Books and reading book series in reading order

by Jasper Fforde

by Chris Grabenstein

by Chris Colfer

by Jane O’Connor

by Jon Scieszka

by Lev Grossman

Nick Hornby

24 books• 1 series

Nick Hornby is an English writer of novels, memoir and criticism. Fever Pitch (1992) is the memoir that opens the catalogue; High Fidelity (1995) and About a Boy (1998) are the novels that followed, and all three were adapted as feature films. Music, sport and obsessive protagonists recur. Stuff I've Been Reading is his one named series, and books about reading run through the list, The Polysyllabic Spree (2004) among them. Hornby has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, for An Education (2009) and Brooklyn (2015). His 25 catalogued books reach Dickens and Prince: A Particular Kind of Genius (2022), with Cash Out scheduled for 2027.

Chris Grabenstein

54 books• 14 series

Chris Grabenstein is an American author who writes for adults and for children, the children's books often with collaborator James Patterson. Grabenstein's first novel, Tilt-a-Whirl, appeared in 2005; the John Ceepak mysteries are the police-procedural strand, set in New Jersey. On the children's side sit Mr. Lemoncello's Library, Welcome to Wonderland, the Haunted Mystery books, Dog Squad and The Smartest Kid In The Universe. Fifty-seven books are catalogued through 2026, the newest being Mr. Lemoncello's Wondermous Christmas Gift.

Cornelia Funke

51 books• 9 series

Cornelia Funke (Cornelia Maria Funke, born 10 December 1958 in Dorsten) is a German author of children's fiction, called Germany's bestselling author for children. Funke worked as a social worker and then a book illustrator, began writing novels in the late 1980s and writes mostly fantasy about children facing adversity. The catalogue lists 51 books from Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost (1993) to The Green Kingdom (2025), including Dragon Rider (1997) and The Thief Lord (2000). Inkheart/Inkworld and MirrorWorld are series.

Jasper Fforde

19 books• 5 series

Thursday Next, a woman detective, heads Jasper Fforde's main series, where books and reading and the characters of literature supply the subject matter. The Eyre Affair (2001) opens a catalogue of 19 fantasy titles that reaches Dark Reading Matter (2025), with the Nursery Crime books, the Chronicles of Kazam and Shades of Grey beside the Next novels. Dragons, magic and time travel fill the subject tags.

Gary D. Schmidt

34 books• 1 series

Gary D. Schmidt writes fiction for children and young adults, and criticism about the field. Thirty-five books are catalogued between 1990 and 2025. Early titles carry the names of other writers - Robert McCloskey (1990), Hugh Lofting (1992), Katherine Paterson (1994), Robert Lawson (1997) - and books and reading, history and criticism, and criticism and interpretation sit among the subject headings, beside children's stories, family life and death. Schmidt, born in 1957, is a professor emeritus of English at Calvin University and lives in Alto, Michigan. A Day at the Beach (2025) is the newest title.

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.

Django Wexler writes fantasy across age ranges. The Shadow Campaigns (2013–2018) is a flintlock fantasy built on soldiers and imaginary wars; the Forbidden Library is a middle-grade series set around a library; Dark Lord Davi runs a comic time loop. Wells of Sorcery, Burningblade & Silvereye, John Golden, Spelljammer and Ikoria fill out 31 catalogued titles, from Memories of Empire (2005) to The Only Way Out Is Up (2026). Wexler lives near Seattle, Washington.

Jodi Picoult

42 books• 7 series

Jodi Picoult is an American writer, born in 1966, whose fiction is described as family saga, often built around moral dilemmas or procedural dramas that set family members against one another. As of 2026 Picoult had published 30 novels and several short stories, and had written several issues of Wonder Woman. Around 40 million copies of Picoult's books are in print in 34 languages, and the New England Bookseller Award for fiction came in 2003. The catalogue holds 42 books, opening with Songs of the Humpback Whale (1992) and including Harvesting the Heart, The Pact, Plain Truth and Salem Falls, alongside plays and graphic novels.

Chris Colfer

20 books• 6 series

The Land of Stories is Chris Colfer's main series, with fairy tales, twins and the characters of literature among its subject tags. The Wishing Spell (2012) and Struck by Lightning (2012) are the earliest of 20 catalogued titles, which reach Roswell Johnson Saves the Galaxy! (2025). A Tale of Magic, the Land of Stories picture books and the graphic novels extend the work. Magic, fairies, secrets and books and reading recur.

James Riley

16 books• 4 series

James Riley, born in 1977, writes fantasy for readers in grades 3 to 5. Story Thieves is the best known series, opening in 2015 and continuing through The Stolen Chapters (2016), Secret Origins (2017) and Pick the Plot (2018). Half Upon a Time (2010) opens the catalogue and its own trilogy, and the Revenge of Magic, Once Upon Another Time and The Dragon's Apprentice follow. Sixteen books are catalogued through 2025, with fairy tales, magic, monsters and books about books as recurring subjects.

Ann Patchett

21 books• 1 series

Ann Patchett, born 2 December 1963, is an American author whose novel Bel Canto won both the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2002. A later novel, The Dutch House, reached the finalist list for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The catalogue records 21 Patchett books, from The Patron Saint of Liars (1992) to Whistler (2026), including Taft, The Magician's Assistant, Run, State of Wonder and Truth and Beauty (2004).

Diana Gabaldon

33 books• 12 series

Diana Gabaldon is best known for the Outlander book series. Gabaldon, born January 11, 1952, is an American author and television writer whose novels mix historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction or fantasy. Starz premiered a television adaptation of the Outlander novels in 2014. The catalogue lists 33 titles, from Outlander / Cross Stitch (1991) to Besieged (2022), with Dragonfly in Amber (1992) and Voyager (1993) early in the run. Lord John Grey is a second named series. Time travel, Scotland, Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall appear among the subject headings.

Larry McMurtry

48 books• 10 series

Larry McMurtry (Larry Jeff McMurtry, June 3, 1936 to March 25, 2021) was an American novelist, essayist and screenwriter. Most of McMurtry's fiction takes place in the Old West or in contemporary Texas, and the early novels Horseman, Pass By (1961), The Last Picture Show (1966) and Terms of Endearment (1975) trace the decline of small-town Texas life. Screen adaptations of McMurtry's work received 34 Oscar nominations and 13 wins. The catalogue lists 48 books from 1961 to Thalia (2017), including the Lonesome Dove and Berrybender Narratives series and non-fiction.

Ursula K. Le Guin

121 books• 18 series

Ursula K. Le Guin (born Ursula Kroeber, 21 October 1929 to 22 January 2018) was an American writer of speculative fiction, including science fiction set in the Hainish universe and the Earthsea fantasy series. First published in 1959, Le Guin wrote for nearly sixty years, producing more than twenty novels and over a hundred short stories alongside poetry, criticism, translations and children's books. Catalogued titles include April in Paris (1962), Rocannon's World (1966), A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) and The Left Hand of Darkness (1969). Le Guin series include Hainish Cycle, Catwings, Orsinia and Annals of the Western Shore.

Mo Willems

89 books• 9 series

Mo Willems makes picture books and early readers, funny and animal-led: the Pigeon books, Elephant & Piggie, Knuffle Bunny, Cat the Cat, Unlimited Squirrels and Leonardo. Friendship and emotions are the recurring subjects, and the books are short, a median of 57 pages. Ninety catalogued titles run from 1994 through Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (2003) and Knuffle Bunny (2004) to The Pigeon WON'T Pick a Color!, with another title scheduled for 2027.

Robin Jones Gunn

99 books• 14 series

Robin Jones Gunn is an award-winning Christian author of more than 100 books. Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen are series for teen girls, and Christy Miller's characters carry on in Christy and Todd: College Years, Christy & Todd: The Married Years, Christy & Todd: The Baby Years and Katie Weldon. Glenbrooke and Sisterchicks are further series, and Sisterchicks in Gondolas won the Christy Award in 2007. The site lists 99 books from 1985 to Shortbread in the Highlands (2026), starting with the Billy 'n' Bear titles of 1985.

Mary Downing Hahn writes ghost stories and mysteries for young readers. Born in 1937 and once a school librarian, Hahn published The Sara Summer in 1979 and has 41 catalogued books through The Old Willis Place (2024). Wait Till Helen Comes and Stepping On The Cracks are among the best known titles, and the Gordy Smith books form the one named series. Ghosts, witches, stepfamilies and family life recur as subjects.

Julia Donaldson

349 books• 14 series

Dame Julia Donaldson, born Julia Catherine Shields on 16 September 1948, is a British writer and playwright who served as Children's Laureate from 2011 to 2013. Rhyming stories for children made Donaldson's name, above all those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, such as The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Stick Man and Superworm. Donaldson first wrote songs for children's television; the lyrics of A Squash and a Squeeze became a picture book in 1993, and books have been the focus since. The catalogue carries 349 entries, from Tim's Bad Mood and Other Stories (1970) to The Tooth Fairy and the Crocodile (2026), including Tales from Acorn Wood, Princess Mirror-Belle and Zog.

Andrew Clements

83 books• 10 series

Andrew Clements (May 29, 1949 to November 28, 2019) was an American children's author. Frindle, the first Clements novel, won an award decided by the votes of schoolchildren in about 20 U.S. states, and received the 2016 Phoenix Award, given to a book that missed a major prize on first publication. The catalogue lists 83 books from Bird Adalbert (1985) to The Frindle Files (2024). Schools, teachers, friendship and dogs recur in the subjects. The Clements series include Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School, Jake Drake, Pets to the Rescue and Real Monsters.

Lewis Carroll

32 books• 4 series

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), an English author, poet, mathematician, photographer and Anglican deacon. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and the sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871) are Carroll's most notable works and major examples of Victorian literature. The poems Jabberwocky and The Hunting of the Snark (1876) belong to the genre of literary nonsense. Carroll's writing is marked by word play, logic and fantasy, and some of Wonderland's nonsense logic mirrors Dodgson's published work on mathematical logic. The catalogue holds 32 titles, including Phantasmagoria and Other Poems (1869) and the Sylvie and Bruno books.

Michael Chabon

22 books• 2 series

Michael Chabon published The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), a first novel, at the age of 24. Chabon is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist and short story writer, born on May 24, 1963, in Washington, D.C. After a year at Carnegie Mellon University, Chabon moved to the University of Pittsburgh, graduated in 1984, and later took a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at the University of California, Irvine. The catalogue lists 22 books to The Mystery Intruder (2020), including Wonder Boys (1995), Werewolves in Their Youth (1999), The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000), Summerland (2002) and The Final Solution (2004). Series are Amazing Adventures Of The Escapist and Awesome Man.

Jane Yolen

237 books• 22 series

Jane Yolen (Jane Hyatt Yolen, February 11, 1939 to June 11, 2026) was an American author of fantasy, science fiction and children's books. The Devil's Arithmetic, a Holocaust novella, is the best-known Yolen work, and Owl Moon and The Emperor and the Kite are among the others. The short works Sister Emily's Lightship and Lost Girls both won Nebula Awards. The catalogue counts 237 books from The Witch Who Wasn't (1964) to Daddy Plays a Mean Guitar (2026). Series include Commander Toad, How Do Dinosaurs...?, Pit Dragons, the Young Merlin Trilogy, Books of the Great Alta and Tartan Magic. Yolen worked as an editor, collaborated most often with Adam Stemple, and in 2012 became the first woman to give the Andrew Lang lecture.

Eoin Colfer

59 books• 18 series

Eoin Colfer, born 14 May 1965, is an Irish children's writer and a former primary school teacher, best known for the eleven Artemis Fowl fantasy novels. By 2013 the Artemis Fowl books had sold more than 21 million copies in 44 languages, and in a 2010 public poll readers chose Artemis Fowl as their favourite Puffin Books title. The novel Artemis Fowl (2001) was followed by The Arctic Incident (2002) and The Eternity Code (2003). Other series include the Fowl Twins, W.A.R.P., Benny Shaw and Plugged, with Benny and Omar (1998) among the early titles and Deerheart (2026) the newest. The listing also credits The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1996) to Colfer.

Richard Peck wrote for young adults and children across five decades. Are You in the House Alone? (1967) opens a catalogue of 48 titles closing with Master Class on Writing the Novel for Young Readers (2021). The Newbery Medal went to A Year Down Yonder in 2001, a sequel to A Long Way From Chicago, and the American Library Association gave Peck its Margaret A. Edwards Award in 1990. Blossom Culp and Lost in Cyberspace are among the series; time travel, grandmothers, schools, friendship and humour run through the books. Peck lived from 1934 to 2018.