I just read Stuart Little to my five year old. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a book about a child who has the looks and size of a mouse, born into a normal family. Naturally there are many struggles in life when you are mouselike, and you see the world a little differently. Stuart’s family rescues a wounded bird, Margalo, who becomes his friend, but in the middle of the night, Margalo disappears without a word. Stuart decides to go on a journey and attempt to find Margalo. You’re probably wondering what this has to do with horror fiction. Here’s the thing- and I didn’t remember this- after many adventures, Stuart drives off. And that’s the story. “What happened next”? my son asked. Well, we don’t know. Did Stuart ever find Margalo? Did he ever go home? We can only imagine. E.B. White never wrote a sequel, although my son is convinced the sequel, “Stuart and Margalo”, is out there somewhere. After all, there are at least three Stuart Little movies.

There aren’t too many books that end this way anymore- books that end with the reader asking “Wait, what happened next”? These days if you have that question after you’ve turned the last page, you can be pretty sure there’s a sequel out there, especially in the YA market.

Do you prefer for your books to come in series, where you know a sequel will deal with the loose ends? Or do you get frustrated that everything seems to come in series that never end? What do you think about books that leave you with uncertainty at the end?