Ha, I remember doing that when I was little -- we would check out 10-20 books and I'd read half of them on the way home from the library! My mom always asked me why I checked out the ones that I had read a dozen times before, instead of something new that might last me a while, and I always said I knew I liked those already!
No, I'm not going for the market of "newly-independent readers" with this -- and I can see how MT would be that, now that I've read a few of them. I'm aiming for the young gifted market, although it would probably have to market to an older set of "regular" kids -- I doubt publishers would be interested in our niche market.
It'll work either way, I hope.
I have to wrestle the books out of DS 5 arms at the library. the first book we pick up he starts reading, so he is trailing behind me with a book while I shovel them into a bag and try to check out before he starts reading the next one because he won't let me put back the one he has already finished!
DS 5 loves things that continue - but the MT books and most on those level are not large stories in which you learn a piece of the puzzle - they are the same characters and schtick used in successive books. The MT seem to be entry books for gif ties because of the things that are good for super early readers - good size print, pictures and easy vocab - but the stories are pretty simplistic too and at least with my DS - who read them at 4, was easily bored, he did like the Merlin ones better. He loves more complex stories even as he got more comfortable with longer stories and more complex vocab - now at almost 5.5 he is reading series books like Ordinary Boy, Pseudonymous Bosch. and we just started NERDS (although not really social appropriate for him). He likes things that go over books, so long as the individual books have enough stuff. He likes richly painted worlds, with less focus on character development and interpersonal relations. But he loved the George and the Universe books - very complicated, with a story arc, although that was one of the first long books we did and I read most of it. Not so anymore. But on the other hand, brought home the 39 steps which I thought would be perfect and he rejected it saying it had too many words, which was code for it looked like an adult book, which he is oddly resistant to.
To my mind this conundrum is like the magic school bus books, they look like picture books but easily translated into chapter books because the story was so complicated. You could separate your story in to several books and my DS would love it, he likes to read more about "his" characters but if you have to thin out the story it wouldn't be as much fun. If separating into books allows you to make each mini quest more rich then that would be great. Alternatively, is there a sequel to the story you have now. If its truly finished then it makes sense to spilt it up, if you can see going on, then leave it as one. IMHO of course!!!
DeHe
