SLJ Modified: Illustrations by Jorm Sangsorn/Getty Images

With muddy boots on their feet and sharpened pencils in their hands, young explorers will be inspired by the topics covered in this season’s Series Made Simple . Curated and evaluated by a team of expert reviewers, this issue features a collection of high-interest, visually appealing series that will get students thinking, exploring, and doing. These informational texts apply practical, human-centered approaches to science and humanities topics alike—students are encouraged to put themselves in the sturdy shoes of inventors, disaster survivors, sports champions, makers, and ghost hunters. Unique groupings of animal species and geographic locations give a fresh take on familiar and popular topics for reading and research, and a thread of adventure and fun runs through the selections in this issue, with series focused on survival, popular culture, newly discovered animals, and bizarre and gross facts that will entice a range of readers. A robust selection of decodable and phonics titles in the “Early Readers” and “Hi-Lo” sections offer informative and dynamic titles for emerging and striving readers, and many of the series featured suggest ideas to students of all ages on how to apply the information they’ve learned through experiments and projects. We hope this issue of Series Made Simple gives librarians tools to continue developing collections that encourage their students to build knowledge, raise questions, and dive into some hands-on exploration.

Beth Ellen McIntyre
Series Made Simple Reviews Editor