Practical jokes book series in reading order

by Mac Barnett

by James Patterson

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

131 books• 11 series

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, born in 1933, wrote 131 catalogued books for children and young adults across half a century. Shiloh, a quartet of children's novels, won the Newbery Medal in 1992, and the Alice McKinley series became one of the most frequently challenged sets of books of the early 21st century. The Boy/Girl Battle, Bessledorf Mysteries, Witch Saga, Cat Pack and Roxie and the Hooligans fill out the list, which runs from To Make a Wee Moon (1969) to Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard's Roost (2018). Family life, schools, friendship and siblings are the constant subjects, at a median of 154 pages.

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.

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.

Mac Barnett

64 books• 7 series

Mac Barnett is an American children's book writer, born August 23, 1982, best known for advocating for picture books and serving as National Ambassador for Young People's Literature for 2025-26. Since 2009 Barnett has published more than seventy works, over fifty of them picture books, along with graphic novels, essays and short stories. The catalogue counts 64 books from Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem (2009) to Rumpelstiltskin (2026), including Guess Again! (2009), The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity (2009), Mustache! (2011) and Chloe and the Lion (2012). Series are A Jack Book, Mac B., Kid Spy, First Cat in Space, Terrible Two, Brixton Brothers, Shapes Trilogy and Oh No!. Subjects name humorous stories, mysteries, friendship and schools.

Sigmund Brouwer, born in 1959, is a Canadian author writing for children, young adults and adults, with more than 100 titles and four million books in print. Dead Man's Switch won the 2015 Arthur Ellis Award for best Canadian young adult mystery, and Shock Wave won the same award in 2025. Thief of Glory, a novel for adults, was named Book of the Year at the Christy Awards and also won an Alberta Readers Choice Award. The Last Disciple, co-authored with Hank Hanegraaff, was featured in Time magazine. The catalogue holds 162 books from Lost Beneath Manhattan (1990) to A Dangerous Game (2026), across series such as Accidental Detectives, Mars Diaries, Winds of Light, Lightning on Ice, Cyberquest and Robot Wars.

Andy Griffiths

68 books• 9 series

Andy Griffiths is an Australian children's author, born in 1961, and the Australian Children's Laureate for 2026-2027. Griffiths is well known for working with Terry Denton, and the Treehouse series has been adapted for the stage. The Just! series became the animated show What's with Andy?, and The Day My Bum Went Psycho! (2001) was also adapted for television. The catalogue opens with Just Tricking! (1999) and lists 68 books to 2026, with humorous stories, schools and practical jokes among the subjects.

Penn Jillette

10 books

Penn Jillette, born in 1955, is an American magician, entertainer and author who performs with Teller as Penn & Teller. The duo's stage and television work includes Penn & Teller: Fool Us and Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, and by 2026 the act had headlined in Las Vegas at The Rio for 25 years, with Jillette taking the speaking role. Ten books carry the Jillette name, fiction and non-fiction alike, from Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends (1989) to Felony Juggler (2025). God, No!: Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales (2011) reached the New York Times bestseller list, and Sock (2000), Every Day Is an Atheist Holiday! (2012), Presto! (2016) and Random (2022) also sit in the run.

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.

Neal Shusterman

59 books• 12 series

Neal Shusterman is an American writer of young adult fiction, born November 12, 1962. Challenger Deep won Shusterman the 2015 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, Scythe was a 2017 Michael L. Printz Honor book, and the 2024 Margaret Edwards Award recognised a lasting contribution to writing for teens. The catalogue lists 59 books from 1988 to Rising Thunder (2026). Series include the Unwind Dystology, Arc of a Scythe, Skinjacker, Accelerati Trilogy, Star Shards Chronicles and Antsy Bonano.

David Thorne, born in 1972, is an Australian humourist and satirist who built his audience online. Thorne came to notice in 2008 for an email exchange in which he offers a drawing of a seven-legged spider in payment of an overdue bill; the exchange spread by email and social networks to his site 27b/6, and those emails and essays became The Internet is a Playground. 16 catalogued books run from I'll Go Home Then, It's Warm and Has Chairs (2012) to Just Because It Happened To You Doesn't Make It Interesting (2024). Thorne's work has featured on the BBC, on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and on the Late Show with David Letterman.

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.

James Preller writes for readers in grades 1 to 3, and the Jigsaw Jones Mysteries are the core of the list: most titles begin The Case of, from The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster (1998) to The Case of the Hat Burglar (2019). Preller worked as a copywriter at Scholastic before publishing his first book in 1986, and has used the pen names Mitzy Kafka, James Patrick and Izzy Bonkers. Bystander and Six Innings sit outside the mystery series. The 38 catalogued books run to a median of 74 pages.