Cats book series in reading order

by Cynthia Rylant

by Rita Mae Brown

by Erin Hunter

by Lilian Jackson Braun

by Dav Pilkey

by Erin Hunter

by Erin Hunter

by Erin Hunter

by Ursula K. Le Guin

by Erin Hunter

by John R. Erickson

by Laura Levine

by Erin Hunter

by Paula Harrison

by Daisy Meadows

by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

by Coco Simon

by Erin Hunter

by Liz Kessler

Erin Hunter is the name on 169 catalogued books, published from 2003 onward and filed as children's fantasy fiction. Into the Wild, Fire and Ice and Forest of Secrets (all 2003) are the earliest. Series listings include Warriors: The New Prophecy, Warriors: Power of Three, Warriors: Omen of the Stars, Warriors: Dawn of the Clans and Warriors: The Broken Code. Seekers, Survivors, Bravelands and Bamboo Kingdom also appear. Subjects include cats, feral cats, bears, dogs, adventure and manga. Darktail's Judgment (2026) is the newest, with False Dawn due in 2027.

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.

Rita Mae Brown

76 books• 7 series

Rita Mae Brown's catalogue reaches 77 books and splits between literary fiction and mystery. Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) belongs to the early work, catalogued under lesbian fiction. The Mrs. Murphy mysteries pair Harry Haristeen with her cats, and the Sister Jane books follow Jane Arnold and fox hunting. Runnymede is a third sequence. Clawed and Dangerous is the newest title, and Pawsible Suspects is scheduled for 2027.

Carole Nelson Douglas, born in 1944 and died in 2021, wrote sixty novels across mystery, fantasy and science fiction. Two mystery series dominate: the Irene Adler novels, which take the Sherlock Holmes character as their detective, and the Midnight Louie books, narrated around a cat and his owner Temple Barr. Delilah Street, Paranormal Investigator, Sword and Circlet and Crystal Phoenix fill out the range. Douglas studied theatre and English literature, then worked as a newspaper reporter and editor around Minneapolis-Saint Paul. Forty-six titles are catalogued here, from 1982 to 2018.

Shirley Rousseau Murphy wrote mysteries and children's fantasy across 48 books between 1967 and 2018. The Joe Grey mysteries, set in California, are the longest run, with Dulcie tagged alongside Joe Grey and cats threaded through the subjects; Cat Chase the Moon (2018) is the last title listed. Murphy's earlier work is fantasy for younger readers, including the Children of Ynell and Dragonbards sequences and picture books such as The Pig Who Could Conjure The Wind (1978). The Sand Ponies (1967) opens the catalogue.

Dav Pilkey

86 books• 12 series

Dav Pilkey, born David Murray Pilkey Jr. on March 4, 1966, is an American comic book writer, author and illustrator of children's fiction. Captain Underpants and the graphic novel spin-off Dog Man are the series Pilkey is best known for. Dog Man appears under the pen names George Beard and Harold Hutchins, which are also the names of the two Captain Underpants protagonists. The catalogue holds 86 books from World War Won (1987) to A Sprinkle in Time (2026), and the Dragon, Dumb Bunnies, Ricky Ricotta and Cat Kid Comic Club lines also feature.

Lilian Jackson Braun wrote the Cat Who mysteries, in which the journalist Jim Qwilleran solves crimes alongside his Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. 32 catalogued books span 1966 to 2007, among them The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern (1967), The Cat Who Turned On And Off (1968), The Cat Who Saw Red (1986), The Cat Who Played Brahms (1987) and The Cat Who Played Post Office (1987). The last catalogued title is The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, and short stories sit alongside the novels.

Marian Babson was the pen name of Ruth Marian Stenstreem (1929–2017), an American mystery writer born in Salem, Massachusetts, who spent most of her life in London. The novels are short, at a median of 188 pages across 53 catalogued books, and cats turn up in many of them; the publisher's tagline for the work was Murder Most British. The Trixie Dolan & Evangeline Sinclair mysteries pair two actresses as sleuths, with the Perkins & Tate books alongside. Babson took the Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library in 1996 and an Agatha Award.

Laurie Cass is the author of the Bookmobile Cat Mysteries. Subjects include cozy mystery, cats, librarians, murder and women sleuths. The catalogue holds 15 Cass books published from 2013 to 2026. Lending a Paw (2013) is first, followed by Tailing a Tabby (2014), Borrowed Crime (2015) and Pouncing on Murder (2015). Gone with the Whisker (2020) and Checking Out Crime (2021) are later titles, and Murder on Thin Ice (2026) is the newest. Large print editions appear among the subjects.

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.

Cats run through most of Clea Simon's mysteries. 34 catalogued books span Mad House (1997) to The Butterfly Trap (2025), and the sleuths recur: Dulcie Schwartz in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pru Marlowe, Theda Krakow, and the Blackie & Care and Witch Cats of Cambridge lines. Mew Is for Murder (2005), Cattery Row (2006), Cries & Whiskers (2007) and Probable Claws (2009) are among the titles. Murder, investigation and psychics fill the subjects, and Simon remains actively publishing.

Miranda James writes several mystery series. Cat in the Stacks is one, and librarians, cats and a Maine coon cat sit in its subject tags beside murder and investigation. Forty titles run from By a Woman's Hand (1994), written as Dean James with Jean Swanson, to Something Whiskered (2025). Southern Ladies, Deep South, Bridge Club, Trailer Park Mysteries and Simon Kirby-Jones are the other series. James publishes on.

Andre Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 to March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who also produced historical and contemporary fiction, and used the names Andrew North and Allen Weston as well. Norton was the first woman named Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master, and the first inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. The catalogue carries 209 books from The Prince Commands (1934) onward. Witch World, Solar Queen, Time Traders, Beast Master and Forerunner are series.

Cozy mystery is Leann Sweeney's form, split across the Yellow Rose Mysteries and the Cats In Trouble Mysteries. The 14 catalogued books open with Pick Your Poison (2004) and close with The Cat, the Collector and the Killer (2016). Recurring subjects include cats and cat owners, quiltmakers, South Carolina, missing persons and the private investigator Abby Rose. Nothing has followed 2016.

A Street Cat Named Bob (2012) made James Bowen's name and started a run of nine books about one animal. Bowen was a homeless street musician in London, and the books record his life with Bob the cat. The World According to Bob (2013), For the Love of Bob (2014) and A Gift from Bob (2015) follow, alongside children's titles such as Bob: No Ordinary Cat and My Name Is Bob, and the run closes with The Little Book of Bob (2018).

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.

Lloyd Alexander wrote fantasy for children and young adults. Alexander lived from 1924 to 2007, grew up in Pennsylvania through the Great Depression, and worked across seven decades; 45 books are catalogued here, from And Let the Credit Go (1955) to The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio (2007). The Chronicles of Prydain, five high fantasy novels set in the imaginary land of Prydain, is the best known work, and its conclusion, The High King, took the 1969 Newbery Medal. The Westmark Trilogy and the Vesper Holly adventures are Alexander's other series. National Book Awards followed in 1971 and 1982, and the work has been translated into 20 languages.

James Herriot wrote about veterinary practice in the English countryside, mixing memoir, anecdote and animal stories. The catalogue holds 39 titles published between 1970 and 2023, among them All Creatures Great and Small (1972), All Things Bright and Beautiful (1974) and the 2023 collection The Wonderful World of James Herriot. All Creatures Great and Small is the best known sequence, and Herriot also wrote children's books such as Bonny's Big Day. The books are short at a median of 180 pages, and the catalogue is closed.

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).

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.

Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 - November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, among them The Runaway Bunny (1942) and Goodnight Moon (1947), both with illustrations by Clement Hurd. Brown has been called the laureate of the nursery. Brown also published as Golden MacDonald for Doubleday, as Timothy Hay for Harper & Brothers, and, with Edith Thacher Hurd, as Juniper Sage for William R. Scott. The catalogue lists 166 books, opening with When the Wind Blew (1937), then I Like Bugs and The Steam Roller (1938). Stories in rhyme, rabbits, bedtime and sound recur in the subjects.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

131 books• 11 series

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, born in 1933, wrote 131 catalogued books for children and young adults across half a century. Shiloh, a quartet of children's novels, won the Newbery Medal in 1992, and the Alice McKinley series became one of the most frequently challenged sets of books of the early 21st century. The Boy/Girl Battle, Bessledorf Mysteries, Witch Saga, Cat Pack and Roxie and the Hooligans fill out the list, which runs from To Make a Wee Moon (1969) to Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard's Roost (2018). Family life, schools, friendship and siblings are the constant subjects, at a median of 154 pages.

Jaine Austen, a writer turned amateur sleuth, is the lead of Laura Levine's cozy mystery series. Twenty-three catalogued books run from This Pen for Hire (2002) to Murder Buys a One-Way Ticket (2024), taking in Last Writes (2003), Killer Blonde (2004) and Death by Pantyhose (2007). Murder, amateur detection and a cat are the recurring elements, at a median length of 256 pages.

Beatrix Potter

30 books

Beatrix Potter wrote small books about animals for children. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1901) is the earliest of the catalogued tales, followed by The Tailor of Gloucester (1903), The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (1903), The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904) and The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905). Thirty-one titles are catalogued in all, most of them from the 1900s, and they run short at a median 64 pages.