It might be interesting to look further into the episodic nature of children’s literature. As we talked about briefly last class each chapter could stand alone as adventure in itself. What would happen then if we rearranged the chapters when Milo is traveling from Dictionopolis to Digitopolis? Would it change the story significantly?
In between the chapters”The Hamburg Volunteers” and ”The Dodecahedron Leads the Way” aside from brief mentions of previous characters in past chapters each mini adventure is virtually independent. The chapters are, 9-13.
If for example we were given the chapters in reverse order, starting with “Unfortunate Conclusions” and finished with “Its all how you look at things” I don’t believe that the reader would have a drastically different interpretation of the major plot line, the journey to Digitopolis. We could just as easily imagine Milo leaving the woods and appearing next to the Doceahedron to continue on to Digitopolis. Even the two most related chapters “Dischord and Dynne” and “The Silent Valley” can be interchanged if character references were merely referenced later.
I think keeping chapters short and independent aides the ability for children to be able to pick up a book and put it down easily and without interrupting what otherwise might be a convoluted story line that is hard for kids to follow.
Why Read? 
While I agree that the order of the chapters is important to the understanding of the story, I don’ think having independent chapters is always a good thing. I was talking to my friend about the book and she said it took her about a year to read it when she was young. I can understand why. It’s easy to put the book down and forget about it when the end of the chapter doesn’t really leave you wanting more. It might be a thing of personal preference but I always prefer books that utilize suspense.