Best friends book series in reading order

by Annie Barrows

by Ann Brashares

by Laurie Friedman

by Cynthia Rylant

by Nancy Robards Thompson

by Jessica Young

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 Brashares

19 books• 3 series

Ann Brashares, born on 6 March 1967, is an American young adult novelist best known for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. The catalogue lists 19 Brashares books, among them Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001), The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (2003), Girls in Pants (2005), Forever in Blue (2007) and The Last Summer (2007). The World at Midnight (2026) is the newest title. Westfallen is the other Brashares series on record. Subjects include friendship, best friends, jeans, summer and coming of age.

Melody Carlson, born March 2, 1956 in San Francisco, is an American author of more than 250 books for women, teens and children, including the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. The catalogue lists 298 books from 1995, when Contemplative Bible Reading and How to Start a Quality Childcare Business in Your Home appeared, to All Booked Up (2026). Series include Carter House Girls, On The Runway, TrueColors, 86 Bloomberg Place, Secret Life of Samantha McGregor, Beary Patch Bears and Fruit Troops. Subjects include Christian life, high schools, friendship, Bible stories and stories in rhyme. Carlson grew up in Springfield, Oregon, attended Lane Community College and lives in Sisters, Oregon.

Debra S. Dadey, born May 18, 1959 in Morganfield, Kentucky, is an American writer and co-writer of 162 books. Seventy-four of those are Bailey School Kids titles written with Marcia Jones, split into 51 in the main Adventures of the Bailey School Kids sequence, 9 Jr. Chapter Books and 14 Special Editions. Dadey taught first grade and worked as a librarian before writing full time, and the award-winning books for reluctant readers carry imprints including Scholastic, Tor/Starscape, Hyperion, Delacorte and Bloomsbury USA. This listing holds 48 titles from 1995 to 2022, with Marcia Thornton Jones credited on 2. Mermaid Tales, Marty, Swamp Monster in the Third Grade and Slime Wars are the series on record.

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.

Darren Shan

67 books• 7 series

Darren Shan is the pseudonym of Darren O'Shaughnessy, an Irish writer born on 2 July 1972. The Saga of Darren Shan, The Demonata and Zom-B are the young adult series O'Shaughnessy is best known for. The Saga of Darren Shan became a manga from 2006 to 2009 and a live-action film in 2009, and a prequel, The Saga of Larten Crepsley, followed from 2010 to 2012. Koyasan and The Thin Executioner are other children's books under the Shan name, and Archibald Lox was self-published from 2020 to 2022. The catalogue lists 67 books from 1999 to 2022, with vampires, demonology, zombies and horror among the subjects.

Lauren Myracle

32 books• 6 series

Lauren Myracle, born in 1969, is an American writer of young adult and middle-grade fiction. The Internet Girls books - ttyl (2004), ttfn (2006) and l8r, g8r (2007) - are written in instant messages and are Myracle's best-selling titles. The Winnie Years counts off ages with Eleven (2004) and Twelve (2007), and Flower Power, Life of Ty, Wishing Day and Crestview Academy follow. Friendship, sisters, families and school are the constants across 32 catalogued books, from Joyride (2003) to Plays Well with Others (2025).

Karen English writes children's fiction, and library subjects for the books include African Americans, schools, friendship and family life. The 26 catalogued books run from 1996, when Big Wind Coming! and Neeny Coming, Neeny Going appeared, to Red Shoes (2020). English's two series are Nikki and Deja and Carver Chronicles. Other titles include Nadia's Hands (1999) and Hot Day on Abbott Avenue (2004). The catalogue is listed as likely complete.

Victoria Christopher Murray

34 books• 4 series

Victoria Christopher Murray is an American novelist and editor whose fiction follows African American women through marriage, friendship and faith. Temptation (1997) opens a catalogue of 34 books reaching Harlem Rhapsody (2025), and includes the Jasmine and the Jasmine and Rachel series. Gospel music, Christian women and family life recur across the titles. More than one million copies of Murray's books are in print.

Jack Chabert writes horror stories for young readers, catalogued at a grades 1-3 level. Catalogue subjects record haunted schools, elementary schools, friendship, best friends, science projects and blizzards. Eerie Elementary is the series recorded under this name, and all 10 catalogued books carry the Chabert credit between 2014 and 2019: The School Is Alive! and The Locker Ate Lucy! in 2014, Recess Is a Jungle!, School Freezes Over! and The Science Fair is Freaky! in 2016, Classes Are Canceled! and Sam Battles the Machine! in 2017, The Art Show Attacks! and The Hall Monitors Are Fired! in 2018, and The End of Orson Eerie? in 2019.

Virginia Lowell wrote the Cookie Cutter Shop Mysteries, a six-book cozy series published between 2011 and 2015. A Cookie Before Dying (2011) opens it and Dead Men Don't Eat Cookies (2015) ends it. Baking, gingerbread, a town bakery and a friendship surround the murders, and every title turns on a cookie. No book has followed since 2015.

Nancy Krulik writes for children, and the catalogue lists Grades 1-3 as the reading level. Series credited to Krulik include Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo, How I Survived Middle School, Magic Bone, Princess Pulverizer and Project Droid, and George Brown, Class Clown appears among the characters. Subjects range across magic, schools, friendship, dogs, robots and humorous stories. The most recent listed book is Fangs for Having Us! (2021), and the catalogue marks the output as dormant.

Laurie Friedman writes children's fiction, with 159 books catalogued from A Big Bed for Jed (2002) to Duck and Dog Bake a Pie (2022). Mallory McDonald is a recurring character, and titles include Back to School, Mallory (2004), Mallory vs. Max (2004) and Happy Birthday, Mallory! (2005). The Mostly Miserable Life of April Sinclair also appears in the listing. Friedman's series include Mallory McDonald, Ruby Valentine, Spots and Stripes, Chef Kate, Beans, Moose and Silly Milly. Subjects include friendship, family life, school, diaries, dating and stories in rhyme. The median book runs to 159 pages.

Chet Gecko is named as a fictitious character in the subject records for Bruce Hale, which also cite geckos, children's fiction, humorous stories, mystery and detective stories, schools and sharks. The catalogue lists 64 books, starting with The Legend of the Laughing Gecko (1989). The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse (2000), The Mystery of Mr. Nice (2000) and Farewell, My Lunchbag (2001) are among the titles. Chet Gecko Mystery, Clark the Shark, Underwhere, Class Pets, SCHOOL FOR S.P.I.E.S. and Monstertown Mysteries are the listed series.

Catherine Clark writes for young readers about high school, dating, friendship and family life. The catalogue holds 28 titles published between 1991 and 2016, from What's So Funny about Ninth Grade? (1991) to The Summer of Everything (2016). Part of the listing is media tie-in work, including the Gilmore Girls titles and the My So-Called Life books. Courtney Von Dragen Smith, Angela Chase and Unforgettable Summer are the other series named. The 2000s are the busiest decade.

Lisa Schroeder writes children's fiction, including novels in verse. Grief, friendship, families, best friends, and mothers and daughters run through 25 catalogued books published between 2005 and 2022. Baby Can't Sleep (2005) opens the list and A Night to Die For (2022) is the newest entry. Charmed Life and It's Raining Cupcakes are the two series listed. The catalogue also holds Mother's Best: Comfort Food That Takes You Home Again (2009). The 2010s are the busiest decade, and the median recorded length is 224 pages.

Kody Keplinger, an American writer of young adult and middle grade books, was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, on 8 August 1991. The DUFF (2010) was Keplinger's first novel, written at age 17, and was later made into a film under the same title. In 2021 Keplinger wrote a graphic novel for the DC antihero Poison Ivy, and the catalogue lists Poison Ivy: Thorns (2021). Hamilton High is the series on the site, and the 11 catalogued books run to Where Lost Girls Go (2026), with Shut Out (2011), The Swift Boys & Me (2014), Lying Out Loud (2015) and That's Not What Happened (2018) among them. Subject headings include high schools, dating, best friends and secrecy.

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

33 books• 9 series

Young adult novels are the core of Jennifer Lynn Barnes's work; the American writer, born October 19, 1984, is best known for the Inheritance Games saga and The Naturals. The catalogue holds 33 Barnes books, from Golden (2006) to Dangerous Impulses (2026). Other series include Fixer, The Grandest Game, Raised By Wolves, Debutantes and Squad. Subjects attached to the books include high schools, friendship, extrasensory perception, the supernatural, werewolves and mythology.

Cowboys, ranchers and ranch life run through Linda Lael Miller's 134 catalogued books, in historical, contemporary and western romance alike. Miller's families and places include the McKettricks, the Montana Creeds, Stone Creek, Springwater Seasons, Painted Pony Creek and the Brides of Bliss County, with a Tremayne vampire sequence off to one side. Desire and Destiny (1983) is the earliest title and The Silver Hills Boarding House the newest.

Jeff Kinney

32 books• 4 series

Jeff Kinney (Jeffrey Patrick Kinney, born February 19, 1971) is an American author and illustrator who created, writes and draws the Diary of a Wimpy Kid children's books. Kinney also created the children's website Poptropica. The catalogue holds 32 books, beginning with Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007) and followed by Rodrick Rules (2008), The Last Straw (2009), Dog Days (2009), The Ugly Truth (2010) and Cabin Fever (2010). The newest title is Fight or Flight (2026). Subjects include diaries, middle school, family life, friendship and vacations, and the listing also includes Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid.

Lisa Greenwald writes for middle-grade readers about friendship, school and adolescence. My Life in Pink & Green (2009) opens 29 catalogued books that reach You'll Find It All Still Here (2025). Six series divide the list: Pink & Green, TBH, Friendship List, Seagate Summers, Ellie's Deli and Fortune Tellers. Bullying, secrets, best friends, early dating and family life supply the material.

Sarah Strohmeyer

21 books• 1 series

Bubbles Yablonsky, a Pennsylvania hairdresser drawn into solving crimes, is Sarah Strohmeyer's best known creation. Strohmeyer writes crime novels and comic fiction about relations between men and women, starting with the parody Barbie Unbound (1997) and running to A Mother Always Knows (2025), 21 titles in all. The Bubbles books, Bubbles Unbound (2001), Bubbles In Trouble, Bubbles Ablaze, Bubbles Betrothed, Bubbles All The Way, fill the first decade. Female friendship, journalists and humour mark the subject tags.

Cynthia Rylant, born Cynthia Smith on June 6, 1954, is an American author and librarian who has written more than 100 children's books across picture books, short stories, novels, nonfiction and poetry. Missing May took the 1993 Newbery Medal, A Fine White Dust was a 1987 Newbery Honor book, and two further titles are Caldecott Honor Books. The catalogue records 229 books from When I Was Young in the Mountains (1982) onward, with series including Henry and Mudge, Mr. Putter & Tabby, Poppleton and the Lighthouse Family.

Liz Kessler, born 15 October 1966, is an English children's author. Emily Windsnap, a half-mermaid, is the central figure of Kessler's most notable series. The catalogue holds 32 books from 2003 to 2025, opening with The Tail of Emily Windsnap (2003) and reaching Emily Windsnap and the Crystal Caves (2025). Other series are Philippa Fisher and Poppy, and the subjects include mermaids, fairies, magic and friendship.