Girls & women book series in reading order

by Jane O’Connor

by Carolyn Keene

by Alex Morgan

by Carolyn Keene

by Jenny Han

by James Patterson

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.

Jane O'Connor is the writer of Fancy Nancy, a children's picture book series begun in 2005 and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. The first Fancy Nancy book stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for nearly 100 weeks, and the series grew past 100 titles and 50 million copies sold, with translations into 20 languages including Hungarian and Hebrew. Nancy moved into chapter books in April 2012 with Nancy Clancy: Super Sleuth. The catalogue lists 134 O'Connor books from Yours Till Niagara Falls, Abby (1979) to Besties for Eternity (2025), across series such as Lulu the Witch, Sir Small and Miranda Bookman.

Pinkalicious anchors Victoria Kann's picture books and early readers, a character whose name mutates across the series: Pinkalicious (2009), Goldilicious (2009), Silverlicious (2011), Pinkalicious and the Pink Pumpkin (2011), Rubylicious (2021). Pink, colours, imagination, food habits and sibling humour supply the subjects across 38 titles, most of them 24 pages. Nothing new has appeared under the Kann name since 2021.

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.

Claudia Gray

38 books• 13 series

Claudia Gray is the pen name of Amy Vincent, an American novelist working in science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, cozy mystery, paranormal romance and young adult fiction. Evernight, one of the series Gray is best known for, is also the title of the first catalogued book (2008); Stargazer (2009), Hourglass (2010) and Afterlife (2011) follow. Gray's Star Wars novels include Lost Stars, Bloodline, Leia, Princess of Alderaan, Into the Dark and The Fallen Star. The 38 listed books also cover Firebird, the House of El Trilogy and Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney, and the newest title is The Fatal Unpleasantness at Netherfield (2026). Vampires, boarding schools, witches and ghosts are recorded subjects.

Jill Santopolo writes for children and for adults. The children's half of the catalogue holds the Alec Flint, Super Sleuth mysteries and the Sparkle Spa books, whose subjects are sisters, manicuring and beauty shops; the adult half holds the Light We Lost series and its treatment of love and man-woman relationships. Santopolo's 19 catalogued books span 2008 to 2025, from The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure (2008) to The Love We Found (2025). Santopolo is actively publishing.

Lauren Oliver

25 books• 5 series

Lauren Oliver, born Laura Suzanne Schechter on November 8, 1982, is an American novelist whose work includes numerous young adult novels. Before I Fall (2010) opens the catalogue and was filmed in 2017. The Delirium trilogy comprises Delirium, Pandemonium and Requiem. Amazon Studios made Panic into a series, with Oliver as creator, writer and showrunner. Liesl & Po, a middle-grade novel, was a 2012 E. B. White Read Aloud Award nominee. The catalogue lists 26 books through A Fatal Delivery (2026), with The Sleepwalker due in 2027.

Lauren Myracle

32 books• 6 series

Lauren Myracle, born in 1969, is an American writer of young adult and middle-grade fiction. The Internet Girls books - ttyl (2004), ttfn (2006) and l8r, g8r (2007) - are written in instant messages and are Myracle's best-selling titles. The Winnie Years counts off ages with Eleven (2004) and Twelve (2007), and Flower Power, Life of Ty, Wishing Day and Crestview Academy follow. Friendship, sisters, families and school are the constants across 32 catalogued books, from Joyride (2003) to Plays Well with Others (2025).

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.

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.

Alex Morgan is the name on the Kicks series, 13 children's soccer stories catalogued from 2013 to 2021 for grades 3 to 5. Saving the Team (2013) opens the list, and Sabotage Season, Win or Lose, Hat Trick, Under Pressure and In the Zone follow. Fans in the Stands (2021) is the most recent. Subject tags cover friendship, teamwork, schools, family life, self-confidence and California. The sourced record describes Alex Morgan, born 2 July 1989, as an American former professional soccer player who won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015 and 2019.

Gitty Daneshvari writes humorous children's fiction across three series: School of Fear, Ghoulfriends and League of Unexceptional Children. Class is Not Dismissed! (2010) and The Final Exam (2011) are early catalogued titles. Ghoulfriends Forever and Who's That Ghoulfriend? appeared in 2012. The League of Unexceptional Children (2015), Get Smart-ish (2016) and The Kids Who Knew Too Little (2017) are the latest titles. Subject headings name phobias, monsters, spies, schools, tweens and Monster High.

Jeanne Birdsall

11 books• 1 series

Jeanne Birdsall is an American photographer and children's author, born in 1951. The Penderwicks, the five-volume series about the Penderwick family, is the work Birdsall is best known for. The first book, The Penderwicks (2005), won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature that year. The catalogue lists 11 books for grades 3 to 5 from 2005 to 2025, including The Penderwicks at Last (2018) and The Library of Unruly Treasures (2025).