Mermaids book series in reading order

Debra S. Dadey, born May 18, 1959 in Morganfield, Kentucky, is an American writer and co-writer of 162 books. Seventy-four of those are Bailey School Kids titles written with Marcia Jones, split into 51 in the main Adventures of the Bailey School Kids sequence, 9 Jr. Chapter Books and 14 Special Editions. Dadey taught first grade and worked as a librarian before writing full time, and the award-winning books for reluctant readers carry imprints including Scholastic, Tor/Starscape, Hyperion, Delacorte and Bloomsbury USA. This listing holds 48 titles from 1995 to 2022, with Marcia Thornton Jones credited on 2. Mermaid Tales, Marty, Swamp Monster in the Third Grade and Slime Wars are the series on record.

Liz Kessler, born 15 October 1966, is an English children's author. Emily Windsnap, a half-mermaid, is the central figure of Kessler's most notable series. The catalogue holds 32 books from 2003 to 2025, opening with The Tail of Emily Windsnap (2003) and reaching Emily Windsnap and the Crystal Caves (2025). Other series are Philippa Fisher and Poppy, and the subjects include mermaids, fairies, magic and friendship.

Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen is credited with 65 books from Chemotherapy (2003) to Princess Kira's Kiwi Jubilee (2024), catalogued for grades 1 to 3. Early titles include AIDS (2004), The Eiffel Tower (2005) and Last-Minute Science Fair Projects (2006). Subject tags cover mermaids, cats, princesses, pirates, magic and experiments. Bardhan-Quallen series include Purrmaids, Mermicorns, Adventures of Caveboy and Disney Princess: Merida.

Jennifer Donnelly

18 books• 2 series

Jennifer Donnelly, born 16 August 1963, is an American novelist working in young adult and historical fiction. A Northern Light, published in Britain as A Gathering Light, won the 2003 Carnegie Medal, was later picked by a panel as one of the ten best winners in the medal's history, and made Time's 2015 list of the 100 best young adult books. Donnelly's 18 catalogued books stretch from Humble Pie (2002) to Beastly Beauty (2024) and include the Tea Rose novels and the Waterfire Saga, with mermaids, magic and the First World War among the subjects.

MaryJanice Davidson is an American author who writes mainly paranormal romance, along with young adult fiction and non-fiction, and who created the Undead series. Davidson is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and won a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award in 2004, with a further nomination in 2005. Davidson grew up moving between military bases as the child of a United States Air Force airman and lives in Minnesota. The catalogue lists 87 books from 1998 to 2025, including Undead and Unwed (2002), Thief of Hearts (2001) and The Royal Treatment (2002), with The Reluctant Reaper (2025) the newest. Series include Queen Betsy, Wyndham Werewolf, Jennifer Scales, Fred The Mermaid, Cadence Jones and Alaskan Royal Family.

Tracy Wolff

71 books• 22 series

Tracy Wolff is the professional name of Tracy Deebs-Elkenaney, an American young adult author best known for the Crave series, who also writes as Tessa Adams. The catalogue lists 73 Wolff books, from No Apologies (2008) to It's Always Us (2026), with Mythfall scheduled for 2027. Other Wolff series include Dragon's Heat, Ethan Frost, Vilified, Shaken Dirty, Extreme Risk, Lone Star Witch, Diamond Tycoons, Fort Worth Wranglers, His Royal Hotness and Calder Academy. Subjects include romantic suspense, paranormal romance, erotica and mermaids.

Joey W. Hill writes erotic romance and paranormal erotica. Sixty-six books are catalogued between 2000 and 2025, across the Nature Of Desire, Knights Of The Board Room, Mistresses Of The Board Room, Arcane Shot, Daughters Of Arianne and Cantrips series, with Vampire Queen a recurring name. Dominance and submission, bondage, vampires, mermaids and angels fill the subject index. Make Her Dreams Come True (2000) opens the catalogue, followed by Holding the Cards (2002), Choice of Masters (2003), Natural Law (2004), Board Resolution (2005) and Ice Queen (2006). Naughty Dreams (2025) is the newest title, at a median of 374 pages.

Tera Lynn Childs writes fantasy for children and teenagers, drawing on Greek mythology. Oh. My. Gods. (2008) opens the catalogue and its own series, continuing with Goddess Boot Camp (2009) and Goddess in Time (2013); the Fins books begin with Forgive My Fins (2010) and put mermaids at the centre, and the Medusa Girls follow triplets from Sweet Venom (2011). Darkly Fae and City Chicks complete five series. Twenty-eight titles are catalogued, the newest being Never Say Hero (2022).

Debbie Herbert writes paranormal romance and romantic suspense. The catalogue lists 19 books published between 2013 and 2022, opening with Siren's Secret (2013) and closing at The Hollow (2022). Mermaids, murder, police investigation and Harlequin Nocturne all appear among the subject headings. Four series carry the Herbert credit: Dark Seas, Appalachian Magic, Lavender Mountain and Normal, Alabama.

Sibéal Pounder writes humorous children's fantasy about witches, mermaids, fairies and magic. The catalogue holds 16 books from 2015 to 2023, opening with Witch Wars (2015). Witch Switch (2015), Witch Glitch (2016) and Bad Mermaids (2017) follow, along with Bad Mermaids Meet the Witches (2019). Pounder's series are Witch Wars, Bad Mermaids and Neon's Secret Universe. Wonka (2023) is the newest title.

R.L. Stine

589 books• 64 series

Robert Lawrence Stine, born October 8, 1943, is an American novelist who writes horror fiction for children. Goosebumps, the series Stine created, sold more than 400 million copies in 35 languages and grew into a franchise of two television series, video games, comics and two feature films. Fear Street, Stine's horror sequence for teenagers, passed 80 million copies and was adapted for film. Stine has been called the Stephen King of children's literature. The listing runs to 590 titles, from How to Be Funny (1978), published as Jovial Bob Stine, to How to Train Your Dummy, scheduled for 2027.

Katherine Applegate

228 books• 20 series

Katherine Applegate, born October 9, 1956, and sometimes published as K. A. Applegate, is an American author of children's and young adult fiction. Animorphs, Remnants and Everworld are the series most tied to Applegate, and The One and Only Ivan (2012) won the 2013 Newbery Medal. Applegate received the Publishers Weekly Best New Children's Book Series Award in 1997. The catalogue lists 228 books, from Welcome to Junior High! (1990) to The Littlest Elephant (2026), including Girl Talk, Making Out and Roscoe Riley Rules.

Fantasy is the recurring subject across Amalie Howard's catalogue, which also records witches, vampires, mermaids, princes, women soldiers and children's fiction. The listing holds 34 books, opening with Bloodspell (2011) and reaching Rebel Heiress in 2026. Waterfell (2013), Alpha Goddess (2014), Oceanborn (2014) and Bloodcraft (2015) fall in the early run. Series credited to Howard include Cruentus Curse, Aquarathi, Riven Chronicles, Lords of Essex, Diamonds, Tartans & Titans and Starkeeper.

Julia Donaldson

349 books• 14 series

Dame Julia Donaldson, born Julia Catherine Shields on 16 September 1948, is a British writer and playwright who served as Children's Laureate from 2011 to 2013. Rhyming stories for children made Donaldson's name, above all those illustrated by Axel Scheffler, such as The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Stick Man and Superworm. Donaldson first wrote songs for children's television; the lyrics of A Squash and a Squeeze became a picture book in 1993, and books have been the focus since. The catalogue carries 349 entries, from Tim's Bad Mood and Other Stories (1970) to The Tooth Fairy and the Crocodile (2026), including Tales from Acorn Wood, Princess Mirror-Belle and Zog.

Guardians of Ga'Hoole is one of the series by Kathryn Lasky, an American children's writer born June 24, 1944, who writes for adults as Kathryn Lasky Knight and E. L. Swann. Lasky's children's work also includes Dear America and The Royal Diaries books, Wolves of the Beyond, Sugaring Time and The Night Journey, and honours include a Newbery Honor, the National Jewish Book Award and the Anne V. Zarrow Award for Young Readers' Literature. The catalogue holds 159 books from I Have Four Names for My Grandfather (1976) to Sacred Light (2026), including Tugboats Never Sleep (1977), The Weaver's Gift (1980) and Beyond the Divide (1983). Horses Of The Dawn, Bears Of The Ice and Camp Princess are further series, and subjects name owls, wolves, diaries and Jews.

Karen King writes for children and, more recently, for adults. Fifty-eight books are catalogued from Christmas Fun (1989) to The Foster Child (2026), most of them short, at a median of 40 pages. Unicorns, mermaids, fairy tales, humour and Bible stories fill the children's titles, and the Amy Carter Mysteries are the one named series.

Philip Reeve

48 books• 12 series

Philip Reeve, born on 28 February 1966, is an English author and illustrator of children's books, known above all for Mortal Engines (2001) and its sequels, the Mortal Engines Quartet published between 2001 and 2006. Here Lies Arthur (2007), Reeve's novel drawn from the Arthurian legend, won the Carnegie Medal. Forty-eight catalogued titles reach Bridge of Storms: A Mortal Engines Novel (2026), across Fever Crumb, Larklight, Railhead, Goblins, Buster Bayliss, Utterly Dark, Adventuremice and the Not-So-Impossible Tales, written largely for readers in grades 6 to 8.

Louise Cooper (1952–2009) was a British fantasy writer, born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, who lived in Cornwall with husband Cas Sandall. Cooper's first full-length novel appeared at age twenty, and after working in London publishing from 1975, Cooper wrote full time from 1977. The Time Master trilogy was a bestseller, and the total output exceeded eighty fantasy and supernatural novels for adults and children. The catalogue records 67 books from The Book of Paradox (1973) to The Bad Seed (2008), with series such as Indigo, Chaos Gate and Daughter of Storms.

Helen Dunmore

62 books• 9 series

Poetry, novels, short stories and children's books all feature in the work of Helen Dunmore FRSL, a British writer born on 12 December 1952 who died on 5 June 2017. The Siege, A Spell of Winter and Zennor in Darkness are among the best-known novels, and Inside the Wave was the final poetry collection. Dunmore won the first Orange Prize for Fiction and the National Poetry Competition, and received the Costa Book Award after death. The catalogue lists 62 books from 1983 to 2019, including Burning Bright (1994) and the Ingo Chronicles series.