Middle schools book series in reading order

by Lincoln Peirce

by James Patterson

by James Patterson

by James Patterson

Lincoln Peirce

77 books• 6 series

Lincoln Peirce created the Big Nate comic strip and writes and illustrates the Big Nate novels for young readers. Born in 1963, Peirce is an American cartoonist and animator who has written animated shorts for Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, and created the animated Big Nate series that premiered on Paramount+. Eighty-two titles are catalogued from 2001 to Code Red! (2026), covering the graphic novels, activity books and the Max and the Midknights series. Middle school, friendship and humour are the recurring subjects.

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.

Lisi Harrison

41 books• 10 series

Lisi Harrison is a Canadian author of young adult fiction, known for three series: The Clique, Alphas and Monster High. The Clique (2004) opens a catalogue of 41 titles, with middle schools, cliques, friendship and competition in the subject tags, and monsters, boarding schools and prejudice beside them. Graphic novels, a Clique Summer Collection and the Graveyard Girls follow. Two Truths and a Lion (2023) is the most recent title.

Jeff Kinney

32 books• 4 series

Jeff Kinney (Jeffrey Patrick Kinney, born February 19, 1971) is an American author and illustrator who created, writes and draws the Diary of a Wimpy Kid children's books. Kinney also created the children's website Poptropica. The catalogue holds 32 books, beginning with Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2007) and followed by Rodrick Rules (2008), The Last Straw (2009), Dog Days (2009), The Ugly Truth (2010) and Cabin Fever (2010). The newest title is Fight or Flight (2026). Subjects include diaries, middle school, family life, friendship and vacations, and the listing also includes Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid.

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.

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.

Lisa Greenwald writes for middle-grade readers about friendship, school and adolescence. My Life in Pink & Green (2009) opens 29 catalogued books that reach You'll Find It All Still Here (2025). Six series divide the list: Pink & Green, TBH, Friendship List, Seagate Summers, Ellie's Deli and Fortune Tellers. Bullying, secrets, best friends, early dating and family life supply the material.

Francine Pascal (née Rubin, 1932–2024) was an American author whose name is tied to the Sweet Valley books for young adults. Sweet Valley High anchored that collection, was adapted for television, and branched into spin-offs such as The Unicorn Club and Sweet Valley University. The catalogue opens with Hangin' Out with Cici (1977) and also carries the Fearless series. Subjects include twins, sisters, high schools, friendship and dating. Most Sweet Valley books came out in the 1980s and 1990s, and several titles were re-released decades later.

Gary Paulsen

181 books• 17 series

Survival and outdoor adventure run through Gary Paulsen's writing for young readers. The catalogue holds 181 books, from Some Birds Don't Fly (1968) to Northwind (2022), at a median length of 105 pages. Brian Robeson, Francis Tucket, Duncan Culpepper, Murphy and the World of Adventure books head the series lines, with non-fiction and picture books alongside. No new Paulsen title has appeared since 2022.

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.

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.

Meg Cabot

102 books• 20 series

Meggin Patricia Cabot, born February 1, 1967, is an American novelist of young adult and adult fiction. Meg Cabot wrote The Princess Diaries, a young adult series Walt Disney Pictures adapted into two feature films. Awards include the ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers and the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award. The catalogue lists 102 books from Where Roses Grow Wild (1998) to Kissing Cowboys (2026), including titles as Patricia Cabot and Jenny Carroll. Other series include Mediator, Heather Wells, Allie Finkle's Rules For Girls, Airhead and Little Bridge Island.

Terri Libenson, born in 1970, is an American cartoonist and author. Libenson drew the newspaper comic strip The Pajama Diaries from 2006 to 2020 and won the 70th Silver Reuben Award for best newspaper comic strip. Since 2017 Libenson has written graphic novels about middle school, girls' friendships and self-esteem, a run of nine books from Invisible Emmie (2017) to Entirely Emmie (2025), each named for the classmate it follows.

Margaret Peterson Haddix

55 books• 12 series

Margaret Peterson Haddix, born April 9, 1964, is an American writer best known for two children's series: Shadow Children (1998-2006) and The Missing (2008-2015). She also wrote the tenth book of The 39 Clues, a series with multiple authors. The catalogue lists 55 of her books from Running Out of Time (1995) to Moonleapers (2025), including Among the Hidden (1998), Just Ella (1999) and Turnabout (2000). Other series listings include Palace Chronicles, Children of Exile, Greystone Secrets, Mysteries of Trash and Treasure and Under Their Skin. Subjects include time travel, science fiction, brothers and sisters, and schools.

Laurie Halse Anderson is an American writer of children's and young adult novels. Speak (1999) brought the first wide recognition; the American Library Association gave Anderson its Margaret A. Edwards Award in 2010, and the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award followed in 2023. The catalogue holds 40 books published between 1996 and 2025, among them the Vet Volunteers series, the Seeds of America trilogy and Fever 1793 (2000). Veterinary medicine, animal rescue, schools and history recur as subjects.

Rush Limbaugh

7 books• 1 series

Rush Limbaugh was an American conservative political commentator and radio host, on air from 1984 until his death in 2021. Limbaugh's 7 catalogued books divide in two. The Way Things Ought to Be (1992) and See, I Told You So (1993) address United States politics and social conditions. The Adventures of Rush Revere, a children's series whose subjects are teachers, time travel, horses and middle schools, runs from Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims (2013) through the First Patriots (2013), the American Revolution (2014), the Star-Spangled Banner (2015) and the Presidency (2016).

Jerry Spinelli

37 books• 5 series

Jerry Spinelli writes children's novels about adolescence and early adulthood. Maniac Magee (1990), Stargirl and Wringer are the best known of them. The 37 catalogued books start with Space Station Seventh Grade (1982) and end with Dead Wednesday (2023), and the series strands include Stargirl, School Daze, Fourth Grade Rats and the Tooter Tales. Schools, friendship, family life and conduct recur as subjects, and the median book runs 176 pages.

Svetlana Chmakova creates comics and graphic novels, and the 20 catalogued books run from 2005 to 2024. Three Dramacon volumes (2005 to 2007) came first, followed by Nightschool: The Weirn Books (2009 and 2010), then Awkward (2015) and Brave (2017). The newest title is The Weirn Books, Vol. 2: The Ghost and the Stolen Dragon (2024). Schools, witches, vampires, monsters and young artists appear among the subjects, and the series include Berrybrook Middle School.

Sarah Mlynowski

57 books• 8 series

Sarah Mlynowski is a Canadian and American writer of middle-grade, young adult and adult fiction, living in Los Angeles. The catalogue opens with adult novels, Milkrun (2001), Fishbowl (2002) and As Seen On TV (2003), then turns to children's fantasy: Bras & Broomsticks (2005) and its sequels, Whatever After, Upside-Down Magic, Best Wishes and the Luckies. Fifty-eight books are catalogued through Rumor Has It (2026), with Two Truths and a Lie scheduled for 2027. Magic, fairy tales, siblings and school are the recurring subjects.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

18 books• 2 series

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. in 1947, played 20 seasons as a center in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers and won a record six Most Valuable Player awards. The writing runs to 18 catalogued books, from Giant Steps: The Autobiography of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1983) to We All Want to Change the World (2025). History and biography fill most of them: Black Profiles in Courage (1996), Brothers In Arms: The Epic Story of the 761st Tank Battalion (2004), On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance (2007) and What Color Is My World?: The Lost History of African-American Inventors (2012). Mycroft Holmes (2015) opens a fiction series with Sherlock Holmes among its subject headings, and the Streetball Crew books, among them Sasquatch in the Paint (2013) and Stealing the Game (2015), are fiction as well.

Rob Buyea is an American children's author, born in 1976, best known for the Mr. Terupt novels. Because of Mr. Terupt (2010) opens that series and took an E.B. White Read Aloud Award in 2011; Mr. Terupt Falls Again (2012), Saving Mr. Terupt (2015) and Goodbye, Mr. Terupt (2020) follow. The Perfect Score (2017), The Perfect Secret (2018) and The Perfect Star (2019) make a second series, and What Comes Next (2021), The Daredevils (2022) and Carter Avery's Tricky Fourth-Grade Year (2024) complete a catalogue of 10. Schools, classrooms, teachers and friendship are the subjects. Buyea studied biology and education at Syracuse University, wrestled for its team, and lives in North Andover, Massachusetts.