Series Books....Part 2

"Series books" have been controversial from the beginning. But before going on, we need to clarify what we mean by the term. Anita Silvey offers a helpful distinction--"Perhaps the books should be termed "formula series" to distinguish them from literary works that also follow a continuing character through several volumes. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series and Beverly Cleary's Ramona books have three-dimensional characterizations, thought-provoking themes, and high-quality writing that sets them far above the series label. [This kind of] literary series is guided by an artistic vision, while the formula series seems to be driven by commercial considerations. Quantity, rather than quality, is the key for most formula series." Anita Silvey, The Essential Guide to Children's Books and their Creators. p. 407
To the worthy "literary" series list, we would add Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, and Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising (all fantasy).
What series would you add to this list?

What about "series books"? Part 1

A lot of readers don't know that many, if not most, series have been written by a stable of hack writers who crank out the formulas handed to them. (Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and others). This hundred year old pattern raises a number of issues.
"Creative writing of any kind must come naturally from well-springs within the author and it is improbable that any deliberately created collection of stories, uniform in length and treatment, but by a variety of authors, will produce writing of the first class. It may, and often does, produce adequate writing, in a recognizable set of books on which parents and other present-givers can rely if they are incapable of selecting for themselves, or unwilling to make the effort. But it rarely produces the best..." Frank Eyre, British Children's Books in the Twentieth Century, p. 73.