Schools book series in reading order

by Nancy Krulik

by Lincoln Peirce

by Jane O’Connor

by Bruce Hale

by Kate McMullan

by Dan Gutman

by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer

by Nancy Krulik

by Dan Gutman

by Dan Gutman

by Marcia Thornton Jones

by Stan Kirby

by Laurie Friedman

by James Patterson

by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

by Sara Shepard

by Dav Pilkey

by Louis Sachar

by Sienna Mercer

by Jill Murphy

by Elisabetta Dami

by Graham Salisbury

by Jessica Young

by Jane B. Mason

by Megan McDonald

by Liz Pichon

by Megan McDonald

by Dan Gutman

by Gene Luen Yang

by Dan Gutman

by Mark Walden

by Enid Blyton

by Eve Bunting

by Chloe Taylor

by Marlene Perez

by Alex Morgan

Dan Gutman

198 books• 23 series

Dan Gutman is an American writer of mainly children's fiction, born in 1955. The best-known lines are the My Weird School books, The Genius Files and the Baseball Card Adventures, which began with Honus & Me. The catalogue holds 198 books from It Ain't Cheating If You Don't Get Caught (1990) to Mrs. Towne Is a Clown! (2026), including early baseball titles such as Baseball Babylon (1992). Subjects include schools, teachers, baseball, time travel and humorous stories.

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.

Marcia Thornton Jones, born July 15, 1958, is an American writer of children's books and the author or co-author of more than 135 elementary chapter books, picture books and mid-grade novels. Named among them is The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids; other work was co-written with Debbie Dadey, who carries a credit on 7 of the 125 catalogued titles. The listing opens with Vampires Don't Wear Polka Dots (1990) and ends with Writing for Kids (2019). Further series include Ghostville Elementary, Bailey City Monsters, Barkley's School for Dogs and Keyholders. The books are short, at a median of 75 pages, and subjects name monsters, ghosts, teachers and humorous stories.

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.

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.

Kate McMullan, born Kate Hall on January 16, 1947, is an American children's author with more than 100 published books. Myth-O-Mania and Dragon Slayers' Academy are the notable McMullan series, and others include Fluffy the Classroom Guinea Pig, Pearl and Wagner and Lila Fenwick. Greek mythology, knights, dragons, guinea pigs and school life feature in the subjects. The catalogue counts 124 books from 1984 to This Is the Tree We Planted (2022).

Claudia Mills, born August 21, 1954, in New York City, is an American children's author and an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Colorado Boulder. The catalogue lists 64 books from Luisa's American Dream (1981) to The Lost Language (2021). Series include Gus and Grandpa, West Creek Middle School, Franklin School Friends, Dinah, Mason Dixon and Nora Notebooks. Subjects include schools, friendship, grandparents, brothers and sisters, and popularity.

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.

Melody Carlson, born March 2, 1956 in San Francisco, is an American author of more than 250 books for women, teens and children, including the Diary of a Teenage Girl series. The catalogue lists 298 books from 1995, when Contemplative Bible Reading and How to Start a Quality Childcare Business in Your Home appeared, to All Booked Up (2026). Series include Carter House Girls, On The Runway, TrueColors, 86 Bloomberg Place, Secret Life of Samantha McGregor, Beary Patch Bears and Fruit Troops. Subjects include Christian life, high schools, friendship, Bible stories and stories in rhyme. Carlson grew up in Springfield, Oregon, attended Lane Community College and lives in Sisters, Oregon.

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.

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.

Andrew Clements

83 books• 10 series

Andrew Clements (May 29, 1949 to November 28, 2019) was an American children's author. Frindle, the first Clements novel, won an award decided by the votes of schoolchildren in about 20 U.S. states, and received the 2016 Phoenix Award, given to a book that missed a major prize on first publication. The catalogue lists 83 books from Bird Adalbert (1985) to The Frindle Files (2024). Schools, teachers, friendship and dogs recur in the subjects. The Clements series include Benjamin Pratt and the Keepers of the School, Jake Drake, Pets to the Rescue and Real Monsters.

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.

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.

Judy Moody, a series that has sold more than 30 million copies, is what Megan McDonald is best known for. McDonald, born Megan Jo McDonald on February 28, 1959, is an American children's author and a former librarian, and also wrote the Julie Albright books for American Girl as well as picture books. The catalogue lists 113 McDonald books, from Is This a House for Hermit Crab? (1990) to The Big Bad Badgers (2025). Other series include Stink, Judy Moody & Friends, Beezy and Sisters Club, and the subjects include school, family life and brothers and sisters.

Barbara Park (1947-2013) was an American children's author. Junie B. Jones, a kindergartner and later a first grader, is Park's best-known creation and heads the largest series in the catalogue. Family life and what happens to children at school are the recurring subjects, and the books are humorous and short at around 78 pages. Fifty-one titles are catalogued, from Don't Make Me Smile (1981) through Skinnybones (1982) and The Kid in the Red Jacket (1987) to Junie B. My Valentime (2013). Park allowed no adaptations of the work beyond stage plays.

Debra S. Dadey, born May 18, 1959 in Morganfield, Kentucky, is an American writer and co-writer of 162 books. Seventy-four of those are Bailey School Kids titles written with Marcia Jones, split into 51 in the main Adventures of the Bailey School Kids sequence, 9 Jr. Chapter Books and 14 Special Editions. Dadey taught first grade and worked as a librarian before writing full time, and the award-winning books for reluctant readers carry imprints including Scholastic, Tor/Starscape, Hyperion, Delacorte and Bloomsbury USA. This listing holds 48 titles from 1995 to 2022, with Marcia Thornton Jones credited on 2. Mermaid Tales, Marty, Swamp Monster in the Third Grade and Slime Wars are the series on record.

Enid Blyton

957 books• 42 series

Enid Blyton (11 August 1897 to 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer and one of the best-selling authors of children's literature, with more than 600 million copies sold and translations into ninety languages. Blyton wrote on education, natural history, fantasy, mystery and biblical stories. Noddy, the Famous Five, the Secret Seven, the Five Find-Outers and Malory Towers are the best-remembered Blyton books, and St Clare's, Mary Mouse and Toyland Stories are also listed. The catalogue opens with The Enid Blyton Book of Fairies (1924), and The Naughtiest Girl in the School (1930) and The Adventures of the Wishing-Chair (1937) follow. Titles dated after Blyton's death also appear, up to Stories of Wonders and Wishes (2023).

Chet Gecko is named as a fictitious character in the subject records for Bruce Hale, which also cite geckos, children's fiction, humorous stories, mystery and detective stories, schools and sharks. The catalogue lists 64 books, starting with The Legend of the Laughing Gecko (1989). The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse (2000), The Mystery of Mr. Nice (2000) and Farewell, My Lunchbag (2001) are among the titles. Chet Gecko Mystery, Clark the Shark, Underwhere, Class Pets, SCHOOL FOR S.P.I.E.S. and Monstertown Mysteries are the listed series.

Jan and Stan Berenstain wrote picture books about the Berenstain Bears. The run begins with The Big Honey Hunt (1962) and reaches 400 titles by The Berenstain Bears: Father's Day Blessings (2018). Family life, school, brothers and sisters, scouting, Christmas and Christian life supply the recurring subjects, and many of the books are told in rhyme. A median length of 32 pages places them with early readers. Publication peaked in the 1990s and the catalogue is likely complete.

Joan Holub, born in Texas in 1956, has written and illustrated over 180 children's books and also publishes as Rita Book and Brad Bucks. The catalogue lists 184 Holub titles from If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution (1987) to This Little Engineer (2023), with a median length of 48 pages. Subject tags include Greek mythology, Greek goddesses, stories in rhyme, schools and ants. Holub series include Goddess Girls, Mini Myths, Ant Hill, Doll Hospital, Young Princesses Around the World and Smart About History.

Jane O'Connor is the writer of Fancy Nancy, a children's picture book series begun in 2005 and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser. The first Fancy Nancy book stayed on the New York Times Best Seller list for nearly 100 weeks, and the series grew past 100 titles and 50 million copies sold, with translations into 20 languages including Hungarian and Hebrew. Nancy moved into chapter books in April 2012 with Nancy Clancy: Super Sleuth. The catalogue lists 134 O'Connor books from Yours Till Niagara Falls, Abby (1979) to Besties for Eternity (2025), across series such as Lulu the Witch, Sir Small and Miranda Bookman.

Kieran Scott, born 11 March 1974, is an American author who also publishes as Kate Brian. Under the Kate Brian name come chick lit books such as The Princess and the Pauper, The Virginity Club, Sweet 16, Fake Boyfriend and the Private series. Books under Scott's own name include She's So Dead to Us, Brunettes Strike Back, Geek Magnet and I Was a Non-Blonde Cheerleader, a YALSA Teens Top Ten nominee. The catalogue subjects include boarding schools, high schools, cliques and teenage girls, and the listing runs from 1998 to 2026.

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.