What Katy Did (1872) is the first of five novels by Coolidge, the pen name of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, that follow the Carr family of Burnet. The series continued with What Katy Did at School (1873), in which Katy and Clover leave home to attend a New England boarding school. Here, Katy expands her education beyond the home as she navigates the strict rules of an unfamiliar setting and develops new friendships. Despite lessons learned during her injury, Katy still manages to get into scrapes on this new adventure. In What Katy Did Next (1886), Katy continues to grow and mature on a European tour where she meets and falls in love with a young naval officer named Ned Worthington. Clover (1888) shifts focus to Katy's younger sister as she marries and settles in Colorado after accompanying their younger brother, Phil, there for medical treatment. Finally, In the High Valley (1890) follows Clover's life in the West as an adult when she befriends two English siblings with preconceived notions of Americans. Across these five books, Coolidge traces her characters from childhood through courtship, marriage, and early adulthood, charting their moral growth at each stage.

The first novel establishes the emotional and thematic foundation for the series. Katy’s long-term injury shapes the patient, selfless temperament she carries into later volumes, and the family dynamics introduced in the Burnet household remain central throughout. Characters who appear briefly in What Katy Did, such as Cousin Helen and Cecy Hall, return in subsequent installments, creating continuity across the series. Coolidge also maintains a consistent narrative voice: warm, gently didactic, and addressed directly to the reader. Each book adapts its setting and scope to the characters’ ages while preserving the series' core interest in how ordinary domestic virtues sustain individuals through change. For readers of the first novel, the sequels provide more character growth as the once boisterous Carr children move into adulthood.