Dogs book series in reading order

by John R. Erickson

by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

by Kate Klimo

by John Grogan

by Albert Payson Terhune

by Nancy Krulik

by Kate Messner

by Marcia Thornton Jones

by Dav Pilkey

by Cynthia Rylant

by Alex T. Smith

by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

by Aaron Blabey

by Laurien Berenson

by Ben M. Baglio

by Charles M. Schulz

by Dori Hillestad Butler

by David Rosenfelt

by Justine Davis / Justine Dare

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

by Beverly Cleary

by Jane O’Connor

by Gerald Durrell

by Cynthia Lord

by Cynthia Rylant

by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

by Liz Kessler

by Nick Bruel

by Lily Small

by Ben M. Baglio

by Nancy Krulik

by Mary Pope Osborne

by Laurie Friedman

John R. Erickson is an American cowboy and author, born October 20, 1943, best known for the Hank the Cowdog series of children's novels. The catalogue lists 121 Erickson books from Through Time and the Valley (1978) to The Case of the Poison Toad (2025). The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog (1980) and The Further Adventures of Hank the Cowdog (1983) sit alongside titles such as Panhandle Cowboy (1980) and Cowboys Are Partly Human (1983). Subject tags include dogs, ranch life, humorous stories and the American West.

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.

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.

Ellen Miles writes animal stories for readers in the early school grades. The Puppy Place books, about foster puppies looking for homes, anchor a catalogue of 88 titles published between 2000 and 2026, with Kitty Corner covering cats and the 7 Sister Mysteries and Taylor-Made Tales sitting alongside. Early entries are film novelisations, including The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and Shanghai Knights. Books average 96 pages, and Milo arrived in 2026.

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.

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.

Dav Pilkey

86 books• 12 series

Dav Pilkey, born David Murray Pilkey Jr. on March 4, 1966, is an American comic book writer, author and illustrator of children's fiction. Captain Underpants and the graphic novel spin-off Dog Man are the series Pilkey is best known for. Dog Man appears under the pen names George Beard and Harold Hutchins, which are also the names of the two Captain Underpants protagonists. The catalogue holds 86 books from World War Won (1987) to A Sprinkle in Time (2026), and the Dragon, Dumb Bunnies, Ricky Ricotta and Cat Kid Comic Club lines also feature.

Nancy Krulik writes for children, and the catalogue lists Grades 1-3 as the reading level. Series credited to Krulik include Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo, How I Survived Middle School, Magic Bone, Princess Pulverizer and Project Droid, and George Brown, Class Clown appears among the characters. Subjects range across magic, schools, friendship, dogs, robots and humorous stories. The most recent listed book is Fangs for Having Us! (2021), and the catalogue marks the output as dormant.

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.

Erin Hunter is the name on 169 catalogued books, published from 2003 onward and filed as children's fantasy fiction. Into the Wild, Fire and Ice and Forest of Secrets (all 2003) are the earliest. Series listings include Warriors: The New Prophecy, Warriors: Power of Three, Warriors: Omen of the Stars, Warriors: Dawn of the Clans and Warriors: The Broken Code. Seekers, Survivors, Bravelands and Bamboo Kingdom also appear. Subjects include cats, feral cats, bears, dogs, adventure and manga. Darktail's Judgment (2026) is the newest, with False Dawn due in 2027.

W. Bruce Cameron

42 books• 8 series

Dogs and the people attached to them are the subject of W. Bruce Cameron's fiction. A Dog's Purpose (2010) opens that strand, followed by A Dog's Journey, A Dog's Way Home and the Puppy Tales retellings including Bailey's Story, with the Lily to the Rescue! books written for younger readers. Cameron also wrote the humour title 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter (2001). Forty-five books reach Piper's Story in 2025.

Dori Hillestad Butler is an American children's author, born in Fairmont, Minnesota in 1965, who has also written magazine stories, plays and educational material. Her first book, The Great Tooth Fairy Rip-Off, appeared in 1997, and the catalogue now holds 55 titles through to Rabbit Rabbit (2025). Series include Haunted Library, King & Kayla, Buddy Files, Dear Beast and Treasure Troop. The Truth about Truman School (2008) addresses cyber bullying, and My Mom's Having a Baby reached the American Library Association's 2011 list of most challenged books. Books run to a median 115 pages.

Albert Payson Terhune

59 books• 2 series

Albert Payson Terhune (1872-1942) was an American writer, journalist and dog breeder. Terhune bred collies at his Sunnybank Kennels, whose bloodlines persist in today's rough collies, and wrote the collie stories that made him popular, above all the Lad, a Dog books. The 59 catalogued titles stretch from Syria from the Saddle (1896) to a 1998 reissue, peaking in the 1920s, and cover dogs, folklore, legends and short fiction.

Bill Wallace was an American teacher who turned children's author, living from 1947 to 2012. Wallace began telling stories to quiet a fourth-grade class, and the students' response pushed him toward publishing real books. A Dog Called Kitty opened the catalogue in 1980, and 39 titles follow, with dogs, cats, pets, courage and farm life recurring. Upchuck and the Rotten Willy, Gray Cat and Bub Moose are the series, at a median of 160 pages.

Kate Klimo writes juvenile literature, and the directory files the work for grades 1 to 3. 36 books are listed between 1974 and 2019, from Heroic Horses and Their Riders (1974) to Sunny (2019). Dog Diaries, Dragon Keepers and the Centauriad are the three series headings, and subject tags name dogs, horses, dragons, magic, eggs, cousins and human-animal relationships. The Alphabets Go to the Circus, The Alphabets in the Garden and The Alphabets on the Farm all date from 1982. A few listed titles, among them Labor Pains (1988) and Coming of Age...All Over Again (2007), sit outside the children's catalogue. The run is marked likely complete.

John Joseph Grogan, born March 20, 1957, is an American journalist and writer of non-fiction. The memoir Marley and Me (2005) is a best-selling account of the Grogan family's dog, Marley. The catalogue holds 29 books published between 2005 and 2013, and titles in it carry Marley into children's fiction and picture books: Bad Dog, Marley! (2007), A Very Marley Christmas (2008), Marley Goes to School (2009), Snow Dog Marley (2010) and the Marley Picture series. Recorded subjects include dogs, Labrador retrievers, pets, biography, humorous stories and lift-the-flap books.

Barbara Allan writes the Trash 'n' Treasures Mysteries, a cozy series whose amateur sleuths are a mother and daughter dealing in antiques. The 24 catalogued books open with Antiques Roadkill (2006) and reach Antiques Web (2026), every title beginning with the word Antiques. Vivian Borne is the recurring character named in the catalogue. Murder, small-town dealing and a dog recur throughout, and the series is ongoing.

Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 - November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, among them The Runaway Bunny (1942) and Goodnight Moon (1947), both with illustrations by Clement Hurd. Brown has been called the laureate of the nursery. Brown also published as Golden MacDonald for Doubleday, as Timothy Hay for Harper & Brothers, and, with Edith Thacher Hurd, as Juniper Sage for William R. Scott. The catalogue lists 166 books, opening with When the Wind Blew (1937), then I Like Bugs and The Steam Roller (1938). Stories in rhyme, rabbits, bedtime and sound recur in the subjects.

Jon Katz

36 books• 1 series

Dogs and farm life fill the later part of Jon Katz's catalogue; crime fiction fills the earlier. Katz, born in 1947, is an American journalist and photographer who wrote for HotWired, Slashdot and Slate, and whose first books include the Suburban Detective novels and the character Kit Deleeuw. Writing on geek subculture followed, then a long sequence on the relationship between people and animals, closing with Gus's Year in 2020. Thirty-six titles in all.

Patricia MacLachlan (March 3, 1938 to March 31, 2022), born Patricia Marie Pritzkau, was an American children's writer. MacLachlan's novel Sarah, Plain and Tall won the Newbery Medal in 1986 and gave its name to a series. The catalogue holds 63 books for young readers, including the Barkus series, Arthur, for the Very First Time and My Poet (2022). Family life, dogs, grandparents, friendship and frontier life are frequent subjects.

Gertrude Chandler Warner (April 16, 1890 to August 30, 1979) was an American author who wrote mostly for children. Warner wrote the original book of The Boxcar Children, published in 1942, and the next 18 books in the series. Earlier catalogued titles include The House of Delight (1916) and The World in a Barn (1927), and Surprise Island (1949) and The Yellow House Mystery (1952) came after The Boxcar Children. Orphans, brothers and sisters, and mystery stories are among the subjects. The catalogue also carries Boxcar Children lines such as Adventures of Benny and Watch and Boxcar Children Great Adventure under Warner's name.

Brad Strickland, born William Bradley Strickland on 27 October 1947, is an American writer mainly of fantasy and science fiction, using the name Brad Strickland for all but one novel, written as Will Bradley. Strickland's The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer (2008) concluded the Lewis Barnavelt series created by John Bellairs, and Johnny Dixon also appears among the catalogue's characters. The catalogue lists 63 books from To Stand Beneath the Sun (1986) to The Stone, the Cipher, and the Shadows (2022). Series include Pirate Hunter, Thaumia, Mars Year One, Grimoire, King Kong of Skull Island and Dinotopia Digest. Subjects include children's fiction, magic, pirates, dogs and the supernatural.

Dogs are the main subject of Carol Lea Benjamin's 24 books. Benjamin began with guides such as Dog Training For Kids (1976), Dog Problems and Surviving Your Dog's Adolescence. The Rachel Alexander and Dash mysteries feature a woman private investigator, and pit bull terriers appear among their subjects. This Dog for Hire (1996) is one of the later titles, and Do Border Collies Dream of Sheep? (2010) is the final one.

American children's author Kate Messner, born in 1970 or 1971, writes mainly picture books, chapter books and middle grade novels. Messner's books have sold over five million copies in more than a dozen languages. The catalogue lists 85 books from Spitfire (2007) to Axolotl-Ella: A Sort-of Cinderella Story (2026), with Keep the Ghost Light On due in 2027. Series include History Smashers, Ranger in Time, Marty McGuire, Over and Under and Silver Jaguar Society Mysteries. Time travel, schools, dogs and history feature among the subjects.