Universities and colleges book series in reading order

by Joelle Charbonneau

by Ruth Dudley Edwards

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.

Stephanie Perry Moore's 66 catalogued books date from 2000 to 2023, beginning with Saved Race, Sober Faith and Staying Pure in 2000. Subjects include Christian life, African Americans, high schools, universities and colleges, dating, friendship, family problems and sisters, along with children's fiction. Series include Payton Skky, Laurel Shadrach, Carmen Browne, Perry Skky Jr., Beta Gamma Pi Novels, Yasmin Peace, Morgan Love and Sharp Sisters. Women of Color Devotional dates from 2002, and Circus Web (2023) is the most recent title.

Rachel Caine

63 books• 11 series

Rachel Caine was the pen name of Roxanne Longstreet Conrad (April 27, 1962 to November 1, 2020), an American writer of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, suspense and horror. The catalogue lists 63 books under the Caine name, starting with The Undead (1993) and Cold Kiss (1995). Series include Weather Warden, Outcast Season, Morganville Vampires, Stillhouse Lake, Great Library, Red Letter Days and Revivalist. Subjects on file include vampires, weather control, jinn and university towns.

Christopher Golden is an American writer, born in 1967, with 139 catalogued books published between 1994 and 2026. Horror, fantasy and science fiction run through the work, alongside vampires, the supernatural and murder. Of Saints and Shadows (1994) opens the catalogue and Carry Me to My Grave (2026) is the newest entry. Golden's series include the Shadow Saga, Baltimore, Joe Golem, Body of Evidence, Prowlers, Hollow, Hidden Cities and the Secret Journeys of Jack London, and the listing also carries Buffy the Vampire Slayer and X-Men titles. Mike Mignola is credited alongside Golden on 4 books.

Carolyn Keene is a Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name, the credit on the Nancy Drew mysteries. Mildred Wirt Benson, one of the writers behind the name, used it from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew books. The catalogue lists 647 Carolyn Keene books, beginning with The Secret of the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase and The Bungalow Mystery (all 1930) and reaching Vans & Villains (2026). Series include Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, Nancy Drew Files, Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, Nancy Drew Diaries, Nancy Drew: Girl Detective and Dana Girls Mystery Stories.

Joelle Charbonneau writes for young adults and in mystery. Twenty books are catalogued between Skating Around the Law (2010) and Disclose (2020). The Testing is the science fiction series, with The Testing (2013), The Testing Guide (2013) and Graduation Day (2014); Verify and Dividing Eden are the later ones. Rebecca Robbins leads a roller-rink mystery sequence in Skating Over the Line (2011), Skating on the Edge (2012) and Skating Under the Wire (2013), and the Glee Club Mysteries take on show choirs in Murder for Choir (2012), End Me a Tenor (2013) and A Chorus Line-Up (2014). Nothing new has appeared since 2020.

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.

Jean Hanff Korelitz

10 books• 1 series

Jean Hanff Korelitz has 10 books in the catalogue, from A Jury of Her Peers (1996) to The Sequel (2024). The Sabbathday River (1998), Admission (2009), You Should Have Known (2014), The Plot (2021) and The Latecomer (2022) fall between them. Women lawyers, universities and New York appear among the subject headings. Korelitz, born May 16, 1961, is an American novelist, playwright, theater producer and essayist.

Jon Hassler (1933-2008) was an American novelist and teacher who wrote about small-town life in Minnesota. Staggerford, an imaginary Minnesota town, gives its name to his main series and to the 1977 novel that opens it; Rookery State College is a second sequence. Teachers, Catholics, friendship, town custom and Native American life run through 23 catalogued books dated 1977 to 2021, at a median 282 pages. Hassler held a Regents professorship emeritus and a writer-in-residence post at St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Ally Condie

19 books• 6 series

Ally Condie writes young adult and middle grade fiction. The Matched trilogy is the best known work: Matched (2010) reached No.1 on the New York Times list and stayed on it for over a year, with Crossed (2011) and Reached (2012) following as bestsellers, and all three appear in more than 30 languages. Matched was named to YALSA's 2011 Teens' Top Ten and to Publishers Weekly's best children's books of 2010. Condie also wrote the standalone Atlantia (2014) and the middle grade novel Summerlost (2016). Nineteen books are catalogued, starting with Yearbook (2006) and reaching The Girls Trip in 2026.

Cynthia Voigt writes for young adults, on adventure, mystery, racism and child abuse. The Tillerman Cycle opens her catalogue with Homecoming (1981), which was adapted as a film in 1996, and Dicey's Song won the Newbery Medal in 1983. Other sequences include Tales of the Kingdom, Bad Girls, Davis Farm and Mister Max. The American author, born in 1942, received the American Library Association's Margaret Edwards Award in 1995 for her writing for teenagers. Thirty-seven titles are catalogued, published between 1981 and 2020 and reaching Little Bird (2020).

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.

History, biography and crime fiction make up the work of Ruth Dudley Edwards, a Dublin-born historian who has lived in England since 1965. Born on 24 May 1944, Edwards calls herself British-Irish, and her revisionist view of Irish history has drawn controversy. Edwards has written columns for the Sunday Independent, the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph and The News Letter. Her 24 books start with An Atlas of Irish History (1973) and include titles on James Connolly and Patrick Pearse. Edwards also writes the humorous Robert Amiss mysteries, with murder and the civil service among their subjects.