Motion pictures book series in reading order

by Alex T. Smith

Max Allan Collins

199 books• 34 series

Max Allan Collins, born March 3, 1948, is an American mystery writer who also works in comics, graphic novels and screenplays. Collins created the Ms. Tree and Road to Perdition comics, the second of which became a film, and the series characters Quarry, a hitman, Nolan, a thief, and private investigator Nate Heller. Collins wrote the Dick Tracy newspaper strip for years, and the Mystery Writers of America named Collins a Grand Master in 2017. Catalogue entries run from Bait Money (1973) to Quarry's Reunion (2026), with Eliot Ness, Mallory and Disaster among the other series.

Franklin W. Dixon is the author name on the Hardy Boys books, and the catalogue lists 473 titles under the Dixon name from 1927 to 2023. The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff and The Secret of the Old Mill all date from 1927. Dixon series include Hardy Boys Casefiles, Hardy Boys Adventures, Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers, Hardy Boys: Secret Files and Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mystery, plus the Ted Scott Flying Stories. Undercover Bookworms (2023) is the newest title.

Nancy Krulik writes for children, and the catalogue lists Grades 1-3 as the reading level. Series credited to Krulik include Katie Kazoo, Switcheroo, How I Survived Middle School, Magic Bone, Princess Pulverizer and Project Droid, and George Brown, Class Clown appears among the characters. Subjects range across magic, schools, friendship, dogs, robots and humorous stories. The most recent listed book is Fangs for Having Us! (2021), and the catalogue marks the output as dormant.

Alan Dean Foster

162 books• 30 series

Alan Dean Foster, born on 18 November 1946, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, with several book series, more than 20 standalone novels and many film novelizations. Catalogued titles open with The Tar-Aiym Krang (1972), followed by Bloodhype (1973), Icerigger (1974), Star Trek Log One (1974) and Midworld (1975). Lost on Paradise (2026) is the newest title. Foster series include Pip & Flinx, Icerigger, Journeys of the Catechist, Damned, Star Trek: The Animated, Alien Movie and Transformers. Subjects include the Humanx Commonwealth, interplanetary voyages and human-alien encounters.

David Thomson

40 books• 4 series

David Thomson is a British film critic and historian, born on 18 February 1941, who works in the United States and has written more than 40 books. Two Thomson reference works, the 1,000-film guide Have You Seen...? (2008) and The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, now in a sixth edition (2014), are praised for literary quality and eccentricity, though some critics find them self-indulgent. Benjamin Schwarz of The Atlantic Monthly described Thomson as possibly the greatest living film critic and historian. The catalogue starts with Movie Man. (1967) and reaches A Sudden Flicker of Light (2026), including America in the Dark (1977) and Silver Light (1990).

Michael Medved

14 books• 5 series

Michael Medved is an American film critic, political commentator, radio host and author, born October 3, 1948. The Michael Medved Show is syndicated from KTTH in Seattle and carried on Cable Radio Network's CRN1; Genesis Communications Network syndicated the show until that network closed on May 5, 2024. The catalogue lists 14 books from What Really Happened to the Class of '65 (1976) to God's Hand on America (2019), with titles such as The Hollywood Hall of Shame (1984) and Hollywood vs. America (1992).

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.

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.

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.

Kim Newman

61 books• 10 series

Kim Newman, born 31 July 1959, is an English film critic, journalist and fiction writer. Newman's work covers film history, horror fiction and alternative history, and Newman traces the first two interests to watching Tod Browning's Dracula at age eleven. Awards include the Bram Stoker Award, the International Horror Guild Award and the BSFA Award. Seminal Movies (1983) is the first catalogued title, Nightmare Movies (1984) and Apocalypse Movies (1986) follow, and Model Actress Whatever (2026) is the newest, with Anno Dracula, Warhammer: Vampire Genevieve and Drearcliff Grange School among the series.

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.

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.

Alan Bradley (October 10, 1938 to May 18, 2026) was a Canadian mystery writer and the creator of Flavia de Luce. The Flavia de Luce series began with The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009). Bradley's 18 catalogued books start earlier, with the non-fiction Ms Holmes of Baker Street: The Truth About Sherlock (1989), and end with Numb Were the Beadsman's Fingers (2026). Murder, investigation, girls and England are among the subjects.

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.

Kevin J. Anderson

182 books• 44 series

Kevin J. Anderson is an American science fiction author, born March 27, 1962. Tie-in work covers Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E. and The X-Files, including comics such as Tales of the Jedi with Tom Veitch. Original series include the Saga of Seven Suns, Saga of Shadows, Terra Incognita, Gamearth and Dan Shamble, Zombie PI, and Assemblers of Infinity was nominated for a Nebula Award. Rebecca Moesta shares credit on 9 catalogued books. The catalogue lists 182 books from Resurrection, Inc. (1984) to Sleep With the Fishes (2026).

Brian Selznick

12 books

Brian Selznick is an American author and illustrator of children's books. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007) took the 2008 Caldecott Medal for picture book illustration, and Wonder Struck (2011), The Marvels (2015) and Kaleidoscope (2021) follow it. Selznick's catalogue holds 12 books dated 1991 to 2025, opening with The Houdini Box (1991) and The Robot King (1995), with subjects covering magicians, robots, motion pictures, and brothers and sisters. Run Away with Me (2025) is the newest.

Stuart M. Kaminsky (29 September 1934 to 9 October 2009) was an American mystery novelist who also taught film. Four mystery series carry the name: Toby Peters, a private eye in 1940s Hollywood; Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, a Moscow police inspector; Abe Lieberman, a Chicago police officer; and Lew Fonesca, a process server in Sarasota, Florida. A Cold Red Sunrise, a Rostnikov novel, won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1989. The catalogue holds 85 books from 1974 to 2011, and its earliest entries are American Film Genres (1974) and Don Siegel: Director (1974).

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.

Laura Jensen Walker started in humour and Christian writing and moved into mystery. The catalogue holds 27 books published between 1997 and 2026, opening with Dated Jekyll, Married Hyde (1997) and reaching The Postmistress of Pudlington (2026). Thanks for the Mammogram! (2000), Mentalpause (2001) and God Rest Ye Grumpy Scroogeymen (2003) sit in the early humour. Six series follow, among them the Getaway Girls, Phoebe Grant, A Bookish Baker Mystery, A Faith Chapel Mystery, the Nightingale Mystery and the Alphabet Girls Mystery.

Tony Abbott, born in 1952, is an American author of children's books. His Secrets of Droon fantasy series runs to more than 40 titles and is his most widely read work; he also wrote Firegirl and The Copernicus Legacy. Abbott has sold over 12 million copies and been translated into Italian, Spanish, Korean, French, Japanese, Polish, Turkish and Russian. The 105 catalogued books span Danger Guys (1994) to Junk Boy (2020), aimed largely at grades 1 to 3.

Peter Lerangis

93 books• 27 series

Peter Lerangis, born Peter Duncan Lerangis in Brooklyn, New York, in 1955, is an American author of children's and young adult fiction. Lerangis is best known for the Seven Wonders series and for work on the 39 Clues series. Some catalogued titles, such as License to Drive (1988), appeared under the name A.L. Singer. Series include Abracadabra, Spy X, Drama Club, Max Tilt, Throwback, Antarctica and Cerulean. Subjects include adventure, fantasy, mystery, twins, dinosaurs, theater and Atlantis, and the newest title is Out of Time (2021).

Mel Odom's 86 catalogued books range from Lethal Interface (1992) to The Legend of Bass Reeves (2025). Subjects list television tie-ins, children's fiction, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, vampires, witches and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Series include Bass Reeves Frontier Marshal, Rover, Left Behind: Apocalypse, Hunter's League, Blackpool Mysteries, Hellgate: London, Makaum War and F.R.E.E.Lancers, and Forgotten Realms and Net Force appear among the characters.

Johnny Boggs writes Westerns. Hannah Scott and Pete Belissari are the recurring leads, and the Hannah and the Horseman books ran across several titles between 1997 and 1999. The catalogue holds 73 books published between 1997 and 2024, opening with Hannah and the Horseman (1997) and reaching Bloody Newton (2024). Frontier and pioneer life, Texas, outlaws and murder trials recur as subjects. Killstraight and Frontier Story are the other named series, at a median of 249 pages.

Ray Garton Jr. was an American horror writer for adults and young adults, living from December 2, 1962 to April 21, 2024. Garton wrote at least 68 books, and Live Girls (1987) received a Bram Stoker Award nomination. The catalogue lists 63 Garton books from Seductions (1984) to Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth (2021), including Darklings (1985), Crucifax (1988) and Methods of Madness (1990). Subject tags include vampires, werewolves, revenge and California, and series include Frankenstorm, Davey Owen and Blood and Lace.