Tom Palmer Books in Order
Tom Palmer has written 50 books, published between 2002 and 2025. The first book is If You're Proud to Be a Leeds Fan (2002) and the newest is The Avengers, Vol. 25 (2025). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 50
- Published
- 2002–2025
- Pages on record
- 3,676 in 26 of 50 books
- Reading time
- 61–92 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 3,676 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 26 of 50 titles with a page count on record.
Tom Palmer is a British children's author from Leeds whose interest in reading began with football articles. After university Palmer worked in libraries and bookshops, then published a first book in 2002, If You're Proud to Be a Leeds Fan. Foul Play, Palmer's first children's book for Puffin, was shortlisted for the 2009 Blue Peter Book of the Year Award. Palmer wrote a new Roy of the Rovers book in 2018, won the Ruth Rendell Award in 2019 and published a 50th book in 2020. Series include Football Academy, Rugby Academy, Football Detective, Soccer Diaries, Conkers and Roy Of The Rovers, and subjects include soccer, bullying and missing persons.
How many Tom Palmer books are there?
Tom Palmer has 50 books, released between 2002 and 2025. They include 9 series and 8 titles listed outside any series.
Tom Palmer Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 50 Tom Palmer 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.
- 1If You're Proud to Be a Leeds Fan2002 · 208 pages · confirmed 1/420022081/4
- 2Shaking Hands with Michael Rooney2006 · 71 pages · confirmed 1/42006711/4
- 320082561/4
- 420091761/4
- 520091401/4
- 620091761/4
- 72009–1/4
- 82009–1/4
- 92010–1/4
- 10The Secret Football Club2010 · confirmed 1/42010–1/4
- 112010–1/4
- 1220101441/4
- 13Scrum!2011 · 73 pages · confirmed 1/42011731/4
- 142012–1/4
- 1520122561/4
- 16Haka Boy2013 · 29 pages · confirmed 1/42013291/4
- 17Ghost Stadium2013 · confirmed 1/42013–1/4
- 18Secret FC2013 · confirmed 1/42013–1/4
- 192013801/4
- 202013231/4
- 2120141011/4
- 2220151031/4
- 2320151121/4
- 242016–1/4
- 252016881/4
- 262016–1/4
- 2720171041/4
- 282017–1/4
- 2920171441/4
- 302017–1/4
- 312018481/4
- 3220181601/4
- 3320191201/4
- 3420191601/4
- 3520191601/4
- 3620191601/4
- 3720192961/4
- 382019–2/4
- 392020–1/4
- 402020–1/4
- 412020–1/4
- 422020–1/4
- 432020–1/4
- 442021–1/4
- 4520212881/4
- 462022–1/4
- 472023–1/4
- 482024–1/4
- 49Angel of Grasmere2024 · confirmed 1/42024–1/4
- 502025–2/4
Tom Palmer 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.
Football Academy in order
7 booksRoy Of The Rovers in order
7 books- 1. Scouted
- 2. Playoffs
- 3. Teamwork
- 4. On Tour
- 5. From the Ashes
- 6. Rocky
- 7. Sudden Death
Conkers in order
6 books- 1. D-Day Dog
- 2. After the War
- 3. Armistice Runner
- 4. Over the Line
- 5. Arctic Star
- 6. Resist
Rugby Academy in order
4 books- 1. Combat Zone
- 2. Surface to Air
- 3. Deadlocked
- 4. Rugby Academy
Football Detective in order
3 books- 1. Foul Play
- 2. Off Side
- 3. Killer Pass
Wings in order
3 booksDefenders in order
3 booksSquad in order
2 books- 1. Black Op
- 2. White Fear.
Soccer Diaries in order
2 booksCollins Big Cat Progress in order
2 books- 28. Real Cricket
- 29. The Penalty
Chapter in order
1 bookMarvel Masterworks: The Avengers in order
1 bookStar Wars Legends Epic Collection
1 book1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Standalone books
8 books8 Tom Palmer titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Tom Palmer books in order?
You only need to read Tom Palmer books in order within each series: the books listed here span 9 separate series, and each series has its own publication order.
Where to start with Tom Palmer
Start with If You're Proud to Be a Leeds Fan (2002), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Tom Palmer book?
The Avengers, Vol. 25 (2025) is the newest Tom Palmer book released so far.
Is there a new Tom Palmer book coming?
No next Tom Palmer book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Tom Palmer at a glance
- Still publishing
- Tom Palmer published a book as recently as 2025.
- Release pace
- Tom Palmer books have appeared more than one a year on average.
- Length
- 3,676 pages across the 26 of 50 books with a recorded length, a median of 142 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Tom Palmer books, 30 of 50, were published in the 2010s.
What the Tom Palmer books are about
21 of the 50 Tom Palmer 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 13 of 21. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Children's fiction 13 of 21 books
- Soccer 8 of 21 books
- Soccer players 7 of 21 books
- High interest-low vocabulary books 5 of 21 books
- Soccer stories 4 of 21 books
- British Espionage 2 of 21 books
- Bullying 2 of 21 books
- Juvenile works 2 of 21 books
- Schools 2 of 21 books
- Soccer - Fiction 2 of 21 books