Orphans book series in reading order

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

by Emily Rodda

by L.A. Meyer

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

by David Rosenfelt

by Trenton Lee Stewart

by Georgia Byng

by Lauren Oliver

by Avi

by Paul Stewart

by Isobelle Carmody

by Sarah E. Ladd

Gertrude Chandler Warner (April 16, 1890 to August 30, 1979) was an American author who wrote mostly for children. Warner wrote the original book of The Boxcar Children, published in 1942, and the next 18 books in the series. Earlier catalogued titles include The House of Delight (1916) and The World in a Barn (1927), and Surprise Island (1949) and The Yellow House Mystery (1952) came after The Boxcar Children. Orphans, brothers and sisters, and mystery stories are among the subjects. The catalogue also carries Boxcar Children lines such as Adventures of Benny and Watch and Boxcar Children Great Adventure under Warner's name.

Gertrude Warner and various authors after 1979 is the credit carried by 45 Boxcar Children mystery books in the catalogue, published between 1994 and 2024. Subjects name the Boxcar Children, orphans, brothers and sisters, adventure and children's mystery fiction. Titles include The Canoe Trip Mystery (1994), The Mystery Bookstore (1995), The Soccer Mystery (1997), The Mystery of the Orphan Train (2005) and Secret of Superstition Mountain (2024).

Anthony Horowitz

106 books• 23 series

Anthony Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter, born 5 April 1955, who specialises in mystery and suspense. For children and young adults Horowitz created Alex Rider, a 14-year-old British boy who spies for MI6, along with The Power of Five (titled The Gatekeepers in the US) and The Diamond Brothers. The catalogue holds 106 Horowitz books from Enter Frederick K. Bower (1978) to A Deadly Episode (2026). Other listed series include Detective Daniel Hawthorne, Susan Ryeland, Groosham Grange and the Pentagram Chronicles. Horowitz is still publishing.

Emily Rodda is a pen name of Jennifer June Rowe, an Australian author born 2 April 1948. Rowe publishes crime fiction for adults under her own name, including the Verity Birdwood and Tessa Vance series, and children's fiction as Emily Rodda and as Mary-Anne Dickinson. Deltora Quest is the central children's sequence, extended by Dragons of Deltora, Deltora Shadowlands and Star of Deltora, with Rowan of Rin, Fairy Realm, Rondo and the Three Doors Trilogy beside it. The catalogue lists 102 books from Pigs Might Fly (1986) onward.

L.M. Montgomery

57 books• 9 series

Lucy Maud Montgomery (November 30, 1874 to April 24, 1942) was a Canadian author who published as L. M. Montgomery. Anne of Green Gables (1908) began the body of work Montgomery is known for, and the orphan Anne Shirley brought Montgomery fame and an international readership. The career produced 20 novels plus more than a thousand short stories and poems, alongside essays. The catalogue lists 57 books, from Anne of Green Gables to editions dated 2025, and holds the Anne Shirley, Emily and Silver Bush series and the published journals.

Mercedes Lackey

230 books• 52 series

Valdemar, a country in the world of Velgarth, is the setting for many of Mercedes Lackey's interlinked fantasy novels and trilogies. Lackey, an American writer born on June 24, 1950, brings human and non-human protagonists from many cultures together in the Valdemar books. A second Lackey setting resembles Earth but hides populations of elves, mages, vampires and other mythical beings. Bedlam's Bard follows a young man who works magic through music, SERRAted Edge features elves who race cars, and the Diana Tregarde thrillers star a Wiccan fighting evil. Arrows of the Queen (1987), Arrow's Flight (1987) and Arrow's Fall (1988) are among the listed titles, and Elemental Masters and Five Hundred Kingdoms are further series.

Rick Riordan

82 books• 19 series

Rick Riordan, born Richard Russell Riordan Jr. on June 5, 1964, is an American author. Riordan is best known for the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, which take in Percy Jackson & the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, The Trials of Apollo and The Nico di Angelo Adventures. The catalogue holds 82 books from 1997 to 2026, opening with Big Red Tequila (1997) and reaching The Lightning Thief in 2005; the Tres Navarre and Kane Chronicles lines also feature. Riordan's books have been translated into 42 languages and have sold more than 30 million copies in the United States. 20th Century Fox filmed the first two Percy Jackson books, a project Riordan had no part in.

Barbara Cartland

702 books• 3 series

Barbara Cartland, born Mary Barbara Hamilton Cartland on 9 July 1901 and died on 21 May 2000, was an English romance novelist and socialite. This directory catalogues 702 titles under Cartland's name, from His Hour (1910) through to A Heart in the Highlands (2024), with the 1980s the heaviest decade. The Eternal Collection, the Pink Collection and the Camfield Novels Of Love group the bulk of that output. Cartland wrote contemporary as well as historical romance, the historical novels set mainly in the Victorian and Edwardian periods, and ranks fifth among the most translated authors worldwide.

Daniel Handler

18 books• 4 series

Under the pen name Lemony Snicket, Daniel Handler wrote the children's series A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions. Handler is an American writer, musician and television producer born February 28, 1970. A Series of Unfortunate Events became a 2004 film and a Netflix series from 2017 to 2019. The Basic Eight (1999), a satirical first book, was turned down by many publishers over its dark subject matter. The catalogue lists 18 books through And Then? And Then? What Else? (2024), including The Wide Window (2000) and The Grim Grotto (2004).

L.A. Meyer was the pen name of Louis A. Meyer (January 1, 1942 to July 29, 2014), an author from Maine. Meyer is best known for the young-adult historical Jacky Faber Adventures, also called the Bloody Jack series. Meyer also wrote two picture books for children, painted, and co-owned the Clair de Loon art gallery in Bar Harbor. The catalogue lists 12 books from Bloody Jack (2002) to Wild Rover No More (2014), with subjects including pirates and seafaring life.

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.

V.C. Andrews was the name used by Cleo Virginia Andrews (June 6, 1923 to December 19, 1986), an American novelist best known for Flowers in the Attic (1979). That novel led to four sequels and two film adaptations. The publisher never classed the books as Young Adult, yet their young protagonists have drawn teenage readers for decades. After Andrews died in 1986, a ghostwriter first hired to finish two incomplete manuscripts went on publishing new books under the V.C. Andrews name. The catalogue carries 108 books under that name from 1979 to 2025, across series such as Dollanganger, Casteel, Cutler, Landry, Logan and De Beers.

Ann M. Martin

446 books• 24 series

Ann Matthews Martin, born August 12, 1955, is an American writer of children's and young adult fiction and a Smith College graduate. The Baby-Sitters Club, first published in 1986, is the series Martin is known best for, and Martin remains involved with the series and its spin-offs. The catalogue lists 446 books, beginning with Inside Out and Bummer Summer in 1983. Related lines include Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries, California Diaries, Kids in Ms. Colman's Class, Main Street and Doll People. Jessi Ramsey, Pet-sitter: A Graphic Novel (2025) is the newest listed title.

Neta Jackson has 101 books in the catalogue, published between 1974 and 2021. Living Together in a World Falling Apart (1974) is the earliest, and Hero Tales, Vol. IV (2021) is the newest. The Yada Yada Prayer Group is among the character entries, and series include Yada Yada House of Hope, Trailblazer, Hero Tales, SouledOut Sisters, Windy City Neighbors, Pet Parables and Secret Adventures. Subjects include Christian life, Christian women, missionaries, prayer groups, female friendship, orphans, biography and children's fiction.

Lauren Oliver

25 books• 5 series

Lauren Oliver, born Laura Suzanne Schechter on November 8, 1982, is an American novelist whose work includes numerous young adult novels. Before I Fall (2010) opens the catalogue and was filmed in 2017. The Delirium trilogy comprises Delirium, Pandemonium and Requiem. Amazon Studios made Panic into a series, with Oliver as creator, writer and showrunner. Liesl & Po, a middle-grade novel, was a 2012 E. B. White Read Aloud Award nominee. The catalogue lists 26 books through A Fatal Delivery (2026), with The Sleepwalker due in 2027.

Lauren DeStefano, born in 1984, is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known for the Chemical Garden novels and for her gallows humour. The catalogue holds 18 books dated between 2011 and 2024, opening with Wither (2011) and running to The Lost Ones (2024). Four series stand under the DeStefano name: Chemical Garden, Internment Chronicles, Pram and Glass Spare. Recorded subjects include science fiction, genetic engineering, utopias, orphans, grief and kidnapping. DeStefano continues to publish.

Maryrose Wood's children's fiction lists orphans, feral children, governesses, fairies and plants among the recorded subjects. The listed series are Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Morgan Rawlinson, Poison Diaries and Bad Badger. Wood has 17 catalogued books, from Sex Kittens and Horn Dawgs Fall in Love (2006) to Bad Badger: A Family Story (2026). The Mysterious Howling (2009), The Hidden Gallery (2010), The Poison Diaries (2010), Nightshade (2011) and The Unseen Guest (2012) fall in between.

Richard Yancey

16 books• 6 series

Richard Yancey, born John Richard Yancey on 4 November 1962, is an American writer of young adult suspense, fantasy and science fiction. The Alfred Kropp, Monstrumologist and 5th Wave series are the best known of that work, and The 5th Wave became a feature film in 2016. The catalogue also lists the Teddy Ruzak series, with subjects including private investigators, Tennessee, monsters and extraterrestrials. The 16 catalogued books run from A Burning in Homeland (2003) to The Last Star (2016), and include The Highly Effective Detective (2006) and The Monstrumologist (2009).

J.K. Rowling is the pen name of Joanne "Jo" Murray, OBE (born Rowling), a British author who created the Harry Potter fantasy series. The idea for Harry Potter came to Rowling on a train from Manchester to London in 1990. The Potter books have won multiple awards, sold more than 400 million copies and been adapted into a film series. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's / Philosopher's Stone (1997) opens the catalogue, followed by Chamber of Secrets (1998), Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), Goblet of Fire (2000) and Order of the Phoenix (2003). Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them appeared under the name Newt Scamander and Quidditch Through the Ages under Kennilworthy Whisp. Cormoran Strike is also listed among the author's characters.

Lemony Snicket is the pen name of Daniel Handler, an American writer, musician and television producer born February 28, 1970. A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions are the children's series published under the Snicket name. A Series of Unfortunate Events became a film in 2004 and a Netflix series that ran from 2017 to 2019. Handler publishes adult novels and a stage play under the real name. The catalogue records 33 books from The Bad Beginning (1999) to Poison for Breakfast (2021), with orphans, siblings and humorous stories among the subjects.

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.

Timothy Zahn

98 books• 26 series

Timothy Zahn, born September 1, 1951, is an American writer of science fiction and fantasy who grew up in Lombard, Illinois. The Star Wars books, above all the Thrawn trilogy, are the core of Zahn's reputation, and those novels are credited with reviving interest in the franchise. Original series include Cobra, Blackcollar, Dragonback, Quadrail, Conquerors Saga, Icarus and Sibyl's War. The catalogue lists 99 books by Zahn, starting with The Blackcollar (1983); Trap Line appeared in 2025 and A Call to Deception is due in 2027.

Jeff Wheeler writes fantasy, with subjects that include magic, quests, kings and rulers, orphans and coming of age. The catalogue runs from The Wishing Lantern (1999) to Serpent Queen (2026), with The Fallen Empires scheduled for 2027. The Blight of Muirwood, The Scourge of Muirwood and The Wretched of Muirwood all appeared in 2011. Series include Kingfountain, Legends of Muirwood, Covenant of Muirwood, Whispers from Mirrowen, First Argentines and Grave Kingdom.

Michael Morpurgo

171 books• 5 series

Sir Michael Morpurgo, born 5 October 1943, is an English author, poet, playwright and librettist best known for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). Morpurgo served as the third Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005 and is President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity. Recurring themes include outsiders who triumph, survival and bonds with nature, set in places such as the Cornish coast and the First World War trenches. The catalogue holds 171 books from It Never Rained (1974) to Down Burrow Lane (2026), including the Mudpuddle Farm series.