Diaries book series in reading order

by Ben M. Baglio

by Patricia Finney

by Laurie Friedman

by Carolyn Keene

by Sue Townsend

by Tim Collins

Meg Cabot

102 books• 20 series

Meggin Patricia Cabot, born February 1, 1967, is an American novelist of young adult and adult fiction. Meg Cabot wrote The Princess Diaries, a young adult series Walt Disney Pictures adapted into two feature films. Awards include the ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers and the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award. The catalogue lists 102 books from Where Roses Grow Wild (1998) to Kissing Cowboys (2026), including titles as Patricia Cabot and Jenny Carroll. Other series include Mediator, Heather Wells, Allie Finkle's Rules For Girls, Airhead and Little Bridge Island.

Jeff Kinney

32 books• 4 series

Jeff Kinney (Jeffrey Patrick Kinney, born February 19, 1971) is an American author and illustrator who created, writes and draws the Diary of a Wimpy Kid children's books. Kinney also created the children's website Poptropica. The catalogue holds 32 books, beginning with Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007) and followed by Rodrick Rules (2008), The Last Straw (2009), Dog Days (2009), The Ugly Truth (2010) and Cabin Fever (2010). The newest title is Fight or Flight (2026). Subjects include diaries, middle school, family life, friendship and vacations, and the listing also includes Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid.

Rachel Renee Russell

21 books• 3 series

Rachel Renée Russell, born March 13, 1959, created Dork Diaries and its spin-off The Misadventures of Max Crumbly. Russell grew up in Saint Joseph, Michigan, studied at Northwestern University and then law school. Dork Diaries uses a diary format with doodles and comic strips to record Nikki Maxwell's struggle through middle school, drawing on Russell's own middle school years, and Russell's daughter Nikki illustrates it. The 21 titles open with Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life (2009) and reach Tales from a Not-So-Bratty Little Sister (2024).

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.

This catalogue entry, credited to Sharon Dennis Wyeth and various authors, gathers 17 children's historical fiction titles written as diaries, published from 2000 to 2004. Recorded subjects include the Underground Railroad, fugitive slaves, Jamestown, frontier and pioneer life, overland journeys to the Pacific and rural schools. My Brother's Keeper (2000) and Our Strange New Land (2000) are the earliest, and An American Spring (2004) is the newest. The Starving Time (2002) and Westward To Home (2001) are also on the list. The books are short, with a median of 108 pages.

Guardians of Ga'Hoole is one of the series by Kathryn Lasky, an American children's writer born June 24, 1944, who writes for adults as Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann. Lasky's children's work also includes Dear America and The Royal Diaries books, Wolves of the Beyond, Sugaring Time and The Night Journey, and honours include a Newbery Honor, the National Jewish Book Award and the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature. The catalogue holds 159 books from I Have Four Names for My Grandfather (1976) to Sacred Light (2026), including Tugboats Never Sleep (1977), The Weaver's Gift (1980) and Beyond the Divide (1983). Horses Of The Dawn, Bears Of The Ice and Camp Princess are further series, and subjects name owls, wolves, diaries and Jews.

Laurie Friedman writes children's fiction, with 159 books catalogued from A Big Bed for Jed (2002) to Duck and Dog Bake a Pie (2022). Mallory McDonald is a recurring character, and titles include Back to School, Mallory (2004), Mallory vs. Max (2004) and Happy Birthday, Mallory! (2005). The Mostly Miserable Life of April Sinclair also appears in the listing. Friedman's series include Mallory McDonald, Ruby Valentine, Spots and Stripes, Chef Kate, Beans, Moose and Silly Milly. Subjects include friendship, family life, school, diaries, dating and stories in rhyme. The median book runs to 159 pages.

Kristiana Gregory and various others is a shared credit on 16 historical fiction books for Grades 3-5, dated 1996 to 2012. Subject tags include diaries, frontier and pioneer life, overland journeys to the Pacific, the Mayflower and the Pilgrims, emigration and African Americans. The Winter of Red Snow (1996) and A Journey to the New World (1996) are the earliest titles. Others include Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie (1997), Standing in the Light (1999), Seeds of Hope (2001) and A Coal Miner's Bride (2002), and Behind The Masks (2012) is the last.

Marcus Emerson writes for readers in grades 3 to 5. Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja is his longest sequence, joined by Ben Braver, Recess Warriors, Secret Agent 6th Grader, Kid YouTuber, Adventure Club and Dodge Ball Wars. 106 catalogued books run from Adventure Club #1 (2012) to Short Cuts: Arcade Gamer (2026). Middle school students, ninjas, diaries and talent shows are the recurring subjects, and the median book runs 136 pages.

May Sarton was the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (1912-1995), a Belgian and American novelist, poet and memoirist. Sarton came out as a lesbian in the writing in 1965, at a time when that was rare. Poetry opens the catalogue with Encounter in April (1937) and Inner Landscape (1939); novels follow from The Bridge of Years (1946), and diaries make up a third strand. 54 titles are catalogued through 2024, averaging 214 pages, with the 1990s the busiest decade.

Louise Rennison (1951–2016) was an English comedian who wrote comic fiction for teenage girls. The Confessions of Georgia Nicolson sets down the diary of a teenager and her friends, the Ace Gang, starting with Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (1999); the first two books became the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. The Misadventures of Tallulah Casey follows Georgia's younger cousin. The catalogue holds 17 titles, ending with The Taming of the Tights (2013).

Tim Collins has 78 books in the catalogue, published between 2005 and 2024. Early titles include Are You a Geek?, School Rules and The Little Book of Internet Dating (all 2005), and Diary of a Wimpy Vampire appeared in 2010. Subjects on record include humor, handbooks, children's fiction, diaries, vampires, werewolves and schools. Series include Monster Island, Cosmic Colin, Horror Hotel, League of Enchanted Heroes and Adventures Of Sherlock Bones. Sherlock Bones and the Mischief in Manhattan (2024) is the newest title.

L.M. Montgomery

57 books• 9 series

Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 to April 24, 1942) was a Canadian author who published as L. M. Montgomery. Anne of Green Gables (1908) began the body of work Montgomery is known for, and the orphan Anne Shirley brought Montgomery fame and an international readership. The career produced 20 novels plus more than a thousand short stories and poems, alongside essays. The catalogue lists 57 books, from Anne of Green Gables to editions dated 2025, and holds the Anne Shirley, Emily and Silver Bush series and the published journals.

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.

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.

George Orwell

67 books• 3 series

George Orwell's catalogue divides between fiction and reportage: Down and Out in Paris and London (1933), Burmese Days (1934), The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), Homage to Catalonia (1938) and Animal Farm (1945) stand among the titles. Essays, diaries and correspondence account for much of the rest, gathered in the Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters. Sixty-six titles are catalogued, the earliest A Hanging (1931) and the latest an edition dated 2022.

Ben M. Baglio, born in New York City in 1960, is an American author who created the brief for two children's book series, Animal Ark and Dolphin Diaries. Animal Ark features Mandy Hope, the child of vets, who helps injured animals and solves animal mysteries. Dolphin Diaries follows a Florida family of marine biologists who study dolphins around the world. Commissioned writers produced the books under Baglio's instruction, and UK editions used the pseudonym Lucy Daniels. The catalogue also lists Animal Ark Pets, Animal Ark Hauntings and Pet Finders Club.

Carolyn Meyer, born June 8, 1935, is an American author of novels for children and young adults, working chiefly in historical fiction. Meyer wrote the Young Royals series and contributed to The Royal Diaries series from Scholastic. The catalogue lists 56 books starting with Miss Patch's Learn-to-Sew Book (1969), and early entries include Amish People: Plain Living In A Complex World (1976). Other series are Hotline and Dog Vacations, and subjects include history, kings and queens, princesses, diaries and African Americans.

Kristiana Gregory writes children's historical fiction. Diaries are the recurring form, with frontier and pioneer life, the American West, the Pony Express and Native American history among the subjects; Gregory contributed several volumes to the Dear America and Royal Diaries series. Jenny of the Tetons (1989) opens the catalogue and took the Golden Kite Award for Fiction. Oppenheim Toy Portfolio picked the Dear America diary Seeds of Hope: The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild as its Best Book of the Year. The 36 listed titles run to The Shadow at Shark Cove (2019), and the Cabin Creek Mysteries, Prairie River and the Legend of Jimmy Spoon are the series under Gregory's name.

Rebecca Elliot writes early chapter books and picture books for readers in grades 1 to 3. Owls, diaries, elementary schools, ghosts, jealousy, and belief and doubt are the subjects recorded across the 23 titles, which run from Eva Sees a Ghost (2015) to Legend of the Sea Dragon (2026). Eva and the New Owl (2016), Warm Hearts Day (2016), Baxter is Missing (2017), Eva's Big Sleepover (2018), Bo's Magical New Friend (2019) and Bo the Brave (2020) appear in the run. Elliot remains actively publishing.

Kyla May writes children's fiction for grades 1 to 3, with 20 books from 2013 to 2026. Four My titles came first in 2013: My Delicious Life, My Glamorous Life, My New Life and My Stylish Life, and diaries appear among the subjects. A run of Pug books followed from 2019, including Pug Blasts Off, Pug's Snow Day, Scaredy Pug and Pug's Road Trip. Subjects also include friendship, school, neighbors and dogs. Pug's Cupcake (2026) is the latest title.

Virginia Woolf

74 books• 6 series

Modernist writing in English owes a great deal to Virginia Woolf, who lived from 1882 to 1941 and did more than most to establish stream-of-consciousness narration as a working technique. Woolf was born in South Kensington, the seventh child of Leslie Stephen and Julia Prinsep Jackson, and grew up among eight siblings, the painter Vanessa Bell among them. The catalogue collects her diaries, journals, letters and Collected Essays, together with biography and criticism of Woolf herself.

Mary Pope Osborne

166 books• 9 series

Mary Pope Osborne, born May 20, 1949, is an American children's author and audiobook narrator best known for the Magic Tree House series, which had sold more than 134 million copies worldwide by 2017. Awards have gone to both the series and Osborne, including recognition for work promoting children's literacy. Osborne attended the University of North Carolina and published a first book in 1982. The catalogue counts 166 Osborne books, from Run, Run, As Fast As You Can (1982) to Sea Otter Sunrise (2025). Time travel, tree houses, history, folklore and Greek mythology appear among the subjects.

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.