Clubs book series in reading order

by Ada Hopper

by Carolyn Keene

by Ellen Schreiber

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.

Ann Martin is the author of The Baby-Sitters Club, a children's series about a group of friends who run a babysitting business. Kristy, Claudia, Stacey, Mary Anne and Dawn take turns as narrators across the books. The catalogue holds 75 titles published between 1986 and 1999, opening with Kristy's Great Idea and reaching The Fire at Mary Anne's House. Friendship, family life and school worries drive the plots, with a mystery strand running alongside, in books averaging 160 pages.

The Saddle Club made Bonnie Bryant's name. Bantam Books published that horse series from October 1988 to November 2001, and this catalogue of 100 titles covers the same span, opening with Horse Crazy (1988) and closing with Best Friends (2001). Bryant, born in New York in 1946, also published as B.B. Hiller. Horses, riding clubs and friendship are the standing subjects, pitched at grades 3 to 5, at a median of 144 pages.

Callie Barkley writes for grades 1 to 3 about a group of friends and the animals they look after. Each book takes one character's name: Amy & the Missing Puppy and All About Ellie in 2012, then Liz Learns a Lesson and Marion Takes a Break in 2013. Animal shelters, pet adoption, clubs and best friends recur as subjects across 31 catalogued titles, which reach Liz Plays Matchmaker (2026).

Melody Carlson, born March 2, 1956 in San Francisco, is an American author of more than 250 books for women, teens and children, including the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. The catalogue lists 298 books from 1995, when Contemplative Bible Reading and How to Start a Quality Childcare Business in Your Home appeared, to All Booked Up (2026). Series include Carter House Girls, On The Runway, TrueColors, 86 Bloomberg Place, Secret Life of Samantha McGregor, Beary Patch Bears and Fruit Troops. Subjects include Christian life, high schools, friendship, Bible stories and stories in rhyme. Carlson grew up in Springfield, Oregon, attended Lane Community College and lives in Sisters, Oregon.

Francine Pascal (née Rubin, 1932–2024) was an American author whose name is tied to the Sweet Valley books for young adults. Sweet Valley High anchored that collection, was adapted for television, and branched into spin-offs such as The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. The catalogue opens with Hangin' Out with Cici (1977) and also carries the Fearless series. Subjects include twins, sisters, high schools, friendship and dating. Most Sweet Valley books came out in the 1980s and 1990s, and several titles were re-released decades later.

Heather Vogel Frederick is a children's author whose 24 books run from 2002 to 2023. The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed (2002) is her earliest title, and The Education of Patience Goodspeed followed in 2004. The Mother-Daughter Book Club appeared in 2007, with Much Ado About Anne and Dear Pen Pal after it. Frederick's series are Mother-Daughter Book Club, Spy Mice, Pumpkin Falls Mystery and Patience Goodspeed, and Truly, Madly, Sheeply (2023) is the newest title.

Ada Hopper writes children's science fiction and adventure, and the catalogue holds 10 books from 2016 to 2022, with DATA Set as the named series. Don't Disturb the Dinosaurs (2016) is the first listed book. A Case of the Clones, March of the Mini Beasts, Robots Rule the School and The Sky Is Falling are also 2016 titles, and Invasion of the Insects and Out of Remote Control date from 2017. Down the Brain Drain (2020) and S.O.S. from Outer Space (2022) come later, and The Revenge of Dr. von Naysayer (2022) is the newest. Subject headings include clubs, inventions, cloning, time travel, robots, dinosaurs and extraterrestrial beings.

Raina Telgemeier

27 books• 5 series

Raina Telgemeier is an American cartoonist. The autobiographical Smile began as a webcomic and appeared as a full-colour middle grade graphic novel in February 2010; Sisters followed it, as did the fiction graphic novel Drama, and all three reached The New York Times Best Seller lists. Telgemeier also wrote and drew the graphic novels Ghosts and Guts, and adapted four Baby-Sitters Club stories by Ann M. Martin into graphic novels. Comics, friendship, school and family are the recurring subjects across the work.

Alice Schertle is an American poet, teacher and children's author from Los Angeles, born in 1941. Little Blue Truck is the series most associated with her name, and Little Blue Truck Lost and Found arrived in 2026. The catalogue lists 59 titles from The Gorilla In The Hall (1977) onward, including the Cathy And Company books of 1980. Stories in rhyme, trucks, cats, seasons and children's poetry fill the subjects, at a median 32 pages.

Sharon M. Draper

31 books• 5 series

Sharon M. Draper is an American children's writer and professional educator, named National Teacher of the Year in 1997 and a two-time winner of the Coretta Scott King Award for books on young and adolescent African American experience. The Hazelwood High and Jericho series, Out of My Mind, Romiette and Julio, Copper Sun and Double Dutch are her best-known titles, alongside the Clubhouse Mysteries and Sassy series. Draper's catalogue holds 31 books dated 1970 to 2024, at a median 183 pages, taking in school stories, friendship, family life, race relations and death.

Robin Wasserman, born May 31, 1978, is an American novelist and essayist who grew up outside Philadelphia and studied at Harvard University and UCLA. Before becoming an author, Wasserman was an associate editor at a children's book publisher. Wasserman has written books for children and young adults and two novels for adults; Mother Daughter Widow Wife (2020) was a finalist for the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award. The catalogue lists 52 books from 2000, including the WINX Club, Unfabulous and Chasing Yesterday series.

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.

Baseball runs through the children's fiction David A. Kelly writes. Cousins, friendship, clubs and theft recur as subjects, and the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees are among the teams named in the listing. Kelly's catalogue holds 37 books published between 2009 and 2025, from Babe Ruth and the Baseball Curse (2009) to The Bobblehead Bunt (2025). Ballpark Mysteries is the recurring set, with MVP, the Ballpark Mysteries Super Specials and Football Mysteries beside it.

Ellery Adams writes murder mysteries, and women sleuths appear among the subject headings. The catalogue lists 57 books from 2006, the year of A Killer Collection and A Fatal Appraisal, to The Liars' Book Club (2026). Named series include the Secret, Book & Scone Society, Book Retreat Mysteries, Books by the Bay, Antiques & Collectibles Mysteries, Hope Street Church Mystery, Supper Club Mystery and A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery. Librarians, bakeries and pies are listed there too.

Beverly Lewis

112 books• 17 series

Beverly Marie Lewis is an American novelist of Christian fiction and a children's author, and much of the writing concerns the Old Order Amish. Lewis taught school and worked as a musician beforehand. Born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where her father was a pastor, Lewis traces that interest to a maternal grandmother born into an Old Order Mennonite church. The catalogue lists 112 books, from Holly's First Love / Best Friend, Worst Enemy (1993) to The Christmas House (2025). Series include Abram's Daughters, Heritage of Lancaster County, Home To Hickory Hollow, Annie's People, Cul-de-sac Kids and Holly's Heart.

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.

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.

Coco Simon is the name on Cupcake Diaries and its companion series for middle-grade readers. Katie and the Cupcake Cure (2011) opens a catalogue of 63 books that reaches Natalie's Sprinkle of Light (2025). Sprinkle Sundays, Donut Dreams, Cupcake Diaries: The New Batch and a graphic novel line follow. Friendship, middle school and baking are the recurring subjects, and the books run to a median 144 pages.

Melinda Metz is an American author, born in 1962, who writes for young adults and, in one series, for adults. Roswell High is the best known of the work: teenage aliens, and the source for The WB television series Roswell and The CW television series Roswell, New Mexico. The catalogue holds 61 books published between 1998 and 2025, from The Outsider (1998) to Love Is a Four-Legged Word (2025). Fingerprints, S.M.A.R.T.S., Tech Team, Wright & Wong, MacGuyer and Fox Crossing, Maine are the other series. Schools, friendship, twins, robots and detective stories recur as subjects.

Martha Freeman writes children's fiction: family stories, school stories and mysteries. Presidents and the White House appear among the subjects, alongside the First Kids series, and the Chickadee Court Mysteries, the Trouble With... titles and the Secret Cookie Club fill out the list. The catalogue holds 35 books from Stink Bomb Mom (1996) to Kitty vs. Kindergarten (2025), at a median of 201 pages, and Freeman remains active.

Gregory Maguire

44 books• 4 series

Gregory Maguire writes fantasy built on adaptations of existing stories. The Wicked Years take on Oz and its witches; the Hamlet Chronicles and Another Day sequences follow, and a graphic novel version of Wicked sits alongside. Maguire started in children's fiction with The Lightning Time (1978), and the 44-title catalogue reaches Galinda in 2026. Witches, magic and humorous stories are the recurring subjects.

Neal Shusterman

59 books• 12 series

Neal Shusterman is an American writer of young adult fiction, born November 12, 1962. Challenger Deep won Shusterman the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, Scythe was a 2017 Michael L. Printz Honor book, and the 2024 Margaret Edwards Award recognised a lasting contribution to writing for teens. The catalogue lists 59 books from 1988 to Rising Thunder (2026). Series include the Unwind Dystology, Arc of a Scythe, Skinjacker, Accelerati Trilogy, Star Shards Chronicles and Antsy Bonano.

Louis Sachar

30 books• 4 series

Louis Sachar writes for children, chiefly school stories with a humorous streak. Wayside School and the novel Holes are the best known of Sachar's work, alongside the Marvin Redpost and Someday Angeline books; Holes took the 1998 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 1999 Newbery Medal. Thirty books are catalogued between Sideways Stories from Wayside School (1978) and The Magician of Tiger Castle (2025). Schools, boys, popularity and friendship recur as subjects.