''Serendipity'' is a series of children's books about animals and other creatures. The books were written by Stephen Cosgrove and illustrated by Robin James. The books are short stories with colorful illustrations that have a

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...

perspective. Cosgrove wrote the books after searching for an easy to read book with a message to read to his then three-year-old daughter. After finding primarily large expensive books, Cosgrove teamed up with illustrator James to create low cost softcover books. After receiving an offer to publish the books only in hardcover, Cosgrove created his own publishing company - Serendipity Press. The first four books of the Serendipity Series were released in December of 1973. They are: ''Serendipity'', ''The Dream Tree'', ''Wheedle on the Needle'', and ''The Muffin Muncher''. Cosgrove merged Serendipity Press with the publishing company, Price/Stern/Sloan (now part of Penguin Random House) in 1978 so that Cosgrove could focus on writing. Cosgrove decided to re-edit his earlier books, which have been republished with the changes. To date, there are 70 books in the series, written from the kindergarten to grade three levels. The animals in the Serendipity series include

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

s, cats, dogs, horses,

squirrel Squirrels are members of the family Sciuridae, a family that includes small or medium-size rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and flying squirrels. Squ ...

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s, and mythical creatures such as unicorns,

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

s, sea monsters, and

pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

. Cosgrove also invented his own creatures such as the wheedle, hucklebug and kritter. The books present moral issues such as growing up,

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

, abuse, fear, friendship, prejudice, gossip, and helping the environment. The book series was adapted into a 26-episode anime series entitled '' Serendipity the Pink Dragon'' and 26-episode cartoon series ''

Little Mouse on the Prairie ''Little Mouse on the Prairie'' () is a 26 episode animated series made by the cooperation of the US and China, loosely based on the '' Serendipity'' book by Stephen Cosgrove with the same title. The story features a city mouse named Osgood Dee wh ...

''. At least 25 of the books were translated into Spanish (based on the list in ''El Dragon Gloton'') and at least 6 in Italian (by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore).

List of books in the ''Serendipity'' series

References

External links

Stephen Cosgrove's website

Robin James's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serendipity (Book Series) American picture books Series of children's books Children's books about friendship Fables