Circus book series in reading order

by Walter R. Brooks

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).

Neil Gaiman

199 books• 41 series

Neil Gaiman, born Neil Richard Gaiman on 10 November 1960, is an English writer of short fiction, novels, comic books, audio theatre and screenplays. The Sandman comic series ran from 1989 to 1996, and the novels include Stardust (1999), American Gods (2001), Coraline (2002), Anansi Boys (2005) and The Graveyard Book (2008). The Graveyard Book made Gaiman the first author to win both the Newbery and Carnegie medals for one work, and other awards include the Hugo, Nebula and Bram Stoker. Gaiman co-created the television adaptations of Good Omens and The Sandman. The catalogue runs from Duran Duran (1984) to The Silver Age (2024) and includes Sandman and Death graphic novels and children's books.

Gilbert Morris produced Christian historical fiction at length: 248 catalogued books between 1977 and 2014. The House of Winslow follows one family across American history; the Appomattox Saga and Bonnets & Bugles take up the Civil War; Cheney Duvall, M.D. follows a woman physician; the Seven Sleepers, Dixie Morris and Too Smart Jones series sit alongside, with children's fiction among the subjects. The catalogue opens with Race Against Time (1977), reaches Raina's Choice, and is listed as likely complete.

A.R. Kahler writes fantasy. The Immortal Circus (2012) opens a catalogue of 13 books that ends at Playing Wicked (2020), and Immortal Circus, Pale Queen and Ravenborn are the series recorded under the name. Circus life supplies much of the subject matter, with fortune-tellers, amnesia, murder, occultism, gods and artists in the records, and schools and drama beside them. The median Kahler book runs 240 pages. Nothing new has been catalogued since 2020.

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.

Ron Goulart

135 books• 26 series

Ron Goulart (13 January 1933 to 14 January 2022) was an American historian of popular culture who also wrote mystery, fantasy and science fiction. Goulart published novels and novelizations under several pseudonyms, among them Kenneth Robeson, Joseph Silva, Josephine Kains and Zeke Masters. The catalogue lists 135 books from The Sword Swallower (1968) to The Phantom (2018). Series under the name include Barnum System, John Easy, Odd Jobs, Inc, Jack Conger, TekWar, Vampirella and Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon, and Groucho Marx and comic books appear among the subjects.

Alexander McCall Smith

165 books• 25 series

Sir Alexander McCall Smith, born 24 August 1948, is a Scottish legal scholar and novelist who created The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Born and raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), McCall Smith was Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh and worked on medical law and bioethics committees. English-language sales passed 40 million by 2010, with translations into 46 languages. The catalogue lists 165 books from White Hippo (1980) to 2026, including 44 Scotland Street, Isabel Dalhousie, Detective Varg and children's titles.

Katherine Applegate

228 books• 20 series

Katherine Applegate, born October 9, 1956, and sometimes published as K. A. Applegate, is an American author of children's and young adult fiction. Animorphs, Remnants and Everworld are the series most tied to Applegate, and The One and Only Ivan (2012) won the 2013 Newbery Medal. Applegate received the Publishers Weekly Best New Children's Book Series Award in 1997. The catalogue lists 228 books, from Welcome to Junior High! (1990) to The Littlest Elephant (2026), including Girl Talk, Making Out and Roscoe Riley Rules.

Lois Duncan (April 28, 1934 to June 15, 2016), born Lois Duncan Steinmetz, was an American novelist, poet and journalist. Duncan is best known for young adult novels, and historians credit Duncan as a pioneer of young adult fiction, above all in horror, thriller and suspense. The daughter of professional photographers Lois and Joseph Janney Steinmetz, Duncan started writing young and published two early novels as Lois Kerry. Hotel for Dogs (1971), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1973) and Summer of Fear (1976) are among the novels. The catalogue lists 51 titles from Debutante Hill (1957) to Written in the Stars (2014), including A Gift of Magic (1960) and Game of Danger (1962).

Carolyn Keene is a Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, the credit on the Nancy Drew mysteries. Mildred Wirt Benson, one of the writers behind the name, used it from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew books. The catalogue lists 647 Carolyn Keene books, beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery (all 1930) and reaching Vans & Villains (2026). Series include Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, Nancy Drew Diaries, Nancy Drew: Girl Detective and Dana Girls Mystery Stories.

Gary Jennings (1928-1999) was an American author who wrote for children before Aztec (1980) turned him to adult historical fiction. Aztecs and the Indigenous peoples of Mexico supply his best known sequence; Spangle (1987) and The Center Ring take up the circus, The Journeyer (1984) travel and exploration, and Raptor (1992) the Goths. Titles in the Aztec line carry dates as late as 2012, well after Jennings's death, and 15 books are catalogued.

Tracey West, born October 1, 1965, is a children's author who writes for licensed series such as Pokémon and SpongeBob SquarePants. The catalogue lists 356 titles from 1988 to 2027, reaching Heart of the Ruby Dragon (2026), with Claw of the Diamond Dragon due in 2027. Named series include Pokémon chapter books, novelizations and readers, Naruto Chapter Books, LEGO Ninjago Reader, Bakugan Chapter Books, Pixie Tricks, Pet Vet Club and Scream Shop Pick Your Path. Dragon Masters and Heroes in Training appear as recurring lines. Ninja, dragons and plot-your-own stories appear among the subject headings.

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.

Heather Alexander has 56 catalogued titles, running from The Case of the Tattooed Cat (2003) to Henri Matisse (2025). Subjects include children's fiction, mystery and detective stories, friendship, schools, camps, owls and the human body. Series include Life on Earth, Wizards of Waverly Place, Wallace and Grace, Easy Cookbooks for Kids, Amazing Stardust Friends, Eat Bugs and Life with Derek, and the Who Was/Is...? line also appears. Other titles include The Case of Camp Pom-pom (2003) and The Case of the Easter Egg Race (2004). The median book runs to 82 pages.

Freddy the Pig is the detective, politician and traveller at the centre of Walter R. Brooks's children's books, set among the talking animals of the Bean Farm in upstate New York. Brooks (1886-1958) also wrote the short stories about Mister Ed, a talking horse, which reached television after his death. The catalogue holds 32 titles, opening with Freddy Goes to Florida (1927) and running through Freddy Goes to the North Pole, Freddy the Detective, Freddy the Politician and Freddy and the Bean Home News. Volumes average 244 pages, and editions here carry dates as late as 2002.

Hugh Lofting

25 books• 1 series

Doctor Dolittle, the physician who talks to animals, is the creation of Hugh Lofting (1886-1947). Lofting trained as a civil engineer and was English-American. The character began in illustrated letters Lofting wrote to his children from the trenches of the First World War, and Lofting moved to the United States before the first book appeared. The Story of Doctor Dolittle (1920) opens a series that includes Doctor Dolittle's Post Office, Circus, Zoo and Caravan. The catalogue holds 25 books.

Jon Berkeley, born in Dublin in 1962, works as an illustrator and children's author. Eight books are catalogued between 1995 and 2020. A Little Book of Celtic Wisdom (1995) and A Little Book of Irish Sayings (2002) sit beside recorded subjects of Celtic and Irish folk literature. The fiction runs to Chopsticks (2005), The Palace of Laughter (2006), The Tiger's Egg (2007), The Lightning Key (2009), The Hidden Boy (2010) and The Sleeper's Moon (2020), with subjects naming orphans, dragons, tigers, angels, mice and the circus. Two series stand under the name: Wednesday Tales and Bell Hoot.

Erin Morgenstern

3 books

Three books make up Erin Morgenstern's catalogue. The Night Circus (2011) brought magicians, a circus and games into a historical fantasy, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and appeared in more than a dozen languages by 2013; Morgenstern took an Alex Award in 2012. Flax-Golden Tales followed in 2014 and The Starless Sea in 2019. Morgenstern, born in 1978, is an American multimedia artist as well as a novelist. The books run long, at a median of 507 pages.