Survival book series in reading order

by James Axler

by Max Brallier

by A. American

by Kass Morgan

by Richard Yancey

by Scott Cawthon

by Mark Walden

by Joelle Charbonneau

by Rachel Aaron

I Survived, a New York Times bestselling series of historical fiction for children in grades 3 to 5, is written by Lauren Tarshis, an American author born November 23, 1963. The I Survived books present historical disasters from a child's point of view. Tarshis also wrote Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree (2007), a Golden Kite honor book and an Oprah's Book Club pick, and its sequel Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell in Love (2009). The catalogue lists 48 Tarshis books through 2026, including I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 (2010) and I Survived the Night of the Lions (2026).

Bear Grylls

81 books• 6 series

Bear Grylls is a British adventurer, television presenter and former SAS trooper, born in 1974, with 81 catalogued books to his name. Wilderness survival, outdoor safety and adventure are the subjects, written largely for children: Mission: Survival, Beck Granger Adventures, the Bear Grylls Survival Skills handbooks and the New Jungle Book Adventures. The run opens with Facing Up / The Kid Who Climbed Everest (2000) and reaches The Greatest Story Ever Told (2025). Grylls fronted Man vs. Wild, Running Wild and The Island, and served as Chief Scout of the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2024. Books median 186 pages.

Jerry Bruce Jenkins, born September 23, 1949, is an American writer who co-wrote the Left Behind series with Tim LaHaye. Jenkins also writes the novels based on The Chosen, the TV series about Jesus. Across more than 200 books, Jenkins covers biography, self-help, romance, mystery and young adult fiction, and 19 novels explore eschatological themes. The catalogue lists 207 books from The Night the Giant Rolled Over (1971) to The Battle for Heaven and Earth (2026). Series include Left Behind: The Kids, Red Rock Mysteries, Margo Mysteries and Wormling.

Gary Paulsen

181 books• 17 series

Survival and outdoor adventure run through Gary Paulsen's writing for young readers. The catalogue holds 181 books, from Some Birds Don't Fly (1968) to Northwind (2022), at a median length of 105 pages. Brian Robeson, Francis Tucket, Duncan Culpepper, Murphy and the World of Adventure books head the series lines, with non-fiction and picture books alongside. No new Paulsen title has appeared since 2022.

Charlie Higson

35 books• 7 series

Charlie Higson, born 3 July 1958, is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer who has also written and produced for television. Higson is the author of The Enemy, a young adult post-apocalyptic series, and wrote the first five Young Bond novels. King of the Ants (1992) opens the catalogue of 35 titles, followed by Happy Now (1993), Full Whack (1995) and Getting Rid of Mister Kitchen (1996). The Dalek Factor (2004) appears next, then SilverFin (2005), Blood Fever (2006), Double or Die (2007) and By Royal Command (2008). Spies, zombies, survival and London appear in the subject tags.

James Dashner

26 books• 7 series

The Maze Runner series and the young adult fantasy series The 13th Reality are what American writer James Dashner, born November 26, 1972, is best known for. Much of Dashner's speculative fiction is aimed at children or young adults. The Journal of Curious Letters (2008), first in The 13th Reality, was a Borders Original Voices pick. The Maze Runner reached cinemas in 2014, with further films in 2015 and 2018 grossing an estimated $949 million together. The catalogue lists 26 books from A Door in the Woods (2003) to The Infinite Glade (2025), with the Jimmy Fincher Saga, Mortality Doctrine and Maze Cutter among the series.

Roland Smith, born November 30, 1951, is an American author of young adult fiction and of nonfiction for children. The catalogue lists 51 titles from Sea Otter Rescue (1990) to The Vaquita (2025), with early books on zoo animals, Primates in the Zoo, Snakes in the Zoo, Inside the Zoo Nursery, sitting beside later adventure fiction. Series include I, Q, Peak, Storm Runners, Zach's Lie, Jacob Lansa, Marty and Grace and the Alphabet Picture books; Marie Smith shares credit on 3 of the titles. Subjects name survival, adventure, spies, mountaineering and terrorism.

David Moody is an English horror writer born 19 November 1970. Autumn, released free online in 2001, first brought Moody to public attention, and a film version starring David Carradine and Dexter Fletcher came out in 2009. Universal Pictures took film rights to the Hater trilogy in 2008, with Guillermo del Toro and Mark Johnson attached as producers. The catalogue holds 29 books from Straight to You (1996) to Kemberton (2026), with series including Autumn, Hater and Front, and subjects such as zombies, epidemics and survival.

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.

Michael Grant writes young adult science fiction and horror. The Gone series opens his catalogue in 2008 and runs through Hunger, Lies, Plague and Fear; BZRK, the Magnificent 12, Messenger of Fear, Eve and Adam and the Soldier Girl books follow. Survival, good and evil, the supernatural and the Second World War are the recurring subjects across 30 catalogued titles published between 2008 and 2019. Hero (2019) is the most recent entry.

Max Brallier

48 books• 12 series

The Last Kids on Earth, a New York Times bestselling series that Netflix turned into a TV series, is the work American children's author Max Brallier is best known for. Brallier, born September 8, 1983, has written more than 30 books. The catalogue lists 48 entries, reaching Across the Doodleverse (2026). Series include Mister Shivers, Galactic Hot Dogs and Last Comics on Earth, alongside graphic novel editions of The Last Kids on Earth. Monsters, survival, friendship, humour, food trucks and interplanetary voyages appear among the subject tags.

Jonathan Maberry

146 books• 35 series

Jonathan Maberry, born May 18, 1958, is an American suspense author who also works as an anthology editor, comic book writer, magazine feature writer, playwright and writing teacher. Horror Novel Reviews named Maberry one of Today's Top Ten Horror Writers. The catalogue holds 147 books from The Black Road (2002) to Bewilderness (2026), with Avalon Station due in 2027. Listed series include Pine Deep, V-Wars, Rogue Team International, Rot & Ruin Graphic Novels and Kagen The Damned, and Joe Ledger and Benny Imura are among the tagged characters. Subjects include horror, zombies, vampires, terrorism and superhero comics.

Survivalist fiction and preparedness manuals make up the work of James Wesley Rawles, a former US Army Intelligence officer and survival retreat consultant born in 1960. Patriots (1998) began the Coming Collapse sequence; Counter-Caliphate Chronicles is the second series. Survival, financial crisis and the breakdown of civil order are the subjects throughout. Rawles also promotes the American Redoubt, a survivalist refuge in the northwestern United States. Ten books are catalogued through 2020.

Ann Aguirre, born on 27 August 1970, is an American writer of speculative fiction across urban fantasy, romantic science fiction and post-apocalyptic dystopian young adult fiction. Apocalyptic paranormal romance appears under the shared name Ellen Connor with Carrie Lofty, and paranormal romantic suspense under the name Ava Gray. The catalogue lists 160 books, from Grimspace (2008) and Wanderlust (2008) to The Hocus Pocus Handbook (2026). Series include Sirantha Jax, Razorland, Corine Solomon and Ars Numina, plus Ava Gray series such as Alpha Billionaire and Valkov Bratva. Subjects include interstellar travel and women astronauts.

A. American is the byline of Chris Weatherman, who also publishes as Angery American. The catalogue holds 22 books published between 2012 and 2026, starting with Going Home (2012) and reaching Resurgence (2026). Subjects include survivalism, electromagnetic pulse, electric power failures, refugees, social conflict, Florida, dystopian fiction and war and military writing. The Survivalist sequence is the main run, with Charlie's Requiem, standalone novels and non-fiction listed beside it. Forsaking Home and Resurrecting Home both reached the USA Today bestseller list, and Weatherman appeared in the first season of the History Channel series Alone.

Erin Hunter is the name on 169 catalogued books, published from 2003 onward and filed as children's fantasy fiction. Into the Wild, Fire and Ice and Forest of Secrets (all 2003) are the earliest. Series listings include Warriors: The New Prophecy, Warriors: Power of Three, Warriors: Omen of the Stars, Warriors: Dawn of the Clans and Warriors: The Broken Code. Seekers, Survivors, Bravelands and Bamboo Kingdom also appear. Subjects include cats, feral cats, bears, dogs, adventure and manga. Darktail's Judgment (2026) is the newest, with False Dawn due in 2027.

Jean Craighead George

100 books• 11 series

Julie of the Wolves won Jean Craighead George the Newbery Medal, and My Side of the Mountain (1959) earned a Newbery Honor. George, born July 2, 1919, and died May 15, 2012, was an American writer of more than one hundred books for children and young adults, with the environment and the natural world as recurring themes. George also wrote at least two guides to cooking with wild foods and an autobiography, Journey Inward, and was the U.S. nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1964. The catalogue lists 100 books from Vulpes, the Red Fox (1948) to Crowbar: The Smartest Bird in the World (2015). Series include 13 Moons, Ecological Mysteries, American Woodland Tales and One Day in the..., and subjects name wolves, owls, falcons and ecology.

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.

John Ringo, born March 22, 1963, is an American author of science fiction and military fiction, with several New York Times best sellers. The work ranges from straight science fiction to military and political thrillers, and more than seven million copies are in print in seven languages. The catalogue starts with A Hymn Before Battle (2000), followed by Gust Front, March Upcountry and March to the Sea in 2001, and reaches Beyond the Rift (2026). Series include Posleen War, Black Tide Rising, Council Wars, Looking Glass, Troy Rising, Von Neumann's War and Special Circumstances. Subjects include space warfare, human-alien encounters, Navy SEALs and survival.

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.

Chris Ryan

76 books• 16 series

Chris Ryan is the pen name of Colin Armstrong, a British author, television presenter and security consultant born in 1961 who served as a sergeant in the Special Air Service. After fellow patrol member Andy McNab published Bravo Two Zero in 1993, Ryan told the story of that mission in The One That Got Away (1995). Strike Back became a Sky 1 television series, and Ryan co-created the ITV action series Ultimate Force. The catalogue lists 76 Ryan books up to Traitor (2024), including Stand By, Stand by (1996) and The Kremlin Device (1998). Series include Danny Black, Agent 21, Geordie Sharp, Matt Browning and Special Forces Cadets.

Susan Beth Pfeffer (1948-2025) was an American author of young adult and science fiction. After 35 years of writing she reached a wider readership with The Last Survivors, a post-apocalyptic sequence, several volumes of which made the New York Times bestseller list. The Sebastian Sisters, Kid Power, Portraits of Little Women and April and Darcy are among her earlier series. Seventy-six titles run from Just Morgan (1970) to The Shade of the Moon (2013).

Beth Revis

24 books• 7 series

Beth Revis is an American author of fantasy and science fiction, mostly for young adults, who lives in North Carolina. The Across the Universe trilogy comprises Across the Universe (2011), A Million Suns (2012) and Shades of Earth (2013). The catalogue lists 26 titles through Last Chance to Save the World (2025), with Dragon of the Deep due in 2027. Chaotic Orbits, Give the Dark My Love, Museum of Magic and Winterflame Dragon are further series. Interplanetary voyages, cryonics and plague appear among the subject headings.

Veronica Roth

27 books• 12 series

Divergent (2011) opens the catalogue of Veronica Roth, an American novelist and short story writer born August 19, 1988. Sales of the Divergent trilogy exceed 35 million copies worldwide. Insurgent (2012), Allegiant (2013) and Four (2014) follow early in the list, which counts 28 titles through Seek the Traitor's Son (2026). Carve the Mark, Curse Bearer and Sixth Faction are the other named series. Dystopias, courage, identity and social classes appear among the subject headings.