Some of my favorite types of books to read are series books. These can be books in which the story carries over from book to book or they can star the same characters in different stories. These types of books start for the youngest of ages in picture books to the oldest, young adults, in the Children’s/Teen Section of the library. I will start with the youngest and work my way up.

For young readers or non-readers (ages 4 to 8) I would be remiss if I did not point out “The Elephant and Piggy” books by Mo Williems, who is the author of the incredibly funny Pigeon Books, such as “ Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus.” Elephant and Piggy are best friends who find themselves getting into the silliest situations. They also teach readers the true meaning of friendship. These books are not only funny to kids but adults also. Every one has made me laugh and giggle. There are many books in this series and I highly recommend them. Some other good series for this age range are “George and Martha (about two hippos) by James Marshall, “Amelia Bedelia,” which is about a very silly and literal-minded maid with a heart of gold, by Peggy Parish, and “Frog and Toad,” which is about two friends Frog and Toad and the adventures they share, by Arnold Lobel. So many good series, so little time to reflect.

For older chapter book readers (ages 9 to 12), there really is a tremendous number of good series to choose from ranging from such classics as “Encyclopedia Brown” (the boy detective) by Donald Sobol, “The Hardy Boys” (brother detectives) by Franklin Dixon, “Nancy Drew” (girl detective) by Carolyn Keene, to more modern multiple Ron Roy series such as “A to Z Mysteries,” which stars the young adventures Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose solving mysteries in alphabetical order, “Calendar Mysteries,” which stars sleuths Bradley, Brian, Nate, and Lucy relatives to the main characters in “The A to Z Mysteries” solving mysteries on a monthly and/or holiday-related theme, and many more. Some others that I find fun and check out fairly well are “The Time Warp Trio” by Jon Scieszka, which is about three friends, Joe, Fred and Sam, and the hilarious adventures they have traveling through time, “My Weird School” by Dan Gutman, which is about kids attending a school with not only the strangest teachers ever, but the whole place is just plain nuts, and just so many more titles.

Some other chapter books for more sophisticated readers (ages 9 and up) that I love are: “The Stoneheart Trilogy” by Charlie Fletcher, in which a fragile truce lies between the statues, taints and spits, in London and George finds himself inadvertently breaking said truce and causing all-out war between the two fractions, George and Edie, a girl he meets and befriends, find many allies and enemies throughout this exciting story such as The Gunner, The Black Friar, The Sphinxes, Dragons, Gargoyles, a Minotaur, The Clocker, The Walker, among many others. We will have to wait till next time so I can finish this article about more good series books for tweens and teens.

n Bill Corder is the Youth Services Librarian at the Robeson County Public Library.