Family problems book series in reading order

by Ellen Hopkins

by James Patterson

by Jennifer L. Holm

Stephanie Perry Moore's 66 catalogued books date from 2000 to 2023, beginning with Saved Race, Sober Faith and Staying Pure in 2000. Subjects include Christian life, African Americans, high schools, universities and colleges, dating, friendship, family problems and sisters, along with children's fiction. Series include Payton Skky, Laurel Shadrach, Carmen Browne, Perry Skky Jr., Beta Gamma Pi Novels, Yasmin Peace, Morgan Love and Sharp Sisters. Women of Color Devotional dates from 2002, and Circus Web (2023) is the most recent title.

Ellen Hopkins

44 books• 7 series

Ellen Hopkins, born March 26, 1955, is a novelist with several New York Times bestselling titles, read largely by a teenage and young adult audience. Novels in verse are a recorded form in the catalogue, which takes in family problems, emotional problems and interpersonal relations. Hopkins also has a nonfiction strand for younger readers, and the earliest catalogued titles include Air Devils (2000), Orcas: High Seas Supermen (2000), Freshwater Fishing (2001) and The Thunderbirds (2001). The 44 catalogued books span 2000 to 2024 and take in the Crank, Burned and Tricks series.

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.

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.

Susan Beth Pfeffer (1948-2025) was an American author of young adult and science fiction. After 35 years of writing she reached a wider readership with The Last Survivors, a post-apocalyptic sequence, several volumes of which made the New York Times bestseller list. The Sebastian Sisters, Kid Power, Portraits of Little Women and April and Darcy are among her earlier series. Seventy-six titles run from Just Morgan (1970) to The Shade of the Moon (2013).

Jennifer L. Holm

66 books• 13 series

Jennifer L. Holm, born in 1968, writes for children in both prose and comics, and holds three Newbery Honors and an Eisner Award. Babymouse, an imaginative mouse at school, recurs across the Babymouse and BIG Adventures of Babymouse books, with Squish, Sunny, My First Comics and Evil Princess vs. the Brave Knight as the other graphic series. May Amelia, Boston Jane, Turtle in Paradise and The Fourteenth Goldfish sit alongside them in prose. Holm's 66 catalogued books run from Our Only May Amelia (1999) to Sunny Figures It Out (2025), at a median of 126 pages.

Susan Richards Shreve is an American novelist, memoirist and children's author, with fifteen novels, thirty children's books and the memoir Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood (2007) to the name. Shreve co-founded the MFA in Creative Writing programme at George Mason University in 1980 and teaches fiction writing there, and co-founded the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. Joshua T. Bates and Lucy Forever are the children's series; schools, family life and divorce recur as subjects. The listing holds 51 titles dated 1974 to 2021.

Lauraine Snelling is an American author of Christian fiction who has published since 1982. Snelling's historical series draw on Norwegian immigration and the author's own heritage. The Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame inducted Snelling in 2012 at Norsk Høstfest, and sales exceed 5 million copies. The catalogue counts 102 books, from Tragedy on the Toutle (1982) to Fair Are the Meadows (2026). Series include Golden Filly, High Hurdles, Red River of the North, Dakota Plains, Daughters of Blessing and Leah's Garden, with horses, pioneer life and North Dakota among the subjects.

Abbi Glines writes contemporary and young adult romance, with dating, family trouble and love triangles across the subjects. Sea Breeze, Rosemary Beach, Field Party, the Vincent Boys, the Existence trilogy and the Smoke series carry the catalogue, which holds 85 books from Breathe (2011) to Up To No Good. Alabama and rock musicians appear among the settings and occupations.

Mary Downing Hahn writes ghost stories and mysteries for young readers. Born in 1937 and once a school librarian, Hahn published The Sara Summer in 1979 and has 41 catalogued books through The Old Willis Place (2024). Wait Till Helen Comes and Stepping On The Cracks are among the best known titles, and the Gordy Smith books form the one named series. Ghosts, witches, stepfamilies and family life recur as subjects.

Lurlene McDaniel, born April 5, 1944 in Philadelphia, is an American author of more than 70 young adult books, known for stories of young people facing mortality and chronic illness. McDaniel began writing on the subject as a therapeutic response after a son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 3. The characters face cancer, diabetes, organ failure and the deaths of loved ones. The catalogue counts 82 books from A Horse for Mandy (1981) to The Girl with the Broken Heart (2018), with series such as One Last Wish, Dawn Rochelle, Angels Trilogy and Angels in Pink. McDaniel graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa and lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

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.

Ann Rinaldi was an American journalist and young adult novelist, known above all for historical fiction, who lived from August 27, 1934 to July 1, 2021. Rinaldi worked as a newspaper columnist before writing novels, eight of which the ALA named notable. In 2000, Wolf by the Ears (1991) was listed among the best young adult novels of the preceding twenty-five years. Rinaldi also contributed to the Dear America series. The catalogue holds 48 books from Term Paper (1980) to Leigh Ann's Civil War (2011), including The Last Silk Dress (1988) and A Break with Charity (1992).

Claudia Mills, born August 21, 1954, in New York City, is an American children's author and an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder. The catalogue lists 64 books from Luisa's American Dream (1981) to The Lost Language (2021). Series include Gus and Grandpa, West Creek Middle School, Franklin School Friends, Dinah, Mason Dixon and Nora Notebooks. Subjects include schools, friendship, grandparents, brothers and sisters, and popularity.

Kody Keplinger, an American writer of young adult and middle grade books, was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, on 8 August 1991. The DUFF (2010) was Keplinger's first novel, written at age 17, and was later made into a film under the same title. In 2021 Keplinger wrote a graphic novel for the DC antihero Poison Ivy, and the catalogue lists Poison Ivy: Thorns (2021). Hamilton High is the series on the site, and the 11 catalogued books run to Where Lost Girls Go (2026), with Shut Out (2011), The Swift Boys & Me (2014), Lying Out Loud (2015) and That's Not What Happened (2018) among them. Subject headings include high schools, dating, best friends and secrecy.

John Grisham

65 books• 11 series

Legal thrillers are the core of John Grisham's work. Grisham is an American writer, lawyer and former politician, born in 1955, who studied at Mississippi State University and took a law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1981. The catalogue holds 65 books, running from A Time to Kill (1989) through The Firm, The Pelican Brief and The Client to Shaken (2026). Series include Jake Brigance, Mitch McDeere, Camino Island, Rogue Lawyer and Theodore Boone. The American Academy of Achievement credits Grisham with 37 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers and 300 million copies sold.

Philip Pullman

51 books• 10 series

Philip Pullman's catalogue covers fantasy and children's adventure, with detective stories, fairy tales and graphic novels alongside. His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust are the sequences it is built around, joined by the Sally Lockhart mysteries, the New Cut Gang, the Canongate Myths and The Adventures of John Blake. Sixty-five catalogued titles run from The Haunted Storm (1972) through The Ruby in the Smoke (1985) to The Rose Field in 2025.

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.

Rebecca Serle is an American novelist and television writer with 11 catalogued books, from When You Were Mine (2012) to Once and Again (2026). The Famous in Love series became a young adult television series on Freeform, and In Five Years (2020) was a New York Times best seller. Other titles include The Edge of Falling (2014), The Dinner List (2018), One Italian Summer (2022), The Magician (2023) and Expiration Dates (2024). Love, fame, dating, family problems and high schools are recorded subjects.

Phyllis A. Whitney

77 books• 2 series

Phyllis A. Whitney published across five decades: 77 catalogued books, from A Place for Ann (1941) to Amethyst Dreams (1997), with the 1960s the busiest decade. The work splits between mystery, suspense and romance for adults and fiction written for younger readers, so early titles such as A Star for Ginny (1942) and The Mystery of the Gulls (1949) sit beside later romantic suspense. Whitney also wrote on craft, including Writing Juvenile Fiction (1947). Murder, detection, families and fathers and daughters are the recurring subjects.

Jason Reynolds

23 books• 3 series

Jason Reynolds, born on 6 December 1983 in Washington, D.C., and raised in Oxon Hill, Maryland, writes novels and poetry for young adult and middle grade readers. Rap was an early inspiration, and several poetry collections came before the first Reynolds novel, When I Was the Greatest (2014), winner of the John Steptoe Award for New Talent. The New York Times bestselling Track series comprises Ghost (2016), Patina (2017), Sunny (2018) and Lu (2018). The catalogue lists 23 Reynolds books, from My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. (2009) to Coach (2025), including All American Boys (2015) and Long Way Down (2017).

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.

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.

Caroline B. Cooney (born May 10, 1947) is an American writer of suspense, romance, horror and mystery for young adults. The catalogue counts 93 books from 1979 to The Wrong Good Deed (2023). Janie Johnson, Both Sides Of Time/Time Travelers, Losing Christina and Vampire's Promise are series. Early titles include Rear-View Mirror (1980), He Loves Me Not (1982) and Holly in Love (1983). Subjects include high schools, friendship, identity, popularity and vampires.