Babysitters book series in reading order

by Lauren Child

Ann M. Martin

446 books• 24 series

Ann Matthews Martin, born August 12, 1955, is an American writer of children's and young adult fiction and a Smith College graduate. The Baby-Sitters Club, first published in 1986, is the series Martin is known best for, and Martin remains involved with the series and its spin-offs. The catalogue lists 446 books, beginning with Inside Out and Bummer Summer in 1983. Related lines include Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries, California Diaries, Kids in Ms. Colman's Class, Main Street and Doll People. Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter: A Graphic Novel (2025) is the newest listed title.

Ann Martin is the author of The Baby-Sitters Club, a children's series about a group of friends who run a babysitting business. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Mary Anne and Dawn take turns as narrators across the books. The catalogue holds 75 titles published between 1986 and 1999, opening with Kristy's Great Idea and reaching The Fire at Mary Anne's House. Friendship, family life and school worries drive the plots, with a mystery strand running alongside, in books averaging 160 pages.

Raina Telgemeier

27 books• 5 series

Raina Telgemeier is an American cartoonist. The autobiographical Smile began as a webcomic and appeared as a full-colour middle grade graphic novel in February 2010; Sisters followed it, as did the fiction graphic novel Drama, and all three reached The New York Times Best Seller lists. Telgemeier also wrote and drew the graphic novels Ghosts and Guts, and adapted four Baby-Sitters Club stories by Ann M. Martin into graphic novels. Comics, friendship, school and family are the recurring subjects across the work.

R.L. Stine

589 books• 64 series

Robert Lawrence Stine, born October 8, 1943, is an American novelist who writes horror fiction for children. Goosebumps, the series Stine created, sold more than 400 million copies in 35 languages and grew into a franchise of two television series, video games, comics and two feature films. Fear Street, Stine's horror sequence for teenagers, passed 80 million copies and was adapted for film. Stine has been called the Stephen King of children's literature. The listing runs to 590 titles, from How to Be Funny (1978), published as Jovial Bob Stine, to How to Train Your Dummy, scheduled for 2027.

Francine Pascal (née Rubin, 1932–2024) was an American author whose name is tied to the Sweet Valley books for young adults. Sweet Valley High anchored that collection, was adapted for television, and branched into spin-offs such as The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. The catalogue opens with Hangin' Out with Cici (1977) and also carries the Fearless series. Subjects include twins, sisters, high schools, friendship and dating. Most Sweet Valley books came out in the 1980s and 1990s, and several titles were re-released decades later.

Daisy Meadows is the name on the Rainbow Magic children's books, a fantasy line whose subjects include fairies, goblins, Jack Frost and two girls, Kirsty Tate and Rachel Walker. The catalogue opens in 2003 with colour-fairy titles such as Ruby the Red Fairy, Amber the Orange Fairy and Fern the Green Fairy, and runs to Nur the Vlogger Fairy (2023). Sub-series include the Weather, Jewel, Party, Pet Keeper, Dance, Ocean and Showtime Fairies. Magic Animal Friends appears under the same name.

Jonathan London has 141 catalogued books dating from 1992 to 2022, the Froggy series among them. Froggy Gets Dressed (1992) is the earliest title, alongside The Lion Who Had Asthma and Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back from the same year. Other series include Duck and Hippo, Aaron's Wilderness, Shawn and Keeper and Brown Bear. Subjects include picture books, stories in rhyme, children's poetry, animals, wolves and imagination. Here Comes Truck Driver Hippo (2022) is the most recent title.

Lauren Child

100 books• 4 series

Lauren Child is an English children's author and illustrator, born 29 November 1965. Child created Charlie and Lola, introduced in 2000, and won the Kate Greenaway Medal for the illustration in that book; a later anniversary panel named it one of the ten best winners of the Medal's first fifty years. Her other series are Clarice Bean, Ruby Redfort and Hubert Horatio. The catalogue holds 100 titles published between 1999 and 2022, most of them picture books at a median of 32 pages.

Kes Gray is a British children's author, born in 1960. The catalogue lists 98 Gray books from The Get Well Soon Book (2000) to One Night Before Christmas (2025), and the median title runs to 32 pages. Subject tags include picture books, stories in rhyme, animals, frogs and a fictional character named Daisy. Eat Your Peas and Who's Poorly Too? also date from 2000. Series include Daisy Fiction, Nelly the Monster Sitter, Oi Frog and Friends, Get Well Friends and Jack Beechwhistle.

Emily Arnold McCully, born July 1, 1939, is an American writer and illustrator known chiefly for children's books. Mirette on the High Wire, which McCully both wrote and illustrated, won the 1993 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration. The catalogue lists 88 books, from Maxie (1970) to 1, 2, 3, Pull! (2023), and the Mirette and Grandma series are among them. Subject tags include stories without words, mice, cats, bears, grandmothers, friendship, history and biography.

Annie Barrows

27 books• 4 series

Annie Barrows writes children's books and is best known for Ivy & Bean, a series about two best friends that began with Ivy and Bean in 2006. Barrows was born in San Diego, California, in 1962 and has worked as an editor. Her other series include Iggy Frangi, Miri and Molly and Ghost Guild, and she has also written for adult readers. With her aunt, Mary Ann Shaffer, Barrows co-wrote The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a novel later made into a film. The catalogue lists 27 books from 2006 to 2026, with The Lost Three as the newest.

Ann M Martin & Katy Farina is the joint credit on a run of 11 graphic novels published from 2019 to 2026. Karen's Witch (2019) is the first title, followed by Karen's Roller Skates (2020) and Karen's Worst Day (2020). Subject headings include children's fiction, babysitters, siblings and witchcraft. Karen's Surprise (2026) is the newest book, and the pairing continues to publish.