Toy and movable books book series in reading order

by Alyssa Satin Capucilli

by Jane O’Connor

by Nick Bantock

by Alice Schertle

Eric Carle

165 books• 6 series

Eric Carle (25 June 1929 to 23 May 2021) was an American author, designer and illustrator of children's books. The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a picture book first published in 1969, has sold more than 55 million copies in over 70 languages. Carle illustrated more than 70 children's books and wrote most of them, and sales across the Carle books exceed 170 million copies. Catalogued titles begin with 1, 2, 3 to the Zoo (1968), followed by The Very Hungry Caterpillar (1969), Pancakes, Pancakes! (1970), The Tiny Seed (1970) and Do You Want to Be My Friend? (1971). Subjects include board books, counting, color, animals and caterpillars.

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.

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).

Nick Bantock is a British artist and author based on Saltspring Island in British Columbia. The Griffin and Sabine books are his best known work, assembled from faux postage stamps, handwritten documents, passports and postcards bound into the page. Bantock's catalogue holds 25 titles, from There Was An Old Lady (1990) to The Corset & The Jellyfish (2023), taking in The Egyptian Jukebox (1993) and The Golden Mean (1993). Subjects cover imaginary letters, movable books, collage and picture books, at a median of 60 pages.

Dr. Seuss

95 books• 4 series

Dr. Seuss is the pen name of Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904–1991), an American children's author, illustrator, animator and cartoonist who adopted it as a Dartmouth College undergraduate. Geisel wrote and illustrated more than 60 books as Dr. Seuss, and sales passed 600 million copies by 1991. The catalogue lists 95 Dr. Seuss titles, beginning with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937) and including Horton Hatches the Egg (1940) and Bartholomew and the Oobleck (1949); releases continue after Geisel's death, through 2026. Stories in rhyme, nonsense verse and picture books dominate the subjects, and Cat in the Hat and Horton the Elephant are among the series.

Sandra Boynton

103 books• 1 series

Children's board books in rhyme are the core of Sandra Boynton's work. The American humorist, songwriter and illustrator has 103 catalogued books published between 1979 and 2026, from Hester in the Wild (1979) to Iguana Miss You! (2026). The list takes in But Not the Hippopotamus (1982), Moo, Baa, La La La! (1982) and The Going to Bed Book (1982). Animals, bedtime and humour recur throughout, and Little Pookie is her named series. Boynton is actively publishing.

A.A. Milne

84 books• 3 series

A.A. Milne, born Alan Alexander Milne (18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956), was an English writer best known for the Winnie-the-Pooh books about a teddy bear and for children's poetry. Milne worked mainly as a playwright until Winnie-the-Pooh eclipsed the earlier work. Milne served as a lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in the First World War and as a captain in the Home Guard in the Second. Christopher Robin Milne, a bookseller and Milne's son, inspired the character Christopher Robin. The catalogue lists 84 titles from Lovers in London (1905) to A Hint for Next Christmas (2019), including Wurzel-Flummery (1917) and Mr. Pim Passes By (1919).

William Joyce

50 books• 6 series

William Joyce, born in 1957, is an American writer, illustrator and filmmaker who has produced more than 50 children's books, translated into over 40 languages. Rolie Polie Olie, the Guardians of Childhood and Dinosaur Bob are his main series, working with robots, dogs, adventure and the contest of good and evil, often in rhyme. Joyce started in film as a concept artist on Toy Story (1995) and took credits on A Bug's Life (1998) and Robots (2005); his A Day with Wilbur Robinson (1988) became the Disney film Meet the Robinsons (2007). The catalogue runs from William Joyce's Mother Goose (1984) to Scarecrow and the Nightingale (2020), at a median of 40 pages a book.

Cressida Cowell

61 books• 12 series

Cressida Cowell, born Cressida Hare on 15 April 1966, is a British children's author. How to Train Your Dragon is the series Cowell is best known for; DreamWorks Animation adapted the series into a media franchise, and by 2015 the books had sold more than seven million copies worldwide. Cowell also writes the Emily Brown stories with illustrator Neal Layton, and the first, That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown, won a Nestle Children's Book Award. The catalogue lists 61 books to 2025, with subjects such as dragons, Vikings, humorous stories and the character Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. Other series include The Wizards of Once and Which Way To Anywhere.

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.

Beatrix Potter

30 books

Beatrix Potter wrote small books about animals for children. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (1901) is the earliest of the catalogued tales, followed by The Tailor of Gloucester (1903), The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin (1903), The Tale of Benjamin Bunny (1904) and The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle (1905). Thirty-one titles are catalogued in all, most of them from the 1900s, and they run short at a median 64 pages.

Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 - November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, among them The Runaway Bunny (1942) and Goodnight Moon (1947), both with illustrations by Clement Hurd. Brown has been called the laureate of the nursery. Brown also published as Golden MacDonald for Doubleday, as Timothy Hay for Harper & Brothers, and, with Edith Thacher Hurd, as Juniper Sage for William R. Scott. The catalogue lists 166 books, opening with When the Wind Blew (1937), then I Like Bugs and The Steam Roller (1938). Stories in rhyme, rabbits, bedtime and sound recur in the subjects.

Marc Brown

47 books• 1 series

Marc Brown, born 25 November 1946, is an American children's author and illustrator who writes and draws the Arthur books. The Arthur series became an animated television show broadcast on PBS Kids. The catalogue lists 47 books by Marc Brown between 1996 and 2009, starting with Arthur's Reading Race (1996) and ending with Arthur's Reading Trick (2009). Arthur, a fictitious aardvark, heads the subject records, alongside schools, friendship, brothers and sisters, and Spanish language editions.

Drew Daywalt, born January 5, 1970, is an American author and filmmaker. The Day the Crayons Quit (2013) and its sequel The Day the Crayons Came Home (2015), picture books illustrated by Oliver Jeffers, are Daywalt's best-known work. Daywalt has also written scripts for American television and Hollywood studios and made short horror films for the internet. The catalogue lists 38 books from 2013 to 2026, with Happy Birthday from the Crayons due in 2027; series are Crayons, Monkey & Cake and No Sam!.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

67 books• 7 series

Laura Ingalls Wilder (7 February 1867 to 10 February 1957) was an American writer, teacher and journalist. The Little House on the Prairie children's books, published from 1932 to 1943, drew on Wilder's childhood in a pioneer settler family. Catalogued Wilder titles from those years include Little House in the Big Woods (1932), Farmer Boy (1933), Little House on the Prairie (1935), On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937), By the Shores of Silver Lake (1939), The Long Winter (1940), Little Town on the Prairie (1941) and These Happy Golden Years (1943). Catalogue subjects include frontier and pioneer life, farm life and families.

Max Lucado

278 books• 6 series

Max Lucado has 278 books in the catalogue, published between 1985 and 2026, and subject headings centre on Christian life, the Bible, Jesus Christ, meditations and biblical teaching. Lucado, born January 11, 1955, is an American author and minister at Oak Hills Church, formerly Oak Hills Church of Christ, in San Antonio, Texas. The earliest titles are No Wonder They Call Him the Savior and On the Anvil (both 1985), then God Came Near (1986), The Applause of Heaven (1990) and He Still Moves Stones (1992). Series include Life Lessons, Hermie & Friends, Max Lucado's Wemmicks and Just in Case, and children's fiction is also among the subjects. The newest listed title is Unbreakable Courage Bible Study Guide (2026).

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.

Sarah Ferguson

65 books• 7 series

Sarah Ferguson, formerly Duchess of York, is a British author and television personality with 65 books catalogued between 1989 and 2023. The Budgie the Little Helicopter picture books opened the run in 1989 and lead a children's list that also holds Little Red, Genie Gems, Puddle Boots and the Helping Hand stories. Ferguson has written history as well, Victoria and Albert: A Family Life at Osborne House (1991) and Travels with Queen Victoria (1995), along with books on weight loss and exercise and the Buccleuch Family novels, the latest of them A Most Intriguing Lady (2023).

Michael Morpurgo

171 books• 5 series

Sir Michael Morpurgo, born 5 October 1943, is an English author, poet, playwright and librettist best known for children's novels such as War Horse (1982). Morpurgo served as the third Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005 and is President of BookTrust, a children's reading charity. Recurring themes include outsiders who triumph, survival and bonds with nature, set in places such as the Cornish coast and the First World War trenches. The catalogue holds 171 books from It Never Rained (1974) to Down Burrow Lane (2026), including the Mudpuddle Farm series.

Tove Jansson

74 books• 2 series

Tove Jansson created the Moomins. Jansson was a Finland-Swedish author, comic strip artist, painter and illustrator who lived from 1914 to 2001, studied art in Helsinki, Stockholm and Paris between 1930 and 1938, and held a first solo exhibition in 1943. Seventy-four books are catalogued from The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945) to Little My (2024), among them Comet in Moominland (1946), Finn Family Moomintroll (1948), Moominsummer Madness (1954), Moominland Midwinter (1957), Tales from Moominvalley (1962) and Moominpappa at Sea (1965). Comics, picture books and translations fill much of the list, at a median of 76 pages, with Moominland named among the subject headings.