Number of books in regular series and Little Sister series

[mara]

Weren’t 131 books in the regular series and 122 books in the Little Sister series very strange numbers to have? It would have made more sense to have had 120 or 130 books. The number of BSC mysteries including super mysteries is 40. The Kids in Ms. Colman’s Class has 12 books. They seem much more even numbers.

[CharlotteTJohanssen]

I thought that was odd too, I kind of wish they rounded up to 135 or 140 slowly transitioning the members out rather then all at once like Everything Changes did.

[anzuhana]

I remember reading a thread about this topic. Several people agreed that it was strange how it ended at such strange numbers and that the series should've ended with a 5 or a 0. One person even stated that Kristy should've had the last book in the regular series since she started it all and she should've been the one to end it all as well.

[sparklymouse]

Both series had the most anticlimactic endings. They were obviously unplanned for.

[mara]

Were the ending of the 2 series unplanned for? Did the publishers stop commissioning the books unexpectedly due to falling sales?

[anzuhana]

Perhaps. California Diaries, Friends Forever and Little Sister ended around the same time. Ann mentioned how she (?) chose to end them at the same time for some reason. I have to look for that article though.

[sparklymouse]

Jan 23, 2022 22:10:04 GMT -5 mara said:

Were the ending of the 2 series unplanned for? Did the publishers stop commissioning the books unexpectedly due to falling sales?

I thought I read that they "canceled" the Little Sister series when BSC ended. There was no excuse to end that with Karen's Freaking Cowboy.  They should have been given a warning like "Hey, you get five more books.  Wrap it up."

[anzuhana]

^ Your comment about there being no excuse to end LS with Karen's Freaking Cowboy made me lol.

[oldhickory]

Maybe in the minority because I really likes the regular series finale. It would have made a lot of sense to give it to Kristy, but we got a heavy book and it was a nice transition into the more mature FF series.

[booklover85]

Yeah the numbering is pretty weird. Especially Karen's Cowboy.

[andrew]

I imagine the publisher really wanted for Friends Forever to be seen as direct continuation so not ending BSC on a very landmark-y number (and ending it nearly on a cliffhanger) made sense for that. And starting FF in 1999 did make sense for new look with upcoming new millennium.

[oldhickory]

Interesting theory. End on a prime number to make it feel unfinished.

If they kept going until a better number, what would that be? 150 sounds good, but was there 19 more books worth of ideas at that point?

[sparklymouse]

I would have trimmed the fat and ended with 100. Surely there were 31 mediocre books that could have been eliminated.

I just googled out of curiosity, apparently Sweet Valley High ended with 181. That is also an incredibly odd number. It's like when a TV show goes on for years and then the network cancels it without time for a series finale.

[andrew]

Jun 29, 2022 12:38:17 GMT -5 oldhickory said:

Interesting theory. End on a prime number to make it feel unfinished.

If they kept going until a better number, what would that be? 150 sounds good, but was there 19 more books worth of ideas at that point?

All the FF books including super specials added makes 145, splitting each of the super specials into two 147, they could have reached 150.