Conduct of life book series in reading order

by Sara Shepard

by Lincoln Peirce

by Ann Brashares

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

by Jory John

by Wendelin Van Draanen

by Ian Falconer

by Carl Hiaasen

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.

Darren Shan

67 books• 7 series

Darren Shan is the pseudonym of Darren O'Shaughnessy, an Irish writer born on 2 July 1972. The Saga of Darren Shan, The Demonata and Zom-B are the young adult series O'Shaughnessy is best known for. The Saga of Darren Shan became a manga from 2006 to 2009 and a live-action film in 2009, and a prequel, The Saga of Larten Crepsley, followed from 2010 to 2012. Koyasan and The Thin Executioner are other children's books under the Shan name, and Archibald Lox was self-published from 2020 to 2022. The catalogue lists 67 books from 1999 to 2022, with vampires, demonology, zombies and horror among the subjects.

Max Lucado

278 books• 6 series

Max Lucado has 278 books in the catalogue, published between 1985 and 2026, and subject headings centre on Christian life, the Bible, Jesus Christ, meditations and biblical teaching. Lucado, born January 11, 1955, is an American author and minister at Oak Hills Church, formerly Oak Hills Church of Christ, in San Antonio, Texas. The earliest titles are No Wonder They Call Him the Savior and On the Anvil (both 1985), then God Came Near (1986), The Applause of Heaven (1990) and He Still Moves Stones (1992). Series include Life Lessons, Hermie & Friends, Max Lucado's Wemmicks and Just in Case, and children's fiction is also among the subjects. The newest listed title is Unbreakable Courage Bible Study Guide (2026).

Sigmund Brouwer, born in 1959, is a Canadian author writing for children, young adults and adults, with more than 100 titles and four million books in print. Dead Man's Switch won the 2015 Arthur Ellis Award for best Canadian young adult mystery, and Shock Wave won the same award in 2025. Thief of Glory, a novel for adults, was named Book of the Year at the Christy Awards and also won an Alberta Readers Choice Award. The Last Disciple, co-authored with Hank Hanegraaff, was featured in Time magazine. The catalogue holds 162 books from Lost Beneath Manhattan (1990) to A Dangerous Game (2026), across series such as Accidental Detectives, Mars Diaries, Winds of Light, Lightning on Ice, Cyberquest and Robot Wars.

Lincoln Peirce

77 books• 6 series

Lincoln Peirce created the Big Nate comic strip and writes and illustrates the Big Nate novels for young readers. Born in 1963, Peirce is an American cartoonist and animator who has written animated shorts for Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, and created the animated Big Nate series that premiered on Paramount+. Eighty-two titles are catalogued from 2001 to Code Red! (2026), covering the graphic novels, activity books and the Max and the Midknights series. Middle school, friendship and humour are the recurring subjects.

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.

G.A. Henty wrote historical adventure stories for young readers. The catalogue holds 109 Henty titles, opening with A Search for a Secret (1867) and closing at The Plague Ship (2002). War, military history and the conduct of life are the recurring subjects, and much of the work sits in England and the wider British past. Early titles include The March to Magdala (1868), Out on the Pampas (1870) and The Young Franc Tireurs (1872).

Sara Shepard

47 books• 9 series

Pretty Little Liars (2006) opens Sara Shepard's catalogue and remains the title Shepard is best known for, alongside The Lying Game; both became television shows on Freeform. Shepard, born in 1977, is an American author with 48 catalogued books dated 2006 to 2027, reaching Birds of Prey: The Origins in 2026 and with Tell Me Everything scheduled for 2027. Nine series are catalogued, among them The Perfectionists, The Amateurs, The Heiresses, Penny Draws and Agatha Harkness. Secrets, friendship, high school and murder run through the books.

John C. Maxwell

208 books• 10 series

Leadership is the main subject of John C. Maxwell, an American author, speaker and pastor. Maxwell's leadership books include The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader and The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, and some have reached the New York Times Best Seller list. The catalogue lists 208 titles from Think on These Things: Meditations for Leaders (1979) to The Resilient Leader (2026). The Winning Attitude (1984), Be a People Person (1989), Developing the Leader Within You (1993) and The Power Of Attitude (1995) are earlier entries. Series include Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, Leadership Gold, John C. Maxwell's 101 and Lunch & Learn. Success, attitude and Christian life run through the subject tags.

Ann Brashares

19 books• 3 series

Ann Brashares, born on 6 March 1967, is an American young adult novelist best known for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. The catalogue lists 19 Brashares books, among them Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2001), The Second Summer of the Sisterhood (2003), Girls in Pants (2005), Forever in Blue (2007) and The Last Summer (2007). The World at Midnight (2026) is the newest title. Westfallen is the other Brashares series on record. Subjects include friendship, best friends, jeans, summer and coming of age.

Bill Myers is an American Christian author, film director and film producer, born in Seattle, Washington on September 9, 1953. The animated series McGee and Me! is the work Myers is most noted for. Myers writes across comedy, horror, thriller, fiction and nonfiction. The catalogue holds 132 books, from My Friend William Moved Away (1979) to Commune (2023), with the 1990s as the busiest decade. Series include Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle, Forbidden Doors, Bloodhounds Inc., TJ and the Time Stumblers and Secret Agent Dingledorf and His Trusty Dog, SPLAT. Catalogue subjects cover Christian life, children's fiction, humorous stories, time travel and spies.

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.

Andy Andrews writes inspirational fiction and self-improvement books, and works as a corporate speaker. Success, motivation, perspective and Christian living run through the catalogue, alongside children's fiction. Andrews has 26 catalogued books published between 1995 and 2024, grouped into the Traveller's Gift, Noticer and Sawyerton Springs series. Tales from Sawyerton Springs (1995) opens the run; The Traveler's Gift (2002), The Lost Choice (2004) and Mastering the Seven Decisions (2009) follow; and Lost in the Swamp (2024) is the most recent title.

Dan Millman writes and lectures in the personal development field. The catalogue of 22 titles opens in 1992 with No Ordinary Moments, Quest for the Crystal Castle and Warrior Athlete, takes in The Life You Were Born to Live (1993), Body Mind Mastery (1999) and Divine Interventions (1999), and closes with Peaceful Heart, Warrior Spirit in 2022. Spiritual life, self-actualisation and the psychology of athletics and physical fitness are the recurring subjects. The film Peaceful Warrior, drawn from one of Millman's books and from his own life, is the work he is best known for.

Cecily Von Ziegesar

34 books• 5 series

Gossip Girl (2002) opens Cecily von Ziegesar's catalogue and is the series she is best known for. Thirty-four titles are listed between 2002 and 2020, including You Know You Love Me (2002), All I Want is Everything (2003), Because I'm Worth It (2003), I Like It Like That (2004), Nobody Does it Better (2005) and Nothing Can Keep Us Together (2005). The It Girl, Gossip Girl: The Carlyles, the Gossip Girl manga graphic novels and a set of standalone novels divide the rest, ending with Cobble Hill (2020). Teenage girls, wealth, private and boarding schools and dating run through the subjects. Von Ziegesar is American and was born in 1970.

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.

Louisa May Alcott

103 books• 4 series

Alcott wrote novels, short stories and children's fiction, and the catalogue runs to 103 titles, with Little Women, Eight Cousins and Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag among the named sequences. The list starts with The Inheritance (1849) and Flower Fables (1854) and takes in Hospital Sketches (1863), Moods (1864) and Behind a Mask, or a Woman's Power (1866). Young women, social custom and gender roles are the recurring subjects, and the Alcott catalogue is listed as likely complete.

Margaret Peterson Haddix

55 books• 12 series

Margaret Peterson Haddix, born April 9, 1964, is an American writer best known for two children's series: Shadow Children (1998-2006) and The Missing (2008-2015). She also wrote the tenth book of The 39 Clues, a series with multiple authors. The catalogue lists 55 of her books from Running Out of Time (1995) to Moonleapers (2025), including Among the Hidden (1998), Just Ella (1999) and Turnabout (2000). Other series listings include Palace Chronicles, Children of Exile, Greystone Secrets, Mysteries of Trash and Treasure and Under Their Skin. Subjects include time travel, science fiction, brothers and sisters, and schools.

David Walliams

56 books• 6 series

Born David Edward Williams on 20 August 1971, David Walliams is an English actor, comedian, writer and television personality. Walliams rose to fame with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch shows Little Britain (2003–2006) and Come Fly with Me (2010–2011), judged Britain's Got Talent from 2012 to 2022, and wrote and starred in the sitcom Big School. Walliams's children's books have sold more than 50 million copies. The catalogue lists 56 titles from Inside Little Britain (2006) to The World’s Worst Superheroes (2025), including The Boy in the Dress (2008), Mr Stink (2009), Billionaire Boy (2010), Gangsta Granny (2011) and Awful Auntie (2014).

Jerry Spinelli

37 books• 5 series

Jerry Spinelli writes children's novels about adolescence and early adulthood. Maniac Magee (1990), Stargirl and Wringer are the best known of them. The 37 catalogued books start with Space Station Seventh Grade (1982) and end with Dead Wednesday (2023), and the series strands include Stargirl, School Daze, Fourth Grade Rats and the Tooter Tales. Schools, friendship, family life and conduct recur as subjects, and the median book runs 176 pages.

James Patterson

510 books• 73 series

James Patterson, born on March 22, 1947, is an American writer whose catalogue here holds 514 books published from 1976 to 2027. The run opens with The Thomas Berryman Number (1976), and Along Came a Spider (1992) and Kiss the Girls (1995) follow later. Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, Witch & Wizard, NYPD Red, Private, Middle School and the Women's Murder Club are among the Patterson series, alongside standalone thrillers, non-fiction and romance. Marshall Karp shares the credit on 5 of the books. Patterson's sales exceed 425 million copies, and Patterson was the first person to sell one million e-books. Forbes ranked Patterson the highest-paid author in 2016, for a third year running, and the National Book Foundation gave Patterson the Literarian Award in November 2015. 27 Stars is scheduled for 2027.

Karen Kingsbury is an American Christian novelist, born in Fairfax, Virginia, on June 8, 1963. Kingsbury worked as a sports writer for the Los Angeles Times and later wrote for the Los Angeles Daily News. Missy's Murder (1991), Kingsbury's first book, grew out of a murder story covered as a reporter in Los Angeles. Kingsbury is a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist. The catalogue holds 115 titles, running to The Christmas Ring (2025), and the series include Firstborn, Sunrise, Above the Line, Bailey Flanigan, Red Gloves and Forever Faithful. Christian fiction and family life recur among the subjects.

Judy Blume

30 books• 7 series

Family life, siblings, friendship and growing up are Judy Blume's subjects, written largely for children and for readers around grades 3 to 5. Blume's 30 catalogued books begin with The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo (1969) and end with In the Unlikely Event (2015), the 1970s being the densest decade. The Fudge books, the Pain & The Great One books and the BFF titles form her series, alongside standalone novels, picture books and non-fiction.

V.C. Andrews was the name used by Cleo Virginia Andrews (June 6, 1923 to December 19, 1986), an American novelist best known for Flowers in the Attic (1979). That novel led to four sequels and two film adaptations. The publisher never classed the books as Young Adult, yet their young protagonists have drawn teenage readers for decades. After Andrews died in 1986, a ghostwriter first hired to finish two incomplete manuscripts went on publishing new books under the V.C. Andrews name. The catalogue carries 108 books under that name from 1979 to 2025, across series such as Dollanganger, Casteel, Cutler, Landry, Logan and De Beers.