Puzzles book series in reading order

by Walter Wick

by Parnell Hall

by Gene Luen Yang

by Louis Sachar

by Richmal Crompton

by Terry Deary

by John Peel

by Ernest Cline

Hy Conrad works in mystery, starting in puzzle form. The catalogue holds 26 books from Almost Perfect Crimes (1995) to Sins of the Family (2022). Titles from the first decade include Whodunit - You Decide! (1996), Solve-It-Yourself Mysteries (1997), Giant Book of Whodunit Puzzles (1999), Classic Whodunits (2003) and Mensa Whodunits (2004). Recorded subjects include puzzles, detective and mystery stories, private investigators, murder, investigation, juvenile literature, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Adrian Monk as a fictitious character. Monk is the recorded character, and Conrad's series include Amy's Travel Mysteries, Callie McFee and Abel Adventures Mysteries.

Walter Wick, born February 23, 1953, is an American photographer and artist who builds picture puzzle books for young children. Wick created the images for the I Spy books and the Can You See What I See? series, both from Scholastic. His 27 catalogued titles run from A Drop Of Water: A Book of Science and Wonder (1997) to Hidden Wonders (2021) and have a median length of 35 pages.

Parnell Hall (October 31, 1944 to December 15, 2020) was an American mystery writer, known for the Puzzle Lady and Stanley Hastings series. Hall also wrote the screenplay for the 1984 film C.H.U.D. The Puzzle Lady stories carried crosswords made with Manny Nosowsky and sudoku made with Will Shortz. Writing as J.P. Hailey, Hall produced the Steve Winslow series, and co-wrote Smooth Operator with Stuart Woods. Malice Domestic gave Hall a Lifetime Achievement award in 2019. The catalogue lists 57 books, from Detective (1987) to The Dead Client (2020). Cora Felton, crossword puzzle makers and New York private investigators appear in the subject tags.

Gene Luen Yang

72 books• 18 series

American cartoonist and author Gene Luen Yang was born on August 9, 1973. Yang taught computer science and directed information services at Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, California, joined Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children and young adults in 2012, and was named the Library of Congress's Ambassador for Young People's Literature in 2016. The catalogue lists 72 books from Rosary Comic Book (2003) to The Books of Clash Volume 8 (2026), including American Born Chinese (2006), The Eternal Smile (2009) and Level Up (2011). Series include Secret Coders, Boxers & Saints, Shadow Hero, Shang-Chi, New Super-Man and Monkey Prince. Magdalene Visaggio and Greg Hahn each share credit on 2 books, and Dan Watters and Phillip Kennedy Johnson on 1 each.

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.

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.

Dav Pilkey

86 books• 12 series

Dav Pilkey, born David Murray Pilkey Jr. on March 4, 1966, is an American comic book writer, author and illustrator of children's fiction. Captain Underpants and the graphic novel spin-off Dog Man are the series Pilkey is best known for. Dog Man appears under the pen names George Beard and Harold Hutchins, which are also the names of the two Captain Underpants protagonists. The catalogue holds 86 books from World War Won (1987) to A Sprinkle in Time (2026), and the Dragon, Dumb Bunnies, Ricky Ricotta and Cat Kid Comic Club lines also feature.

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.

Jonathan Stroud

28 books• 4 series

Jonathan Stroud is a British fantasy writer, born 27 October 1970, known for the Bartimaeus young adult sequence and the Lockwood & Co. children's series. The Bartimaeus sequence received the Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire and Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, and Stroud's books have appeared on ALA Notable lists. Netflix announced a Lockwood & Co. television series in 2020, and filming began in July 2021. The catalogue lists 28 Stroud books from The Lost Treasure of Captain Blood (1996) to The Legendary Scarlett and Browne (2025), with The Amulet of Samarkand dated 2003.

Terry Deary

340 books• 41 series

Terry Deary is a British children's author, born in 1946, best known as the writer of the Horrible Histories series. Deary has written 351 books, which have sold more than 38 million copies in over 45 languages, and has ranked among Britain's best-selling authors since 1994. In 2012 Deary was the tenth most-borrowed author in British libraries, and Books for Keeps magazine named Deary the Outstanding Children's Non-Fiction Author of the 20th Century. The catalogue lists 340 titles from Teaching Through Theatre (1977) onward, including the True Stories and Tudor Terror series.

Tim Myers writes mysteries, and the subjects name North Carolina, lighthouses, hotelkeepers and the fictional Alex Winston. The catalogue holds 109 books from Innkeeping with Murder (2001) to The Last Donut (2023). Series include Lighthouse Inn Mystery, Candlemaking Mystery, Soapmaking Mystery, Pizza Lovers, Cardmaking Mysteries and Paranormal Kids. Reservations for Murder (2002), Murder Checks Inn (2003) and At Wick's End (2004) are among the early titles.

Mary Pope Osborne

166 books• 9 series

Mary Pope Osborne, born May 20, 1949, is an American children's author and audiobook narrator best known for the Magic Tree House series, which had sold more than 134 million copies worldwide by 2017. Awards have gone to both the series and Osborne, including recognition for work promoting children's literacy. Osborne attended the University of North Carolina and published a first book in 1982. The catalogue counts 166 Osborne books, from Run, Run, As Fast As You Can (1982) to Sea Otter Sunrise (2025). Time travel, tree houses, history, folklore and Greek mythology appear among the subjects.

Louis Sachar

30 books• 4 series

Louis Sachar writes for children, chiefly school stories with a humorous streak. Wayside School and the novel Holes are the best known of Sachar's work, alongside the Marvin Redpost and Someday Angeline books; Holes took the 1998 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 1999 Newbery Medal. Thirty books are catalogued between Sideways Stories from Wayside School (1978) and The Magician of Tiger Castle (2025). Schools, boys, popularity and friendship recur as subjects.

Trenton Lee Stewart is an American author best known for the Mysterious Benedict Society, a series written for grades 3 to 5. The 9 catalogued books open with Flood Summer (2005) and run through The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007), The Perilous Journey (2008), The Prisoner's Dilemma (2009), The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict (2012) and The Secret Keepers (2016) to The Riddle of Ages (2019). Orphans, schools, friendship and adventure recur. Stewart graduated from Hendrix College and the Iowa Writers' Workshop and lives in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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.

Katherine Neville, born in 1945, writes adventure and quest novels built on puzzles, ciphers and hunted objects. The Eight (1988) sets a chess service at the centre of its quest, and The Fire (2008) continues it twenty years later; the two make up the Montglane Service series. A Calculated Risk (1992) turns to banking and computer crime, and The Magic Circle (1998) to manuscripts and millennial prophecy. Five books reach The Tuesday Club (2017), roughly seven years apart, at a median of 508 pages.

John Peel's 81 catalogued books begin with The Fireball XL5 Files and Island in the Sky in 1986 and end with It Came From The Isle of Man in 2023. Doctor Who, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine are among the names linked to the catalogue. Subjects span science fiction, fantasy, horror, the supernatural and children's fiction. Series include Outer Limits, Shockers, Fear the Year 2099, Dragonhome, Magical States of America and Lucy Wilson Mysteries. Terrance Dicks and Justin Richards each share the credit on 1 book.

Richmal Crompton Lamburn (1890-1969) was an English writer known above all for the Just William stories. The William books are comic stories for children, with a boy at the centre and mischief as the engine. Just William (1922) opens the run, followed by More William (1922), William Again (1923), William the Fourth (1924), Still William (1925) and William the Conqueror (1926). Crompton also wrote adult fiction. The listing holds 70 titles dated 1922 to 2016, at a median of 240 pages.

Jeff Rovin is an American author, magazine editor, freelance writer and columnist who has reached the New York Times bestseller list. The catalogue holds 38 books between 1975 and 2023 and crosses reference works, film books and thrillers: A Pictorial History of Science Fiction Films (1975), The Encyclopedia of Monsters (1990), Adventure Heroes (1994) and Aliens, Robots, and Spaceships (1995) sit beside titles such as April Fool's Day (1986) and Re-Animator (1987). Op-Center recurs as a grouping in the listing, and Tom Clancy carries a credit on one book in it. Zero-G / Samuel Lord is the series recorded for Rovin, and the listing is marked dormant.

Louie Stowell is a British author best known for a comic series of illustrated children's books about Loki, the Norse god. The catalogue lists 38 books, from Beauty And The Beast (2006) to A Bad God's Guide to Causing Chaos (2025). Stowell's series are Loki: A Bad God's Guide and Kit the Wizard. Titles include Brer Rabbit And The Blackberry Bush (2008) and The Story of Astronomy and Space (2009), and subjects include folklore, rabbits, pirates and space exploration.

Shelley Freydont writes mysteries with women sleuths, with 20 books from Backstage Murder (1999) to A Golden Cage (2016). Freydont's series are Lindy Haggerty, Celebration Bay, Katie McDonald and Newport Gilded Age, and dancers, dance teachers and policewomen appear among her subjects. Sudoku puzzles feature in The Sudoku Murder (2007) and Sudden Death Sudoku (2008). Freydont also published as Gemma Bruce, including Who Loves Ya, Baby? (2005).

Tom Robinson writes juvenile nonfiction pitched at grades 3 to 5, with subject records covering science, experiments and puzzles. All 8 catalogued titles begin The Everything Kids': the Science Experiments Book (2001), the Puzzle Book (2002), the Learning French Book and the Money Book (2008), the Snakes, Lizards, and Other Scaly Creatures Book (2017), the Scratch Coding Book (2018), the Basketball Book (2019) and the Cookbook (2020). Robinson is credited on each one.