Inventions book series in reading order

by Ada Hopper

by Jessica Young

Sigmund Brouwer, born in 1959, is a Canadian author writing for children, young adults and adults, with more than 100 titles and four million books in print. Dead Man's Switch won the 2015 Arthur Ellis Award for best Canadian young adult mystery, and Shock Wave won the same award in 2025. Thief of Glory, a novel for adults, was named Book of the Year at the Christy Awards and also won an Alberta Readers Choice Award. The Last Disciple, co-authored with Hank Hanegraaff, was featured in Time magazine. The catalogue holds 162 books from Lost Beneath Manhattan (1990) to A Dangerous Game (2026), across series such as Accidental Detectives, Mars Diaries, Winds of Light, Lightning on Ice, Cyberquest and Robot Wars.

Gordon Korman

119 books• 22 series

Gordon Korman is a Canadian writer of children's and young adult fiction whose books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. The catalogue holds 119 titles, from This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall! (1977) to Sleepless (2026). Subject tags cover schools, friendship, humorous stories, adventure, mystery and detective stories, and shipwrecks. Series headings include Swindle Mysteries, Masterminds, Everest, Dive, Titanic, Ungifted and the Monday Night Football Club. Gordon Korman remains actively publishing.

Andrea Beaty writes children's picture books, catalogued for grades 1 to 3, with subjects such as inventions, stories in rhyme, humorous stories, perseverance, architects and women inventors. The 21 books run from Iggy Peck, Architect (2007) to Billie Jean Peet, Athlete (2025). Other titles include Rosie Revere, Engineer (2013), Ada Twist, Scientist (2016), Sofia Valdez, Future Prez (2019) and Aaron Slater, Illustrator (2021). Andrea Beaty is still publishing.

Ada Hopper writes children's science fiction and adventure, and the catalogue holds 10 books from 2016 to 2022, with DATA Set as the named series. Don't Disturb the Dinosaurs (2016) is the first listed book. A Case of the Clones, March of the Mini Beasts, Robots Rule the School and The Sky Is Falling are also 2016 titles, and Invasion of the Insects and Out of Remote Control date from 2017. Down the Brain Drain (2020) and S.O.S. from Outer Space (2022) come later, and The Revenge of Dr. von Naysayer (2022) is the newest. Subject headings include clubs, inventions, cloning, time travel, robots, dinosaurs and extraterrestrial beings.

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.

Bill Myers is an American Christian author, film director and film producer, born in Seattle, Washington on September 9, 1953. The animated series McGee and Me! is the work Myers is most noted for. Myers writes across comedy, horror, thriller, fiction and nonfiction. The catalogue holds 132 books, from My Friend William Moved Away (1979) to Commune (2023), with the 1990s as the busiest decade. Series include Incredible Worlds of Wally McDoogle, Forbidden Doors, Bloodhounds Inc., TJ and the Time Stumblers and Secret Agent Dingledorf and His Trusty Dog, SPLAT. Catalogue subjects cover Christian life, children's fiction, humorous stories, time travel and spies.

Steven Johnson

14 books

Steven Berlin Johnson, born June 6, 1968, is an American author of popular science and history, and also a TV and podcast host and software creator. Fourteen books are catalogued, from Interface Culture (1997) to Extra Life (2021). The Ghost Map (2006), Where Good Ideas Come From (2010) and How We Got to Now (2014) are among them. Subject headings include nonfiction, invention, information technology and the information society.

Emma E. L. Young carries the credit on 11 catalogued books published between 2007 and 2025. Catalogue subjects record genius, inventions, inventors, scientists, burglary and secret societies. The earlier titles are The Infinity Code (2007), The Ghostmaster / The Ghost Machine (2007), The Black Sphere (2008), The Viper Club (2008) and The Death Web (2009); Israel (2008) carries the name E.L. Young. Later entries run The Untold Kiss (2014), Sane (2015), She, Myself, and I (2017) and All The Strangers I've Ever Loved (2025). S.T.O.R.M. and Harlem are the series recorded here.

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.

Ridley Pearson

56 books• 11 series

Ridley Pearson, born March 13, 1953, is an American author of suspense, thriller and adventure books, several of which have made The New York Times Best Seller list. The catalogue lists 56 titles, opening with Never Look Back (1985) and Blood of the Albatross (1986). Undercurrents (1988), Probable Cause (1990) and The Angel Maker (1993) are among the earlier books, and Tiana's Bayou Adventure (2026) is the newest. Series include Boldt & Matthews, Walt Fleming, Risk Agent, Lock and Key, Steel Trapp and Kingdom Keepers. Subject tags name Lou Boldt, Daphne Matthews and police psychologists, alongside children's fiction and fantasy.

Gilbert Morris produced Christian historical fiction at length: 248 catalogued books between 1977 and 2014. The House of Winslow follows one family across American history; the Appomattox Saga and Bonnets & Bugles take up the Civil War; Cheney Duvall, M.D. follows a woman physician; the Seven Sleepers, Dixie Morris and Too Smart Jones series sit alongside, with children's fiction among the subjects. The catalogue opens with Race Against Time (1977), reaches Raina's Choice, and is listed as likely complete.

Andrew Clements

83 books• 10 series

Andrew Clements (May 29, 1949 to November 28, 2019) was an American children's author. Frindle, the first Clements novel, won an award decided by the votes of schoolchildren in about 20 U.S. states, and received the 2016 Phoenix Award, given to a book that missed a major prize on first publication. The catalogue lists 83 books from Bird Adalbert (1985) to The Frindle Files (2024). Schools, teachers, friendship and dogs recur in the subjects. The Clements series include Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School, Jake Drake, Pets to the Rescue and Real Monsters.

Dan Gutman

198 books• 23 series

Dan Gutman is an American writer of mainly children's fiction, born in 1955. The best-known lines are the My Weird School books, The Genius Files and the Baseball Card Adventures, which began with Honus & Me. The catalogue holds 198 books from It Ain't Cheating If You Don't Get Caught (1990) to Mrs. Towne Is a Clown! (2026), including early baseball titles such as Baseball Babylon (1992). Subjects include schools, teachers, baseball, time travel and humorous stories.

Sharon Cameron writes young readers' fiction that moves between invention, memory and history. Nine books are catalogued, from The Dark Unwinding (2012) to Up from the Ashes (2026). The Dark Unwinding series pairs with A Spark Unseen (2013), and The Forgetting (2016) and The Knowing (2017) form a second pair built on amnesia. Rook (2015), The Light in Hidden Places (2020), Bluebird (2021) and Artifice (2023) stand outside the series.

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.

Kenneth Oppel, born in Port Alberni in 1967, is a Canadian children's writer who grew up in Victoria and Halifax and also lived in Newfoundland and Labrador, England and Ireland. He wrote his first book, Colin's Fantastic Video Adventure, in 1985 while at St Michaels University School; a family friend passed the manuscript to Roald Dahl, who recommended it to his agent. Silverwing, Matt Cruse, Overthrow, the Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein and Barnes and The Brains are his series. Thirty-eight titles reach Best of All Worlds (2025).

Tracey West, born October 1, 1965, is a children's author who writes for licensed series such as Pokémon and SpongeBob SquarePants. The catalogue lists 356 titles from 1988 to 2027, reaching Heart of the Ruby Dragon (2026), with Claw of the Diamond Dragon due in 2027. Named series include Pokémon chapter books, novelizations and readers, Naruto Chapter Books, LEGO Ninjago Reader, Bakugan Chapter Books, Pixie Tricks, Pet Vet Club and Scream Shop Pick Your Path. Dragon Masters and Heroes in Training appear as recurring lines. Ninja, dragons and plot-your-own stories appear among the subject headings.

Alexander Gordon Smith

44 books• 7 series

Alexander Gordon Smith, born 27 February 1979 in Norwich, England, writes fiction for children and young adults. Catalogue subjects include prisons, horror, science fiction, demonology, monsters and inventors. Series credited to Smith are Escape from Furnace, Devil's Engine, Inventors, DCI Kett, DI Harrison Baird and Softley Softley Thrillers. The Inventors (2007), Death Sentence (2009) and Lockdown (2009) are among the titles, and Until Death (2026) is the newest release.

David Macaulay

32 books• 2 series

David Macaulay, born 1946, is a British-born American illustrator and writer whose books explain how buildings and machines are made. Cathedral (1973) opens a catalogue of 32 titles, followed by City, Pyramid, Underground and Castle through the 1970s. The Way Things Work (1988) and its revisions, The New Way Things Work (1998) and The Way Things Work Now (2016), form the other long thread. Macaulay took the 1991 Caldecott Medal for Black and White and a MacArthur Fellowship in 2006; Mammoth Science (2020) is the newest title.

Jessica Young writes children's books about friendship, school, pets and imagination. My Blue Is Happy (2013) is the first of 21 books. Art-Rageous, Nature Calls, New and Improved and Original Recipe all appeared in 2015. Finley Flowers, Haggis and Tank Unleashed and Fairylight Friends are the three series. Baby's Here! (2022) is the most recent title.