Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Summer Snow | 1984 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
| 2 | Love’s Gentle Journey | 1985 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
| 3 | WinterSpring | 1985 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
| 4 | Chessie’s King | 1986 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
| 5 | This Rolling Land | 1986 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
| 6 | Dreams of Gold | 1986 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
| 7 | Opal Fire | 1986 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
| 8 | Westward My Love | 1986 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
| 9 | Jungle Gold | 1987 | Kathleen Karr | Buy |
The Serenade Saga was Kathleen Karr’s entry into published fiction. Between 1984 and 1987, she wrote nine novels for Zondervan’s Serenade romance line, an imprint that published inspirational love stories with Christian themes. The books have historical settings, as their titles suggest: Summer Snow, Love’s Gentle Journey, WinterSpring, This Rolling Land, Dreams of Gold, and Jungle Gold all point to stories of romance set against period backdrops.
These early works are quite different from the children’s historical fiction Karr became known for in the 1990s and 2000s. By the late 1980s she had moved away from romance entirely and begun writing for younger audiences. The Serenade Saga books are now mostly out of print, but they remain the starting point of a career that eventually produced more than 50 books for children and young adults.