Frances O’Roark Dowell Books in Order

Frances O’Roark Dowell has written 27 books, published between 2000 and 2025. The first book is Dovey Coe (2000) and the newest is A Friendship Album Christmas (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
27
Published
2000–2025
Pages on record
675 in 3 of 27 books

Middle-grade fiction is the core of Frances O'Roark Dowell's work. The American writer debuted with Dovey Coe in 2000, a novel that won an Edgar and the William Allen White Children's Book Award and was translated into Chinese, French and German. Shooting the Moon (2008) earned a Christopher Award and a Boston Globe-Horn Book honor, and Where I'd Like to Be took a VOYA award. Dowell's series are Sam the Man, Phineas L. MacGuire and Secret Language of Girls. The catalogue holds 27 books up to A Friendship Album Christmas (2025).

Source: Wikidata

How many Frances O’Roark Dowell books are there?

Frances O’Roark Dowell has 27 books, released between 2000 and 2025. They include 3 series and 15 titles listed outside any series.

Frances O’Roark Dowell Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 27 Frances O’Roark Dowell books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of October 2026.

  1. 1
    Dovey Coe2000 · confirmed 1/4
    2000–
  2. 2
    Where I'd Like to Be2003 · confirmed 1/4
    2003–
  3. 3
    The Secret Language of GirlsSecret Language of Girls #12004 · confirmed 1/4
    2004–
  4. 4
    Chicken Boy2005 · confirmed 1/4
    2005–
  5. 5
    Erupts!Phineas L. MacGuire #12006 · confirmed 1/4
    2006–
  6. 6
    Gets Slimed!Phineas L. MacGuire #22007 · confirmed 1/4
    2007–
  7. 7
    Blasts Off!Phineas L. MacGuire #32008 · confirmed 1/4
    2008–
  8. 8
    Shooting the Moon2008 · confirmed 1/4
    2008–
  9. 9
    The Kind of Friends We Used to BeSecret Language of Girls #22009 · confirmed 1/4
    2009–
  10. 10
    Falling In2010 · confirmed 1/4
    2010–
  11. 11
    Ten Miles Past Normal2011 · confirmed 1/4
    2011–
  12. 122012–
  13. 13
    The Sound of Your Voice, Only Really Far AwaySecret Language of Girls #32013 · confirmed 1/4
    2013–
  14. 14
    Gets Cooking!Phineas L. MacGuire #42014 · 195 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2014195
  15. 15
    Anybody Shining2014 · confirmed 1/4
    2014–
  16. 16
    Sam the Man & the Chicken PlanSam the Man #12016 · confirmed 1/4
    2016–
  17. 17
    Trouble the Water2016 · confirmed 1/4
    2016–
  18. 18
    Birds in the Air2016 · 256 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2016256
  19. 19
    Margaret Goes Modern2017 · confirmed 1/4
    2017–
  20. 20
    Sam the Manthe Rutabaga PlanSam the Man #22017 · confirmed 1/4
    2017–
  21. 21
    Sam the Man & the Dragon Van PlanSam the Man #32018 · confirmed 1/4
    2018–
  22. 22
    Sam the Manthe Secret Detective Club PlanSam the Man #42018 · confirmed 1/4
    2018–
  23. 23
    Sam the Man & the Cell Phone PlanSam the Man #52019 · confirmed 1/4
    2019–
  24. 24
    The Class2019 · confirmed 1/4
    2019–
  25. 252020–
  26. 26
    Hazard2022 · 224 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2022224
  27. 27
    A Friendship Album Christmas2025 · confirmed 1/4
    2025–

Frances O’Roark Dowell books grouped by series

Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.

Sam the Man in order

5 books
  1. 1. Sam the Man & the Chicken Plan
  2. 2. Sam the Manthe Rutabaga Plan
  3. 3. Sam the Man & the Dragon Van Plan
  4. 4. Sam the Manthe Secret Detective Club Plan
  5. 5. Sam the Man & the Cell Phone Plan

Phineas L. MacGuire in order

4 books
  1. 1. Erupts!
  2. 2. Gets Slimed!
  3. 3. Blasts Off!
  4. 4. Gets Cooking!

Secret Language of Girls in order

3 books
  1. 1. The Secret Language of Girls
  2. 2. The Kind of Friends We Used to Be
  3. 3. The Sound of Your Voice, Only Really Far Away

Standalone books

15 books

15 Frances O’Roark Dowell titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Frances O’Roark Dowell books in order?

You only need to read Frances O’Roark Dowell books in order within each series: the books listed here span 3 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.

Where to start with Frances O’Roark Dowell

Start with Dovey Coe (2000), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Frances O’Roark Dowell book?

A Friendship Album Christmas (2025) is the newest Frances O’Roark Dowell book released so far.

Is there a new Frances O’Roark Dowell book coming?

No next Frances O’Roark Dowell book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Frances O’Roark Dowell at a glance

Still publishing
Frances O’Roark Dowell published a book as recently as 2025.
Release pace
Frances O’Roark Dowell books have appeared about one a year on average.
Length
675 pages across the 3 of 27 books with a recorded length, a median of 224 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Frances O’Roark Dowell books, 15 of 27, were published in the 2010s.

When Frances O’Roark Dowell books were published

Publication distribution by decade, showing when Frances O’Roark Dowell titles appeared. 2010s was the most productive decade with 15 titles.

2000s
9
2010s
15
2020s
3

27 books total across 3 decades. Decade reflects the year each title was first catalogued.

What the Frances O’Roark Dowell books are about

2 of the 27 Frances O’Roark Dowell books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: children's fiction is tagged on 2 of 2. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.

  • Children's fiction 2 of 2 books
  • Afghan War, 2001- 1 of 2 books
  • Amputees 1 of 2 books
  • Anger 1 of 2 books
  • Bullies 1 of 2 books
  • Bullying 1 of 2 books
  • Cooking 1 of 2 books
  • Experiments 1 of 2 books
  • Families of military personnel 1 of 2 books
  • Fathers and sons 1 of 2 books
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder 1 of 2 books
  • Psychoanalytic counseling 1 of 2 books