Self-confidence book series in reading order

by Shannon Hale

by Eve Bunting

by Rich Wallace

by Alex Morgan

by Jory John

Shannon Hale

62 books• 11 series

Shannon Hale, born Shannon Bryner on January 26, 1974, is an American author mainly of young adult fantasy. Princess Academy (2005) earned a Newbery Honor, and The Goose Girl (2003) opens the catalogue. Austenland (2007), the first novel for adults, became a film in 2013. Hale graduated from the University of Utah and the University of Montana, and has co-written with husband Dean Hale. The catalogue lists 63 titles through The Princess in Black and the Trick-or-Treating Trouble (2026), across series including Princess In Black, Books of Bayern, Real Friends and Kitty-Corn.

Sport drives Rich Wallace's fiction for young readers. Basketball and soccer supply most of the plots, with teamwork, sportsmanship, competition and self-confidence among the listed subjects, across the Winning Season, Kickers, Game Face and Up2u series. Wallace's 43 catalogued books start at Riding Time and Wrestling Sturbridge in 1996 and end with Race Against Time: The Untold Story of Scipio Jones and the Battle to Save Twelve Innocent Men (2021). Volumes are short, at a median of 117 pages.

Mike Lupica, born May 11, 1952, is an American author and former newspaper columnist known for sports commentary in the New York Daily News and for appearances on ESPN. The catalogue lists 64 books, from Reggie (1985) to Framed (2026). Children's fiction about basketball, football and baseball fills much of the subject list, along with twins, friendship and fathers and sons. Series include Zach & Zoe Mysteries, Comeback Kids, Home Team, Peter Finley and Danny Walker/Travel Team.

Eve Bunting, born Eve Bolton, was a Northern Irish-born American writer of more than 250 books who lived from December 19, 1928, to October 1, 2023. Bunting wrote fiction and non-fiction, mainly novels for children and young adults, and also wrote the text of picture books. Many of the books are set in Northern Ireland, where Bunting grew up, while others range in subject from Thanksgiving to riots in Los Angeles. The Two Giants (1971) was Bunting's first book. Series in the catalogue include Frog and Friends, Horse Stories, Dinosaur Machines and Pirate Captain's Daughter, and subjects include animals, horses, stories in rhyme and mystery stories.

Katherine Applegate

228 books• 20 series

Katherine Applegate, born October 9, 1956, and sometimes published as K. A. Applegate, is an American author of children's and young adult fiction. Animorphs, Remnants and Everworld are the series most tied to Applegate, and The One and Only Ivan (2012) won the 2013 Newbery Medal. Applegate received the Publishers Weekly Best New Children's Book Series Award in 1997. The catalogue lists 228 books, from Welcome to Junior High! (1990) to The Littlest Elephant (2026), including Girl Talk, Making Out and Roscoe Riley Rules.

Kelly Yang, born August 29, 1984, is an Asian American writer known mainly for novels for children. Yang's first novel, Front Desk (2018), won the 2018 Parents' Choice Gold Medal for Fiction and the 2019 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and Yang has since written fiction for young adults and adults as well. The catalogue holds 14 books from Front Desk to The Take (2026), including Parachutes (2020), Three Keys (2020), New from Here (2022) and Finally Seen (2023). Front Desk and Finally Seen are the two series listed, and subjects include immigrant families, motels and self-confidence.

Derrick Barnes

19 books• 1 series

Derrick Barnes is an American writer of children's books who once wrote for Hallmark greeting cards. Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut (2017) earned Barnes a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Award in 2018. The catalogue counts 19 books from 2004 to 2025, including the Ruby and the Booker Boys series. African American culture and positive portrayals of Black children in daily life run through the work. Early titles include Just For You! Low-down Bad-day Blues (2004), and The King of Kindergarten arrived in 2019. I Got You (2025) is the newest listing.

Alex Morgan is the name on the Kicks series, 13 children's soccer stories catalogued from 2013 to 2021 for grades 3 to 5. Saving the Team (2013) opens the list, and Sabotage Season, Win or Lose, Hat Trick, Under Pressure and In the Zone follow. Fans in the Stands (2021) is the most recent. Subject tags cover friendship, teamwork, schools, family life, self-confidence and California. The sourced record describes Alex Morgan, born 2 July 1989, as an American former professional soccer player who won the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015 and 2019.

Kristen Proby writes contemporary romance, with 104 books in the catalogue from 2012 onward. Come Away with Me (2012) is the earliest title, followed by Fight with Me (2012), Play with Me (2013) and Rock with Me (2013). Vicious King (2026) is the newest release, and Love Me Anyway is scheduled for 2027. Proby series include With Me In Seattle, Boudreaux, Fusion, Love Under the Big Sky, Big Sky Royal, Heroes of Big Sky, Kings of Vegas, Huckleberry Bay and Wilds of Montana. Subjects include rock musicians, restaurateurs, ranchers, veterans and family life.

Jory John is an American author of children's books, known for dark humour and for taking on difficult topics. Jory John titles have reached the New York Times bestseller list, with The Good Egg at number one and The Bad Seed at number two, and John has twice received an E.B. White Read-Aloud Honor. The catalogue lists 40 books from Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country (2009) to This Is Not a Christmas Book (2026). Series include Food Group, Bear & Duck and Animal Problems, and bears, ducks, friendship and kindness appear among the subjects.

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.

American children's author Kate Messner, born in 1970 or 1971, writes mainly picture books, chapter books and middle grade novels. Messner's books have sold over five million copies in more than a dozen languages. The catalogue lists 85 books from Spitfire (2007) to Axolotl-Ella: A Sort-of Cinderella Story (2026), with Keep the Ghost Light On due in 2027. Series include History Smashers, Ranger in Time, Marty McGuire, Over and Under and Silver Jaguar Society Mysteries. Time travel, schools, dogs and history feature among the subjects.

David Lubar, born March 16, 1954, writes books for teens and has also worked as a video game programmer. Lubar programmed Super Breakout for the Game Boy and Frogger for the Super Nintendo and Game Boy, and designed Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge for the Game Boy Color. The catalogue lists 55 books from It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature! (1995) to The Clone Catastrophe (2021). Series include Weenies, Hidden Talents, Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie, and Monster Itch, with subjects such as horror stories, monsters and vampires.

Carl Bowen has 41 books in the catalogue, from Project Utopia (1999) to Gods and Thunder (2017). Special forces, soldiers and terrorism appear among the subject headings, alongside graphic novels and adaptations. The Bowen series are Shadow Squadron, Firestormers, Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Tribe Novel and Aberrant. Predator & Prey: Vampire (2000) and Silent Striders & Black Furies (2001) are early titles.

Carrie Jones

28 books• 8 series

Carrie Jones is an American author known for young adult fiction, writing both fantasy and non-fantasy novels; the paranormal Need series is the best known of them, and Jones has taken multiple awards and a place on the New York Times bestseller list. The catalogue holds 28 books from Tips on Having a Gay (Ex) Boyfriend (2007) to The Fear That Returns (2022). Need (2008) is followed by Captivate and Entice (2010) and Endure (2012). Subject tags name pixies, magic, metamorphosis, the supernatural, high schools, dating and self-confidence. Time Stoppers, the Bar Harbor Rose Mysteries, Dude, Flying and Alisa Thea are further headings, and the listing is dormant.

Peter H. Reynolds

25 books• 1 series

Peter H. Reynolds is a Canadian author and illustrator of children's picture books and the founder of FableVision, an educational media company. Imagination, creativity and self-confidence recur across his 25 catalogued books, which span 1993 to 2026 at a median of 44 pages. The Dot (2003), Ish (2004) and So Few of Me (2006) are among the titles, and Creatrilogy is the series listed for Reynolds. Our Treasures Within (2026) is the newest.

Communication and relationship advice is the subject of Leil Lowndes's nonfiction. Lowndes has 24 books, from Shopping the Insider's Way (1985) to How to Talk to Anyone at Work (2018). The "How to" titles make up the core: How To Talk to Anybody About Anything, How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You, How to Be a People Magnet and How To Make Anyone Like You. Body language, self-confidence and shyness appear among the subjects.

Jim Field's catalogue lists 23 children's books published between 2011 and 2021. Recorded subjects name picture books, stories in rhyme, humorous stories, animals, dogs, squirrels, monsters and self-confidence. The run opens with Cats Ahoy! (2011) and reaches The Whale Who Wanted More (2021). Magic Ink and Maxwell Mutt are the two series in the listing.

Diet and weight loss lead the subject headings for J.J. Virgin, whose 12 catalogued books run from 2010 to 2019. Subject headings also name sugar-free eating, recipes, arm exercises for women, motivation and self-confidence. The earliest title is Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy (2010). The Virgin Diet and The Virgin Diet Companion Cookbook came out in 2012, and The Supercharged Virgin Diet in 2015. Miracle Mindset (2017) appears later, and The Sugar Impact Diet (2019) is the newest.