Inventors book series in reading order

by Victor Appleton

Victor Appleton is the name on the Tom Swift books, and the catalogue lists 161 titles under the Victor Appleton name from 1910 to 2023. Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle, Tom Swift and His Motor-Boat, Tom Swift and His Airship and Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat all date from 1910, the start of the peak decade. The series credited to Appleton are Tom Swift I, Tom Swift Jr., Tom Swift III, Tom Swift IV, Tom Swift Invention, Tom Swift: Inventors' Academy and Tom Swift, Young Inventor, plus Don Sturdy and Moving Picture Boys. Subjects include inventors, robots, space flight, science fiction and children's adventure. Tom Swift and His Flying RaceYacht (2023) is the newest listed title.

Who HQ is the credit on 429 children's nonfiction biographies in the catalogue, published from 2002 to 2026. The run opens with Who Was Albert Einstein?, Who Was Amelia Earhart? and Who Was Ben Franklin? (all 2002) and reaches Who Is Vera Wang (2026). Subjects include biography, history and juvenile nonfiction for readers aged 8 to 12. Other names credited on some of the books include Megan Stine (7), John Hinderliter (7) and Nico Medina (4).

Crime fiction accounts for much of Jo Nesbo's catalogue, which holds 31 books published between 1997 and 2026. Harry Hole is the recurring character of the longest series credited to Nesbo, a run that opens with The Bat (1997) and takes in The Redbreast (2000), The Devil's Star (2003) and The Snowman (2007). Catalogue subjects list police, murder, investigation, serial murder investigation and Norway, along with humorous stories, inventors and flatulence from the Doctor Proctor books. Blood on Snow, standalone novels and short fiction complete the listing. Kill Shot (2026) is the newest title, and Nesbo continues to publish.

Jon Scieszka, born September 8, 1954, is an American author of picture books such as The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! and Math Curse, often illustrated by Lane Smith. The Time Warp Trio novels for young readers were written to teach history, and Scieszka founded Guys Read, an online program encouraging boys to read. The Librarian of Congress appointed Scieszka the first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, serving 2008 and 2009. The catalogue lists 86 books, including The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992) and the Frank Einstein and Trucktown series.

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.

David Baldacci

71 books• 16 series

David Baldacci is an American novelist, born on 5 August 1960, who trained as an attorney and writes mostly suspense fiction and legal thrillers. The catalogue lists 72 Baldacci books, starting with Absolute Power (1996); All In appeared in 2026 and Boom Town is scheduled for 2027. Recurring leads include Amos Decker, Will Robie, John Puller, Atlee Pine and Aloysius Archer, alongside the Camel Club and the Sean King & Michelle Maxwell books. Baldacci novels have been published in more than 80 countries and 45 languages, with worldwide sales above 130 million copies.

Regency England is where Andrea Penrose sets her work, split between historical mystery and historical romance. Wrexford and Sloane is the current mystery series, preceded by the Lady Arianna Hadley books. Penrose has also published as Andrea Pickens, for the Intrepid Heroines, Merlin's Maidens, Lessons in Love, Scandalous Secrets and Dangerous Liaisons series, and as Cara Elliott for Circle of Sin and Lords of Midnight. The catalogue reaches 51 titles from The Defiant Governess (1997) to The Price of Paradise.

Karen Ranney (February 5, 1963 - June 15, 2020) wrote historical and paranormal romance. The 59 catalogued books run from Tapestry (1995) to The Wizard (2020), with Scotland, the nobility, widows and social life and customs among the recorded subjects. Series in the listing include the Highland Lords, Clan Sinclair, the Montgomery Chronicles, the MacIain books, the Duke Trilogy and the Murder Club Murders.

Mark Kurlansky

44 books• 2 series

Mark Kurlansky, born December 7, 1948, is an American journalist who writes fiction and non-fiction. Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World (1997) became an international bestseller in more than fifteen languages. Nonviolence: Twenty-five Lessons From the History of a Dangerous Idea (2006) won the 2007 Dayton Literary Peace Prize for non-fiction. The catalogue lists 44 books from A Continent of Islands (1992) to To Catch a Fish (2026), including The Basque History of the World (1999), Salt (2002) and 1968 (2003).

Elisabetta Dami

309 books• 22 series

Elisabetta Dami, born 1 January 1958, is an Italian children's author known for the Geronimo Stilton book series. The catalogue credits Dami with 309 books from 1998 to 2026. Titles from 2000 include Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye, Attack Of The Bandit Cats and Four Mice Deep in the Jungle. Other listings include Geronimo Stilton: Thea Stilton, Mouseford Academy, Kingdom Of Fantasy, Geronimo Stilton Cavemice, Geronimo Stilton Spacemice and Creepella von Cacklefur. Subjects include mice, journalists, time travel and humorous stories. The Legend of Chocolate Hills (2026) is the newest title.

Walter J. Boyne (February 2, 1929 to January 9, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, command pilot, combat veteran and aviation historian. Boyne wrote more than 50 books and over 1,000 magazine articles, served as a director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum and chaired the National Aeronautic Association. The catalogue lists 50 books from The Jet Age (1979) to Golden Age of Flight (2020), including Messerschmitt Me 262 (1980), Boeing B 52 (1981), Phantom in Combat (1985) and The Wild Blue: The Novel of the U.S. Air Force (1986). Subjects cover military airplanes, jet planes, air warfare, the US Air Force and Operation Desert Shield. Jet Age Trilogy is the series listed.

Chris Riddell

48 books• 6 series

Chris Riddell, born 13 April 1962 in South Africa, is an English illustrator, an occasional writer of children's books and a political cartoonist for the Observer. Riddell has won three Kate Greenaway Medals, and books written or illustrated by Riddell have taken three Nestlé Smarties Book Prizes. Riddell became UK Children's Laureate on 9 June 2015. The catalogue lists 48 books from Ben and the Bear (1986) to Poems to Save the World With (2020), with series such as Goth Girl, Ottoline, Platypus, Alienography and Cloud Horse Chronicles. Subjects include picture books, bears, humorous stories and friendship.

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.

Zita the Spacegirl is Ben Hatke's graphic novel trilogy for young readers: Zita the Spacegirl (2011), Legends of Zita the Spacegirl (2012) and The Return of Zita the Spacegirl (2014). The story sends a girl across other planets and into encounters with robots, inventors and extraterrestrial beings. Three books are catalogued here, each around 203 pages of comics.