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.

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.

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.