Castles book series in reading order

by Elisabetta Dami

Elisabetta Dami

309 books• 22 series

Elisabetta Dami, born 1 January 1958, is an Italian children's author known for the Geronimo Stilton book series. The catalogue credits Dami with 309 books from 1998 to 2026. Titles from 2000 include Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye, Attack Of The Bandit Cats and Four Mice Deep in the Jungle. Other listings include Geronimo Stilton: Thea Stilton, Mouseford Academy, Kingdom Of Fantasy, Geronimo Stilton Cavemice, Geronimo Stilton Spacemice and Creepella von Cacklefur. Subjects include mice, journalists, time travel and humorous stories. The Legend of Chocolate Hills (2026) is the newest title.

Diana Wynne Jones (16 August 1934 to 26 March 2011) was a British novelist, poet, academic, critic and short story writer. The speculative fiction of Diana Wynne Jones for children and young adults is usually called fantasy but draws on science fiction ideas such as time travel and parallel universes, along with realism. The Chrestomanci heptalogy, the Dalemark Quartet, the Moving Castle trilogy, Dark Lord of Derkholm and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland rank among the best-known works. The catalogue lists 61 books, from Changeover (1970) and The Ogre Downstairs (1974) to The Islands of Chaldea (2014). Magic, witches and wizards run through the subjects.

Garth Nix

51 books• 11 series

Garth Nix, born Garth Richard Nix on 19 July 1963, is an Australian writer of children's and young adult fantasy, including the Old Kingdom, Seventh Tower and Keys to the Kingdom series. Asked often whether the name is a pseudonym, Nix has said it is a real name that happens to suit a fantasy writer. The catalogue lists 51 books, from The Ragwitch (1990) through Sabriel (1995) and Shade's Children (1997) to Massif (2026). Other Nix series include Troubletwisters, Have Sword, Will Travel and Left-Handed Booksellers of London. Subjects include magic, castles, good and evil, and space and time.

Jessica Day George

17 books• 5 series

Fairy tales, dragons and castles are Jessica Day George's stock in trade. Five series divide the 17 catalogued books: Dragon Slippers, Castle Glower, Princess of the Midnight Ball, Rose Legacy and Silver in the Blood. George, born in 1976 and based in Utah, took the 2007 Whitney Award for Best Book by a New Author for Dragon Slippers and has reached the New York Times list with her young adult fantasy. The run closes with The Rider's Reign in 2020.

Jenny Nimmo is a British children's author, born in England on 15 January 1944, who has lived mostly in Wales for four decades. Jenny Nimmo's output covers fantasy and adventure novels, chapter books and picture books. The Magician Trilogy (1986-1989) draws on Welsh myth, and Children of the Red King (2002-2010) follows schoolchildren with magical powers. The Snow Spider, first of the Magician books, took the Nestle Smarties Book Prize and the 1987 Tir na n-Og Award. The catalogue lists 65 books from The Bronze Trumpeter (1974) to Secret Creatures (2020).

Enid Blyton

957 books• 42 series

Enid Blyton (11 August 1897 to 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer and one of the best-selling authors of children's literature, with more than 600 million copies sold and translations into ninety languages. Blyton wrote on education, natural history, fantasy, mystery and biblical stories. Noddy, the Famous Five, the Secret Seven, the Five Find-Outers and Malory Towers are the best-remembered Blyton books, and St Clare's, Mary Mouse and Toyland Stories are also listed. The catalogue opens with The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies (1924), and The Naughtiest Girl in the School (1930) and The Adventures of the Wishing-Chair (1937) follow. Titles dated after Blyton's death also appear, up to Stories of Wonders and Wishes (2023).

Nigel Tranter wrote Scottish historical novels alongside non-fiction on history and architecture. 129 catalogued books run from The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland, 1400-1650 (1935) to More Tales and Traditions of Scottish Castles (2008), with the 1960s the busiest decade. The fiction sequences cover Robert The Bruce, the House Of Stewart, the Master Of Gray, James V, Montrose, Mary Stewart and the MacGregors. Tranter lived from 1909 to 2000 and the median book runs 328 pages.

Patricia Burford Ryan, born August 9, 1954 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, writes romance as Patricia Ryan and mysteries as P.B. Ryan, and is the twin sister of the romance writer Pamela Burford. A Golden Heart award came in 1994, in the short contemporary series category, along with two Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards, and Silken Threads took the Romance Writers of America RITA for Best Long Historical Romance of 2000. The catalogue lists 31 titles from A Burning Touch (1995) to Writing the Novel They Can't Put Down (2012), with Nell Sweeney recurring as a character. Series include Nell Sweeney Mysteries, Hidden Grotto, North Moon Bay, Hot City Nights and Hero For Hire.

Mary Pope Osborne

166 books• 9 series

Mary Pope Osborne, born May 20, 1949, is an American children's author and audiobook narrator best known for the Magic Tree House series, which had sold more than 134 million copies worldwide by 2017. Awards have gone to both the series and Osborne, including recognition for work promoting children's literacy. Osborne attended the University of North Carolina and published a first book in 1982. The catalogue counts 166 Osborne books, from Run, Run, As Fast As You Can (1982) to Sea Otter Sunrise (2025). Time travel, tree houses, history, folklore and Greek mythology appear among the subjects.

Historical romance and FBI suspense make up Catherine Coulter's two main bodies of work. Regency and medieval romances such as the Sherbrooke Brides and Medieval Song sequences date back to the 1979 debut The Rebel Bride, while the FBI Thriller series and A Brit in the FBI follow government investigator Dillon Savich. Coulter's catalogue runs to 95 books, reaching The Heir of Whitestone in 2026.

Jude Deveraux

78 books• 14 series

Historical and contemporary romance make up Jude Deveraux's 78 catalogued books, many following the Montgomery and Taggert families across generations. Edilean, James River, Summerhouse, Nantucket Brides, Peregrine, Providence Falls and the Medlar Mystery books are among her series. The catalogue begins with The Enchanted Land (1978), runs densest through the 1980s, and reaches Order of Royals in 2026.

Jerry Bruce Jenkins, born September 23, 1949, is an American writer who co-wrote the Left Behind series with Tim LaHaye. Jenkins also writes the novels based on The Chosen, the TV series about Jesus. Across more than 200 books, Jenkins covers biography, self-help, romance, mystery and young adult fiction, and 19 novels explore eschatological themes. The catalogue lists 207 books from The Night the Giant Rolled Over (1971) to The Battle for Heaven and Earth (2026). Series include Left Behind: The Kids, Red Rock Mysteries, Margo Mysteries and Wormling.

Franklin W. Dixon is the author name on the Hardy Boys books, and the catalogue lists 473 titles under the Dixon name from 1927 to 2023. The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff and The Secret of the Old Mill all date from 1927. Dixon series include Hardy Boys Casefiles, Hardy Boys Adventures, Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers, Hardy Boys: Secret Files and Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mystery, plus the Ted Scott Flying Stories. Undercover Bookworms (2023) is the newest title.

Terry Deary

340 books• 41 series

Terry Deary is a British children's author, born in 1946, best known as the writer of the Horrible Histories series. Deary has written 351 books, which have sold more than 38 million copies in over 45 languages, and has ranked among Britain's best-selling authors since 1994. In 2012 Deary was the tenth most-borrowed author in British libraries, and Books for Keeps magazine named Deary the Outstanding Children's Non-Fiction Author of the 20th Century. The catalogue lists 340 titles from Teaching Through Theatre (1977) onward, including the True Stories and Tudor Terror series.

Gertrude Chandler Warner (April 16, 1890 to August 30, 1979) was an American author who wrote mostly for children. Warner wrote the original book of The Boxcar Children, published in 1942, and the next 18 books in the series. Earlier catalogued titles include The House of Delight (1916) and The World in a Barn (1927), and Surprise Island (1949) and The Yellow House Mystery (1952) came after The Boxcar Children. Orphans, brothers and sisters, and mystery stories are among the subjects. The catalogue also carries Boxcar Children lines such as Adventures of Benny and Watch and Boxcar Children Great Adventure under Warner's name.

Kiki Thorpe is a former children's book editor who has written or adapted more than fifty books for children and now writes full time from San Francisco. The catalogue lists 98 books from Luna's Night (1999) to Magnificently Major (2023). Series include Disney Fairies: The Never Girls, Finding Tinker Bell, Bear in the Big Blue House, Bob the Builder, Jay Jay The Jet Plane, Meet the Kreeps and Horsetail Hollow. Fairies, magic, bears and friendship appear among the subjects.

Ron Roy, born 1940, is an American children's writer working mostly in mystery. Three series carry the name: A to Z Mysteries from 1997, Capital Mysteries from 2001 and Calendar Mysteries from 2009, with A to Z Animal Mysteries and an A to Z Super Edition line alongside. Roy taught fourth grade in Connecticut for ten years, sold a first book in 1978 and wrote full time after that. The catalogue holds 90 titles dated 1978 to 2024, short at a median 84 pages, and reaches Dolphin Detectives (2024).

Mervyn Laurence Peake (9 July 1911 – 17 November 1968) was a British writer, poet, artist and illustrator. Peake is chiefly known for the Gormenghast books, four works from a longer cycle that his death left unfinished; Titus Groan (1946) and Gormenghast (1950) belong to the sequence. The fiction draws on Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson. The 27 catalogued books also include the picture book Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor (1939), nonsense verse such as Rhymes Without Reason, and The Craft of the Lead Pencil.