St. Clare's, and The Chalet School.

More recent offerings include Enola Holmes, Wells and Wong, Cat Royal, the Penderwicks, Dear America, Aggie Morton, Ivy and Bean, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Big Nate series and Diary of a Wimpy Kid offer a little bit of humor and a lot of graphics.

For those who lean towards fantasy and the fantastical, consider Harry Potter, His Fair Assassin, Miss Peregrine's Home, Catwings, Warriors, Emily Windsnap, Percy Jackson, Red Queen, Throne of Glass, Lunar Chronicles, The Selection, Divergent, Shadow and Bone, and Maze Runner.

Let us not forget non-fiction series, including Who Was? and What Was? (biographies and events), as well as the Dorling-Kindersley Eye Witness series and the Magic Schoolbus adventures.

Have fun reading like a kid! Remember to update the wiki. https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2023_SeriesCAT

For KiddieCAT in February I read The Secret Seven. Several people told me that The Famous Five were better, so in March I am to try Five on a Treasure Island.

I'm going to read Mr Lemoncello's Very First Game by Chris Grabenstein.

I'm planning to read Wild Boy: a tale of Rowan Hood by Nancy Springer.

The only unread book I have on my shelves which fits is The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune

I have one that also fits KiddyCAT (though I didn't pick it out until I saw it fit here, too):

- Curse of the Blue Tattoo / L. A. Meyer

And others (some also fit AlphaKIT):
- Game / Barry Lyga
- Ashen Winter / Mike Mullin
- Paper and Fire / Rachel Caine

I've been meaning to see how the Animorphs series stands up to time for ages, so I'm going to read the first book in the series...technically a re-read, but I remember nothing about it since I first came across the series way back when it was first published in the mid-90s.

I am going to be reading Circle of Flight which is the last book in the Ellie Chronicles, which in turn spun off the Tomorrow series. I have been reading these books for the last few years and I am going to miss spending time with these characters.

We are getting some excellent ideas here, many of which are new to me! Thank you for these ideas. Carry on!

I have lots of choices for this and currently plan to read The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman as it also fits AlphaKIT.

I just finished The Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich, third in the Birchbark House series about a young Anishanabe girl and her family in the 19th century.

I read two books for this challenge: Curse of the Arctic Star and Strangers on a Train which are part of the Nancy Drew Diaries series, still written by Carolyn Keene. These are contemporary takes on Nancy Drew, easy reads but best read together in order since the action of Arctic Star continues in Strangers wherein all is solved.

Marvellers by Dhonielle Clayton
Such a good book! If you're looking for something to read for this challenge, I would highly recommend this one.

I have finished Circle of Flight by John Marsden which concludes the Ellie Chronicles, which in turn, was spun off of the Tomorrow Series. I have been reading these books for years and I am going to miss the characters.

Two more:

The Bad Guys in Mission Unpluckable by Aaron Blabey

The Hidden Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag

Completed The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson for this

My boyfriend ordered The Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud for me, which is the 3rd of the YA series, Lockwood & Co. I finished the second story this past weekend and am really looking forward to this one.

I kept going with the Birchbark House series by reading Chickadee.

Finished Five on a Treasure Island. It was better than the Secret Seven. It was infuriatingly middle class, my childhood was much gritter.

>19 Helenliz: You are not alone in your opinion that Blyton is "infuriatingly middle class". I believe that it the general consensus. But I loved them when I was a kid.

Finished The Invasion by K.A. Applegate, and enjoyed it more than I've enjoyed a middle grade read in a long time. I was a bit too old for them when The Animorphs series first came out, so I never got around to trying them back then, but I'm glad I finally have. This was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to wander through the rest of the series!

>19 Helenliz: >20 VivienneR: I loved Enid Blyton's books as a child, though they were generally condemned for not improving children's vocabulary and other reading comprehension skills enough. The criticism of them as "infuriatingly middle class" only came later and although I can recognise now that they are very middle class (much more so than my peers and I were), I'm not infuriated.

I started the Skulduggery Pleasant series a long time ago but it ended and then restarted, so I read Resurrection, book #10.

>20 VivienneR:, >22 Robertgreaves: I read a number of Blyton series, but not the Secret 7 or Famous 5. I wonder if it is only with adult eyes you notice the middle class flags: the children meet in a shed that's warmed by the boilers for the greenhouse or own an island. It's not exactly very inclusive, is it? Maybe children don't think like that. As an adult, however, that stands out.

I have just posted April's thread:
https://www.librarything.com/topic/349405

(I also posted one just before, but marked is as "March". Apparently I am unable to delete the entire thread, only my first post, so if you come across it, please ignore!)

I just finished Mr Lemoncello's Very First Game by Chris Grabenstein. This 6th book in the series actually tells the story of Mr Lemoncello as a young boy when he first got interested in games.

Game / Barry Lyga
4 stars

This is the second book in this YA series. Jasper (Jazz) is the 17-year old son of a sociopathic serial killer. He was raised by his father (and grandmother) after his mother disappeared, and he is very worried that his father’s sociopathic killer genes may have passed down to him (in addition to all the indoctrination and “training” his father gave him in hopes that Jazz will follow in his footsteps).

In this book, Jazz’s father, Billy, has escaped from prison. But the killings in New York City (Jazz lives in a small town elsewhere) started before that escape. So imagine Jazz’s surprise when a NYC detective finds Jazz, hoping for some help getting into Billy’s head in order to help solve these more recent murders in NYC. Meanwhile, Jazz’s girlfriend, Connie, insists on coming to NYC, as well. And Jazz’s best friend, Howie is staying home to help watch out for Jazz’s (crazy) grandmother, along with Jazz’s aunt (who hasn’t been “home” in years).

This was really good, but I still have a hard time believing so many police officers/detectives (this was similar in the first book) want to rely on a teenager for help solving the crimes. Setting that aside, though, the premise of the murders was really clever, I thought: the “game”. Unfortunately, the book ended on a bit of a cliffhanger for each of our teenage characters. I believe there is one more book to the series, in addition to a few prequels that I haven’t yet read.

Wild Boy: a tale of Rowan Hood by Nancy Springer
My favourite of the Rowan Hood series, so far. Springer demonstrates how thiis small group iin Sherwood Forest can help each other recover.

COMPLETED The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune. Continuing with this YA trilogy.

Curse of the Blue Tattoo / L. A. Meyer
4 stars

(Book 2 of the series.) It’s 1803 in Boston. Jacky is off her ship since they found out she’s a girl and is at a boarding school (I missed where the money came from to pay for it). The school is meant to teach this orphan and former homeless waif and sometimes thief to be a “lady”. Of course, she really doesn’t fit in and she learns how mean some girls can be. However, she still manages to make a friend in outcast Amy. Jacky misses beau Jaimy and writes plenty of letters, hoping to catch him on whatever ship he is now on. And she tries to stay out of the way of the Reverend(?) Mather.

I listened to the audio and really liked this! The narrator is very good, with Jacky’s cockney accent and any other accents thrown her way. Jacky’s fun, but can go a little too far, sometimes, for sure. But a very enjoyable book and enjoyable series.

COMPLETED TJ Klune's YA trilogy The Extraordinaries:

The Extraordinaries
Flash Fire
Heat Wave

Good story but rather stilted dialogue in places and some characters who seem to be there just to tick boxes and put forward views rather than do anything or be explored.

I finally finished Maggie Stiefvater's YA Dreamer trilogy with Greywaren. A fitting ending for the series, and it's got me interested in potentially rereading the related Raven Cycle series.

I read The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman and totally loved it.

Ashen Winter / Mike Mullin
4 stars

Possible spoilers for book 1 in the series: 16-year old Alex and Darla have been living with Alex’s uncle and his family (and Alex’s sister) for a while now, after he found them after the volcano left the MidWest covered in ash and in seemingly perpetual winter. But, where are Alex’s parents? Despite the dangers, Alex insists on heading out to find his parents, and Darla won’t let him go alone. And it is dangerous with people out there hunting other people (to eat, to sell…).

I really liked this. It got going quickly, and kept up the pace throughout. I liked the two new characters, Alyssa and Ben.

I'm a little bit late with my March update, but I did finish The King of the Middle March, the final book in Kevin Crossley-Holland's Arthur trilogy, about a boy living in the middle ages whose life has parallels to that of King Arthur.