Jodi Lynn Anderson Books in Order (Updated March 10, 2026)

Jodi Lynn Anderson’s bibliography splits cleanly into a few categories: two true trilogies, several standalones, and a later middle grade trilogy. There is no single shared-universe master order across all of her books, so the practical way to read her is to stay inside one series at a time and treat the rest as standalones.

For many readers, the best entry point is Tiger Lily if you want her best-known YA standalone, Peaches if you want contemporary friendship fiction, May Bird and the Ever After if you want her earlier middle grade fantasy, or The Memory Thief if you want her newer fantasy trilogy.

The cleanest way to read Jodi Lynn Anderson

If you want the shortest useful answer, read the series in this order and fit the standalones wherever your mood takes you:

1. Peaches
2. The Secrets of Peaches
3. Love and Peaches
4. May Bird and the Ever After
5. May Bird Among the Stars
6. May Bird, Warrior Princess
7. Loser/Queen
8. Tiger Lily
9. The Vanishing Season
10. My Diary from the Edge of the World
11. Midnight at the Electric
12. The Memory Thief
13. The Sea of Always
14. The Palace of Dreams
15. Each Night Was Illuminated

That is a bibliography order, not a continuity order. The continuity order only matters inside Peaches, May Bird, and Thirteen Witches. Everything else can be read on its own.

Series first, standalones second

Peaches trilogy

1. Peaches (2005): Three very different girls spend one Georgia summer colliding, clashing, and forming the friendship that anchors the whole trilogy.
2. The Secrets of Peaches (2006): After the first summer changed them, Birdie, Leeda, and Murphy face breakups, departures, and the fear that the orchard friendships may not survive a second year.
3. Love and Peaches (2008): The trio returns home after time apart, and the final book turns reunion into a test of whether growing up means holding on, letting go, or both.

May Bird trilogy

1. May Bird and the Ever After (2005): May falls into the land of the dead and has to survive the Ever After, beginning the series’ ghostly adventure and its fight against Bo Cleevil.
2. May Bird Among the Stars (2006): After returning from the Ever After once, May is pulled back toward that world’s danger, making this a direct continuation rather than a side story.
3. May Bird, Warrior Princess (2007): The trilogy closes with May facing a final showdown after her earlier journey through the Ever After changes both her life at school and her place in that other world.

Thirteen Witches trilogy

1. The Memory Thief (2021): Rosie discovers that the world’s hidden cruelty traces back to thirteen witches, setting up a middle grade fantasy quest built on stories, grief, and witch-hunting destiny.
2. The Sea of Always (2022): Rosie’s first victory only opens a larger war, and the sequel sends her farther from home as she hunts the remaining witches across stranger terrain.
3. The Palace of Dreams (2022): The trilogy ends with Rosie and her friends in their last stand against the Nothing King, taking the series fully into dream logic, cosmic danger, and final-sacrifice territory.

The standalones

1. Loser/Queen (2010): Cammy Hall’s “loser” life turns into an interactive-style Cinderella story about reinvention, popularity, and whether the fantasy of being chosen actually fixes anything.
2. Tiger Lily (2012): This Neverland retelling shifts the center of Peter Pan’s story to Tiger Lily, turning mythic romance into a tragic prequel about loyalty, desire, and Wendy’s arrival.
3. The Vanishing Season (2014): A ghostly observer watches girls disappear in a wintry town, making this a haunting standalone about buried truth, friendship, and the pull of the past.
4. My Diary from the Edge of the World (2015): Told in diary form, this standalone mixes coming-of-age fantasy with science, myth, and the strange wonder of a world slightly off from our own.
5. Midnight at the Electric (2017): Three girls in 1919, 1934, and 2065 become linked across generations, giving Anderson a time-layered standalone about loss, courage, and inherited connection.
6. Each Night Was Illuminated (2022): Cassie and Elias reconnect around a tragedy, ghost-hunting, and questions of faith, making this a quieter but still eerie YA standalone.

Best reading orders, depending on why you’re here

If you want her most reader-friendly series work

Start with Peaches or May Bird and the Ever After. The first gives you her early YA friendship fiction; the second gives you her earlier fantasy series in the intended order.

If you want the strongest standalone entry point

Start with Tiger Lily. It is one of her best-known books and works perfectly well without any series commitment.

If you want the newer middle grade fantasy line

Start with The Memory Thief, then continue through The Sea of Always and The Palace of Dreams.

If you want the most “Jodi Lynn Anderson” mood

Read Tiger Lily, The Vanishing Season, Midnight at the Electric, and Each Night Was Illuminated. Those books show her recurring interest in ghosts, longing, nature, and emotional aftershocks without requiring any series order.

Do any of the series connect to each other?

No shared continuity is established between Peaches, May Bird, and Thirteen Witches. They are separate projects, and the standalones are separate again. That means you do not need to finish one lane before starting another.

Latest release status

Among the books I could verify on Jodi Lynn Anderson’s official site and publisher pages, the most recent currently listed title is Each Night Was Illuminated (2022). I did not find a later announced fiction release on the official site that would change the reading order above.

FAQ

What is the best Jodi Lynn Anderson book to start with?

For a standalone, start with Tiger Lily. For a series, start with Peaches, May Bird and the Ever After, or The Memory Thief, depending on which lane you want.

Should I read Jodi Lynn Anderson in publication order?

Only inside each trilogy. Across her whole bibliography, publication order is fine, but it is not necessary because most of the books are standalones or belong to separate series.

Is The Vanishing Season part of a series?

No. It is a standalone.

Is Tiger Lily connected to Peter Pan?

Yes. It is a Neverland retelling centered on Tiger Lily before Wendy becomes the familiar focal point of that myth.

Which Jodi Lynn Anderson series is complete?

The Peaches trilogy, May Bird trilogy, and Thirteen Witches trilogy are all complete in the sources I checked.

Final answer

The safest way to read Jodi Lynn Anderson is by series order where a series exists, then standalones whenever you want. Read Peaches in order, May Bird in order, and Thirteen Witches in order. Everything else stands alone, with Tiger Lily as the easiest single-book starting point.