Amy Webster is Senior Lecturer in Education Studies, Bishop Grosseteste University, UK. She is part of the University’s Literature and Literacies research unit and co-edits the university’s newsletter on children’s literature. Her articles and essays have been published in The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Children and Childhood Studies and FEAST and has presented many papers across the UK and Europe. She completed an MPhil and PhD at the Centre for Research in Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge.

• List of FiguresList of TablesIntroductionChapter 1: Probing the problem of ‘the classic’Complexities and critiques of the classicThe classic in children’s literatureClassics and canonsPrizing and reading practicesSerialising children’s classics: A room of not so familiar friendsStudying British series of children’s classics at a distance and up closeCompiling the data setPrecursors to the classic seriesChapter 2: PresenceAnalysing the data setCore classics and copyrightNon-recurring titlesThe move towards homogenisationVariation in series of modern classicsTrends in authorshipChapter 3: PruningAdapting children’s classicsAnalysing abridgement: Counting words and reading contractionA case study of a children’s classicLadybird: Series of classics for younger readersLongman: The children’s classics as a reading schemeChapter 4: ProductRepackaging children’s classicsThe publisher’s peritextA Ladybird storyPuffin’s ‘complete and unabridged’ classicsWalker’s Illustrated Classics: ‘The classics have never looked so good’Conclusion: The commercial dimension of the children’s classicsReferencesAppendix Appendix A: Accessing the dataset online Appendix B: Series of classics and modern classics listed chronologically by start publishing dateAppendix C: Books in series listed numerically by book IDAppendix D: Authors in series listed numerically by author IDAppendix E: Series that books appear in listed numerically by Book IDIndex

Amy Webster is Senior Lecturer in Education Studies, Bishop Grosseteste University, UK. She is part of the University’s Literature and Literacies research unit and co-edits the university’s newsletter on children’s literature. Her articles and essays have been published in The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Children and Childhood Studies and FEAST and has presented many papers across the UK and Europe. She completed an MPhil and PhD at the Centre for Research in Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge.

• List of FiguresList of TablesIntroductionChapter 1: Probing the problem of ‘the classic’Complexities and critiques of the classicThe classic in children’s literatureClassics and canonsPrizing and reading practicesSerialising children’s classics: A room of not so familiar friendsStudying British series of children’s classics at a distance and up closeCompiling the data setPrecursors to the classic seriesChapter 2: PresenceAnalysing the data setCore classics and copyrightNon-recurring titlesThe move towards homogenisationVariation in series of modern classicsTrends in authorshipChapter 3: PruningAdapting children’s classicsAnalysing abridgement: Counting words and reading contractionA case study of a children’s classicLadybird: Series of classics for younger readersLongman: The children’s classics as a reading schemeChapter 4: ProductRepackaging children’s classicsThe publisher’s peritextA Ladybird storyPuffin’s ‘complete and unabridged’ classicsWalker’s Illustrated Classics: ‘The classics have never looked so good’Conclusion: The commercial dimension of the children’s classicsReferencesAppendix Appendix A: Accessing the dataset online Appendix B: Series of classics and modern classics listed chronologically by start publishing dateAppendix C: Books in series listed numerically by book IDAppendix D: Authors in series listed numerically by author IDAppendix E: Series that books appear in listed numerically by Book IDIndex

Amy Webster is Senior Lecturer in Education Studies, Bishop Grosseteste University, UK. She is part of the University’s Literature and Literacies research unit and co-edits the university’s newsletter on children’s literature. Her articles and essays have been published in The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Children and Childhood Studies and FEAST and has presented many papers across the UK and Europe. She completed an MPhil and PhD at the Centre for Research in Children’s Literature at the University of Cambridge.

• List of FiguresList of TablesIntroductionChapter 1: Probing the problem of ‘the classic’Complexities and critiques of the classicThe classic in children’s literatureClassics and canonsPrizing and reading practicesSerialising children’s classics: A room of not so familiar friendsStudying British series of children’s classics at a distance and up closeCompiling the data setPrecursors to the classic seriesChapter 2: PresenceAnalysing the data setCore classics and copyrightNon-recurring titlesThe move towards homogenisationVariation in series of modern classicsTrends in authorshipChapter 3: PruningAdapting children’s classicsAnalysing abridgement: Counting words and reading contractionA case study of a children’s classicLadybird: Series of classics for younger readersLongman: The children’s classics as a reading schemeChapter 4: ProductRepackaging children’s classicsThe publisher’s peritextA Ladybird storyPuffin’s ‘complete and unabridged’ classicsWalker’s Illustrated Classics: ‘The classics have never looked so good’Conclusion: The commercial dimension of the children’s classicsReferencesAppendix Appendix A: Accessing the dataset online Appendix B: Series of classics and modern classics listed chronologically by start publishing dateAppendix C: Books in series listed numerically by book IDAppendix D: Authors in series listed numerically by author IDAppendix E: Series that books appear in listed numerically by Book IDIndex