Breakfast Serials

If you are wondering about the headline, yes it is spelt correctly. Serial and not cereal! PaperTigers tells us the entire story…

Author Linda Sue Park has a new novel out called A Long Walk to Water, “based on the true story of Salva Dut, a Sudanese refugee who fled his home village at the age of eleven because of war.

… don’t look for Salva’s story at you favorite bookstore—you won’t find it there. Instead, look for it in your local newspaper, as a “Breakfast Serial.”

Since 1996, Breakfast Serials have been taking novel-length pieces of original fiction and syndicating them for publication in newspapers, one chapter a week, in the U.S. and abroad. “A simpler, more popular literature that appeals to new audience sets”, these serials were originally aimed at young people “who know how to read but choose not to,” but their popularity soon captured the attention of adults as well. Their goal, as stated on their website, is “to refresh the reading experience in a new and convenient context and to forward the process of human attachment by way of an unfolding story.” A very nice concept that has people talking and trying to figure out “what happens next.”

Every Breakfast Serial installment is accompanied by full-color or b/w illustrations—something that sets them apart from novels published in book format, which usually aren’t illustrated. You can see two sample chapters of A Long Walk to Water, illustrated by Jim Averbeck, here.

In a moment when many are turning to online and wireless reading, how refreshing it is to know that great children’s stories are being printed and read in the pages of newspapers!

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