My daughter has been aware for some time that books can have sequels. I'll often point this out. As in: "Hey, I heard that there's a sequel to Louise Loves Art coming out later this year. Isn't that cool?" But the other day was the first time that I'm aware of that she finished a book and anticipated that there should be a sequel forthcoming.
We were reading Frankie Stein by Lola M. Schaefer and Kevan Atteberry, about a little boy who baffles his scary monster parents (Mr. and Mrs. Frank N. Stein) by turning out to be completely human-looking and rather cute. After the parents spend most of the book trying to make Frankie look and act more like them, Frankie ends up deciding to be his own cute=scary-to-monsters self. The book ends with the birth of Frankie's even cuter baby sister. As we closed the book, my daughter said "I can't WAIT for the sequel."
I gently pointed out that I didn't think that there was going to be a sequel to this title. [Though later research proved me wrong about this.] Her response was: "But there was a baby born at the end." I thought it marked progress in her development as a reader that she could recognize a situation that seemed likely to require a sequel. There are babies born at the end of Maple by Lori Nichols and One Special Day by Lola M. Schaefer and Jessica Meserve, and both of those books have sequels. So why not Frankie Stein?
It turns out that the sequel, which actually was published several years ago, appears to be more about Frankie than about his sister, but I haven't read it yet. I did order it, though, to show my daughter that she was correct in her instincts.
Katherine Sokolowski wrote recently on her blog about how her son is eagerly waiting for a third book in a favorite series that won't even be published until next summer. She said: "Thanks, Phil (Bildner), for making my kid love a book so much he wants to spend a summer day reading it - a year from now." Here I'll express my thanks to Lola M. Schaefer, and to the many other authors who I am sure will follow, who make my daughter say: "I can't WAIT for the sequel."
I think that eagerly awaiting books that haven't been published yet (or that we don't know have been published yet, anyway) is the hallmark of a true reader.
© 2016 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.
