Series

Books like Wayward Children: 9 series to read next

Wayward Children is portal fantasy and fantasy, about transported to another world and coming of age, set in otherworld. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Wayward Children is 18 books, 2016–2027.

“The volumes alternate between being set at the school versus showing the lives of the children while they were in their alternate worlds.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

The Wayward Children page →Narrow this list →

Narnia
His Dark Materials
Skinjacker Trilogy
Abarat
Fionavar Universe
Karou
Fairyland
Bod Owens
InterWorld

NarniaUniverse

universe38 books1950

Set in secondary world.

“Once there is a wardrobe at the back of a spare room, and behind the fur coats the wood gives way to snow, and a lamp-post burns alone among the trees.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

His Dark MaterialsUniverse

universe13 books1995

Adventurous in tone.

“In a world like ours and unlike it, every human soul walks outside the body in the shape of an animal — a daemon, who speaks, who cannot be lied to, and who settles into one fixed form only when childhood ends.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

Skinjacker TrilogySeries

seriesNeal Shusterman4 books2006

Set in afterlife & underworld.

“From copyright page: When Nick and Allie are killed in a car crash, they end up in Everlost, or limbo for lost souls, where although Nick is satisfied, Allie will stop at nothing - even skinjacking - to break free.”
from the catalogue description of Everlost

Start with Everlost →

AbaratSeries

seriesClive Barker3 books2002

Adventurous in tone, set in islands and secondary world.

“The Books of Abarat are a series of young adult fantasy novels written and illustrated by English writer and visual artist Clive Barker.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Abarat →

Fionavar UniverseSeries

seriesGuy Gavriel Kay5 books1984

Epic fantasy, set in secondary world.

“Kay lived in the countryside near Aix-en-Provence, the setting of Ysabel, while he wrote it.”
from the catalogue description of Ysabel

Start with Ysabel →

KarouSeries

seriesLaini Taylor4 books2011

Set in secondary world.

“From copyright page: Seventeen year old Karou, a lovely, enigmatic art student in a Prague boarding school, carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters - the chimerae who form the only family she has ever known.”
from the catalogue description of Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with Daughter of Smoke & Bone →

FairylandSeries

seriesCatherynne M. Valente7 books2009

Adventurous in tone, about quests.

“The novels follow a 12-year-old girl named September as she is spirited away from her average life to Fairyland.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making →

Bod OwensSeries

seriesNeil Gaiman & P. Craig Russell3 books2007

Set in british isles.

“Neil Gaiman's 2008 novel won both the Newbery and Carnegie Medals, and illustrator P. Craig Russell later adapted it into a two-volume graphic novel.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Witch's Headstone →

InterWorldSeries

seriesMichael Reaves, Mallory Reaves & Neil Gaiman3 books2007

Science fantasy and science fiction, adventurous in tone.

“Michael Reaves developed the story with Neil Gaiman, and Reaves's daughter Mallory Reaves co-wrote the two sequels.”
from the catalogue description

Start with InterWorld →

Why these

No sales rank, no star ratings, no readers also bought.

Shared terms are not a promise that a book feels the same. Two series can be far-future political intrigue and read nothing alike — what the ranking can say is what they are about, and each card says which parts it shares.

Questions readers ask

What should I read after Wayward Children?: Narnia — the closest match to Wayward Children on what it is about, not on what sells.
Where do I start with Wayward Children?: Every Heart a Doorway. It is the entry the catalogue recommends for Wayward Children.
How big is Wayward Children?: Wayward Children is 18 books, 2016–2027.

Books like Wayward Children: 9 series to read next

Read next in Wayward Children

Why these

Questions readers ask

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