Counting book series in reading order

by Steven Kellogg

by Lauren Child

by Bernard Waber

by Tish Rabe

Eric Carle

165 books• 6 series

Eric Carle (25 June 1929 to 23 May 2021) was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a picture book first published in 1969, has sold more than 55 million copies in over 70 languages. Carle illustrated more than 70 children's books and wrote most of them, and sales across the Carle books exceed 170 million copies. Catalogued titles begin with 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo (1968), followed by The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969), Pancakes, Pancakes! (1970), The Tiny Seed (1970) and Do You Want to Be My Friend? (1971). Subjects include board books, counting, color, animals and caterpillars.

Julia Donaldson

349 books• 14 series

Dame Julia Donaldson, born Julia Catherine Shields on 16 September 1948, is a British writer and playwright who served as Children's Laureate from 2011 to 2013. Rhyming stories for children made Donaldson's name, above all those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, such as The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Stick Man and Superworm. Donaldson first wrote songs for children's television; the lyrics of A Squash and a Squeeze became a picture book in 1993, and books have been the focus since. The catalogue carries 349 entries, from Tim's Bad Mood and Other Stories (1970) to The Tooth Fairy and the Crocodile (2026), including Tales from Acorn Wood, Princess Mirror-Belle and Zog.

Sandra Boynton

103 books• 1 series

Children's board books in rhyme are the core of Sandra Boynton's work. The American humorist, songwriter and illustrator has 103 catalogued books published between 1979 and 2026, from Hester in the Wild (1979) to Iguana Miss You! (2026). The list takes in But Not the Hippopotamus (1982), Moo, Baa, La La La! (1982) and The Going to Bed Book (1982). Animals, bedtime and humour recur throughout, and Little Pookie is her named series. Boynton is actively publishing.

Michael Bond, an English author born on 13 January 1926 who died on 27 June 2017, is best known for children's books about Paddington Bear. Sales of the Paddington books passed 35 million worldwide, and the characters moved into animated television, a film series and a stage musical. The catalogue records 217 books under the name, including A Bear Called Paddington, More About Paddington (1959) and Paddington Helps Out (1960). Olga Da Polga, Monsieur Pamplemousse, Parsley and Mouse Called Thursday are further series, and guinea pigs and private investigators appear among the subjects.

Norman Bridwell

88 books

Clifford the Big Red Dog is Norman Bridwell's creation, introduced in Clifford, the Big Red Dog (1963). Bridwell was an American author and cartoonist who lived from 1928 to 2014. 88 catalogued books run through to Big New Friend (2021), taking Clifford to the circus and to Hollywood, through Halloween and Christmas, and into counting and riddle books. The median title runs 32 pages and the 1990s were the busiest decade.

Joan Holub, born in Texas in 1956, has written and illustrated over 180 children's books and also publishes as Rita Book and Brad Bucks. The catalogue lists 184 Holub titles from If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution (1987) to This Little Engineer (2023), with a median length of 48 pages. Subject tags include Greek mythology, Greek goddesses, stories in rhyme, schools and ants. Holub series include Goddess Girls, Mini Myths, Ant Hill, Doll Hospital, Young Princesses Around the World and Smart About History.

Steven Kellogg is an American author and illustrator of children's books, born in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1941. The catalogue lists 94 titles, including the Pinkerton books, the Jimmy's Boa series and A Tall Tale, at a median 32 pages each. Animals, friendship, folklore, dogs and fairy tales supply the recurring subjects. The University of Findlay in Ohio gave Kellogg an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2011, and his original illustrations went to the Mazza Museum there.

Laura Joffe Numeroff

60 books• 3 series

Laura Joffe Numeroff is an American children's author and illustrator, born in 1953, known above all as the author of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. The If You Give... books form her main series, with ...Do Best and Jellybeans beside them. The catalogue records 60 Numeroff titles between Amy for Short (1976) and Ponyella (2021). Animals, friendship and stories in rhyme recur as subjects, and the median book runs 32 pages.

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.

Leo Lionni

48 books• 1 series

Leo Lionni wrote and illustrated picture books for children. Born in the Netherlands, Lionni worked as an advertising art director and then at Fortune magazine in the United States before turning to children's books in the 1960s. The 48 titles catalogued span 1948 to 2021 at a median of 32 pages, and take in Inch by Inch (1960), Swimmy (1963) and Frederick (1967); Inch by Inch won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Mice, frogs, birds, colour and friendship recur across the list.

Dr. Seuss

95 books• 4 series

Dr. Seuss is the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904–1991), an American children's author, illustrator, animator and cartoonist who adopted it as a Dartmouth College undergraduate. Geisel wrote and illustrated more than 60 books as Dr. Seuss, and sales passed 600 million copies by 1991. The catalogue lists 95 Dr. Seuss titles, beginning with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937) and including Horton Hatches the Egg (1940) and Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949); releases continue after Geisel's death, through 2026. Stories in rhyme, nonsense verse and picture books dominate the subjects, and Cat in the Hat and Horton the Elephant are among the series.

Charles M. Schulz was an American cartoonist, born in Minneapolis in 1922 and working until his death in 2000. Schulz created the comic strip Peanuts, whose cast includes Charlie Brown and Snoopy, after developing an earlier strip called Li'l Folks from 1947. United Features Syndicate renamed the redeveloped strip Peanuts and began publishing it in October 1950. The book catalogue holds 781 titles, from More Peanuts in 1954 to Snoopy, the Story of My Life in 2025, gathered into collections such as The Complete Peanuts and Peanuts Every Sunday.

Jan and Stan Berenstain wrote picture books about the Berenstain Bears. The run begins with The Big Honey Hunt (1962) and reaches 400 titles by The Berenstain Bears: Father's Day Blessings (2018). Family life, school, brothers and sisters, scouting, Christmas and Christian life supply the recurring subjects, and many of the books are told in rhyme. A median length of 32 pages places them with early readers. Publication peaked in the 1990s and the catalogue is likely complete.

Alyssa Satin Capucilli

142 books• 11 series

Alyssa Satin Capucilli, born November 2, 1957, is an American children's author whose most notable work is the Biscuit series. Biscuit, the opening book, appeared in 1996, and the series had sold more than 21 million copies worldwide by 2016. Biscuit books belong to HarperCollins' I Can Read! line. The catalogue lists 142 books from Peekaboo Bunny (1994) to Biscuit's Puppy Sleepover (2025), and other series include Katy Duck, Tulip and Rex, This Bear and Library Fish.

Jonathan London has 141 catalogued books dating from 1992 to 2022, the Froggy series among them. Froggy Gets Dressed (1992) is the earliest title, alongside The Lion Who Had Asthma and Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back from the same year. Other series include Duck and Hippo, Aaron's Wilderness, Shawn and Keeper and Brown Bear. Subjects include picture books, stories in rhyme, children's poetry, animals, wolves and imagination. Here Comes Truck Driver Hippo (2022) is the most recent title.

Tish Rabe is a children's book author who has written or adapted more than 40 Dr. Seuss books since the death of Dr. Seuss. Rabe's series include Cat in the Hat's Learning Library and Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That, and the catalogue also groups titles under Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and Disney. The 102 catalogued books start with Sing with Me My Name is Ernie (1991) and My Name Is Grover (1992) and reach The Start of Something (2022). Stories in rhyme and animals are among the subjects. Rabe lives in New York City and Mystic, Connecticut.

Lauren Child

100 books• 4 series

Lauren Child is an English children's author and illustrator, born 29 November 1965. Child created Charlie and Lola, introduced in 2000, and won the Kate Greenaway Medal for the illustration in that book; a later anniversary panel named it one of the ten best winners of the Medal's first fifty years. Her other series are Clarice Bean, Ruby Redfort and Hubert Horatio. The catalogue holds 100 titles published between 1999 and 2022, most of them picture books at a median of 32 pages.

Suzanne Williams writes children's fiction, and the subject records cite friendship, schools, magic, fairies, princesses, fairy tales and Greek mythology. The catalogue lists 58 books from Mommy Doesn't Know My Name (1990) to Aphrodite & the Dragon's Emerald (2023), with Library Lil (1997) among the early titles. Series include Grimmtastic Girls, Princess Power, Fairy Blossoms, Thunder Girls, Little Goddess Girls, Third-Grade Friends and Goddess Girls Super Special. Heroes in Training and Goddess Girls are among the linked names.

Marilyn Sadler, born 17 November 1950 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, writes for children. Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century, about a space girl sent to Earth who meets cultural clashes there, became a Disney television film, and two more Zenon films followed: Zenon: The Zequel and Zenon: Z3. The Alistair books follow a boy genius who builds a time machine, explores outer space and irons his shoelaces; titles include Alistair's Elephant (1983) and Alistair Underwater (1990). The catalogue lists 42 books through Best Bunny Brother Ever (2026), with series including P.J. Funnybunny, Bob and John and Charlie Piechart. The median book runs to 40 pages.

Marthe Jocelyn, born 1956, is a Canadian author of more than 40 children's books. The Writers' Trust of Canada gave Jocelyn the Vicky Metcalf Award for Literature for Young People in 2009, recognising a body of work judged inspirational to Canadian youth. The catalogue lists 39 books from The Invisible Day (1997) to One Kiss (2025), including Hannah and the Seven Dresses (1999), Earthly Astonishments (2000) and Mable Riley (2004). Invisible, Ready For and Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen are the series, and picture books and board books appear in the subjects.

Bernard Waber was an American children's author, best known for the Lyle the Crocodile books. The House on East 88th Street (1962) introduces Lyle, and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (1965), Lyle and the Birthday Party and Lovable Lyle continue the run; a second series follows a character named Ira. Waber's 38 catalogued titles date from 1962 to 2022 and average 48 pages, with crocodiles, cats, mice, friendship and family life among the listed subjects. Waber lived from 1921 to 2013.