Order of Book Series
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Rita Williams-Garcia Books in Order

Rita Williams-Garcia has written 15 books, published between 1988 and 2021. The first book is Blue Tights (1988) and the newest is Florence Griffith Joyner (2021). Publication order is the reading order below.

Books
15
Published
1988–2021
Pages on record
1,433 in 6 of 15 books
See all 15 books in order Printable Rita Williams-Garcia checklist

Rita Williams-Garcia, born Rita Williams in 1957, is an American novelist for children and young adults. The catalogue holds 15 books dated between 1988 and 2021, from Blue Tights (1988) to Florence Griffith Joyner (2021), with the Gaither Sisters series listed under the Williams-Garcia name. One Crazy Summer took a Newbery Honor in 2011, together with a Coretta Scott King Award and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and Jumped was a National Book Award finalist for young people's literature in 2010. Further Coretta Scott King Awards followed for P.S. Be Eleven in 2014 and Gone Crazy in Alabama in 2016. Williams-Garcia also holds the PEN/Norma Klein Award. Recorded subjects include African Americans, sisters, mothers and daughters, family life and dance.

How many Rita Williams-Garcia books are there?

Rita Williams-Garcia has 15 books, released between 1988 and 2021. 3 of them belong to the Gaither Sisters series.

Rita Williams-Garcia Books in Publication Order

The table lists all 15 Rita Williams-Garcia 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 September 2026.

  1. Cover of Fast Talk on a Slow Track by Rita Williams-Garcia (1991)
  2. Cover of Catching the Wild Waiyuuzee by Rita Williams-Garcia (2000)
  3. Cover of Diamond Land by Rita Williams-Garcia (2003)
  4. Cover of Bottle Cap Boys Dancing on Royal Street by Rita Williams-Garcia (2009)
  5. Cover of One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia, book 1 of the Gaither Sisters series (2010)
  6. Cover of Gone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia, book 3 of the Gaither Sisters series (2015)
  7. Cover of Clayton Byrd Goes Underground by Rita Williams-Garcia (2017)
  8. Cover of A Sitting in St. James by Rita Williams-Garcia (2021)
  1. 1
    Blue Tights1988 · confirmed 1/4
    1988–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  2. 2
    Fast Talk on a Slow Track1991 · 183 pages · confirmed 1/4
    1991183
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  3. 3
    Like Sisters on the Homefront1995 · confirmed 1/4
    1995–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  4. 4
    Catching the Wild Waiyuuzee2000 · confirmed 1/4
    2000–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  5. 5
    Every Time a Rainbow Dies2001 · confirmed 1/4
    2001–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  6. 6
    Diamond Land2003 · 61 pages · confirmed 1/4
    200361
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  7. 7
    No Laughter Here2003 · confirmed 1/4
    2003–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  8. 8
    Bottle Cap Boys Dancing on Royal Street2009 · confirmed 1/4
    2009–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  9. 9
    Jumped2009 · confirmed 1/4
    2009–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  10. 10
    One Crazy SummerGaither Sisters #12010 · 240 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2010240
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  11. 11
    P.S. Be ElevenGaither Sisters #22013 · confirmed 1/4
    2013–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  12. 12
    Gone Crazy in AlabamaGaither Sisters #32015 · 293 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2015293
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  13. 13
    Clayton Byrd Goes Underground2017 · 176 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2017176
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  14. 14
    A Sitting in St. James2021 · 480 pages · confirmed 1/4
    2021480
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK
  15. 15
    Florence Griffith JoynerShe Persisted #102021 · confirmed 2/4
    2021–
    Buy at Amazon USAmazon UK

Rita Williams-Garcia 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.

Gaither Sisters in order

3 books
  1. 1. One Crazy Summer
  2. 2. P.S. Be Eleven
  3. 3. Gone Crazy in Alabama

She Persisted in order

1 book
  1. 10. Florence Griffith Joyner

Standalone books

11 books

11 Rita Williams-Garcia titles here are not listed as part of any series.

Do you have to read Rita Williams-Garcia books in order?

You only need to read Rita Williams-Garcia books in order within the Gaither Sisters series, which holds 3 of the 15 Rita Williams-Garcia books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.

Where to start with Rita Williams-Garcia

Start with Blue Tights (1988), the earliest published title.

What is the newest Rita Williams-Garcia book?

Florence Griffith Joyner (2021) is the newest Rita Williams-Garcia book released so far.

Is there a new Rita Williams-Garcia book coming?

No next Rita Williams-Garcia book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.

Rita Williams-Garcia at a glance

Paused
No new Rita Williams-Garcia title has appeared for 5 years. The last was published in 2021.
Release pace
Rita Williams-Garcia books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
Length
1,433 pages across the 6 of 15 books with a recorded length, a median of 212 pages each.
Busiest decade
Most Rita Williams-Garcia books, 6 of 15, were published in the 2000s.

What the Rita Williams-Garcia books are about

10 of the 15 Rita Williams-Garcia 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 8 of 10. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.