Alison McGhee

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Alison McGhee's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    39 Books (1 Series)
  • First Book:
    July 2001
  • Latest Book:
    May 2025
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Full Series List in Order

Julia Gillian

1 - Julia Gillian (and the Art of Knowing) (Jun-2008)
2 - Julia Gillian (and the Quest for Joy) (Apr-2009)
3 - Julia Gillian (and the Dream of the Dog) (Jul-2010)

Book List in Order: 39 titles

  • Shadow Baby

    A young girl forms an unforgettable friendship with an elderly neighbor while searching for answers about her family's past in this national bestseller and Pulitzer Prize nominee. Eleven-year-old Clara is struggling to find the truth about her missin...

  • Rainlight

    The moving story of a father who dies young and the family he leaves behind

    Even in a small town people have secrets, including how much they really mean to each other. In Alison McGhee’s haunting debut, a tragic event sparks revelations fro...

  • Countdown to Kindergarten

    It's just ten days before kindergarten, and this little girl has heard all there is to know--from a first grader--about what it's going to be like. You can't bring your cat, you can't bring a stuffed animal, and the number one rule? You can't ask any...

  • Was It Beautiful?

    “Alison McGhee’s is a novel of simple explanations, simple movement, and Faulkner’s favorite, most ferocious question: Can we ever really know one another?” -- Los Angeles Times

    “McGhee has written a lovely and successful third novel...

  • Snap

    Eddie Beckey makes lists for just about everything and everyone in her life. And for matters of real importance, she wears (and snaps) an array of colored rubber bands on her left wrist. Unfortunately, the world is not always so orderly and knowable ...

  • Mrs. Watson Wants Your Teeth

    Sure, first-grade teacher Mrs. Watson may look human, but it is a known and proven fact that she is actually a three-hundred-year-old alien who steals baby teeth from her students.

    Thank goodness for a second grader's warning, because this li...

  • Falling Boy

    After a mysterious accident left him paralyzed, sixteen-year-old Joseph finds himself living with his father in Minneapolis and working hot summer days in a bakery. What happened to the life he used to live? How did he come to be here? Although they ...

  • Someday

    A mother's love leads to a mother's dream -- every mother's dream -- for her child to live life to its fullest. A deceptively simple, powerful ode to the potential of love and the potential in life, Someday is the book you'll want to share with som...

  • All Rivers Flow to the Sea

    For seventeen-year-old Rose, it keeps happening -- the car crash. The car crash that put her sister, Ivy, in a coma with only a respirator keeping her alive. While Rose tries to find support from her reticent mother, distraction from the series of bo...



  • Fre-Dix Dodos Avant L'Ecole

  • Bye-bye, Crib

    There it is. Over there. The big bed... Am I ready? #1 New York Times best-selling author Alison McGhee tells the tale of a child's first rite of passage - from the crib to the big bed. Ross MacDonald's glowing illustrations will comfort...

  • Little Boy

    In this tender eBook with audio, the simple playthings, the everyday moments, picking up that hundredth rock -- all of these are brimming with possibility, if you slow down and let the future begin with the small moments of today. Because everything ...

  • Julia Gillian (and the Art of Knowing)

    Julia Gillian - 1

    Nine-year-old Julia Gillian is a girl of many accomplishments. Among other things, she is skilled in the Art of Knowing -- about her quirky neighbors, her Minneapolis neighborhood, even the inscrutable "claw machine" in the back of the corner hardw...

  • Julia Gillian (and the Quest for Joy)

    Julia Gillian - 2

    The irresistible second story in the charming JULIA GILLIAN trilogy is now available in paperback!


    So far, fifth grade at Lake Harriet Elementary School is not exactly a thing of joy. Julia Gillian's best friend, Bonwit Keller, is keeping ...

  • Song of Middle C

    From the duo of Alison McGhee and Scott Menchin comes a hilarious
    tale of a first recital and a charming ode to chutzpah and creative flair.
    Practice makes perfect. And for a little girl facing her first recital of "Dance of the Wood Elves," s...

  • Always

    How deep is the bond between a child and a beloved pet? And how far will a pet go to protect his dear friend? To the ends of the earth . . . always. Alison McGhee, author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Someday, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds,...

  • Only a Witch Can Fly

    Only a witch can fly.

    But one little girl wants to fly―more than anything. So on a special night, with the moon shining bright and her cat by her side, she gathers herself up, she grips her broom tight, and she tries. And she fails. And sh...

  • Slightly Scary Stories, Volume 2 [With Headphones]

  • A Very Brave Witch

    On the far side of town, in a big, dark, house, lives a brave little witch. She has heard lots and lots about those scary humans and a holiday they call Halloween, but she has never even seen Halloween for herself. Until one very special Halloween co...



  • So Many Days

    Life is full of surprises, big and small, and what children will grow up to do with their lives is one of the biggest and most joyful surprise of all. "So Many Days" reminds us to celebrate the choices our children make along the way, and the bravery...

  • Julia Gillian (and the Dream of the Dog)

    Julia Gillian - 3

    Sixth grade is proving to be less than dreamy: Julia Gillian's new homeroom teacher is serious about school work and has the class "controlling for variables." Julia Gillian has been paired for the Reading Extravaganza with Fergus Cannon, whose dista...

  • Making a Friend

    Clean, cold, white snow! Snow for sledding. Snow for catching on your tongue. Snow for making a SNOWMAN! Is there anything as wonderful as SNOW? Is there any better friend than a SNOWMAN? Snow isn’t forever, though. The wind shifts, the weather war...

  • The Case of the Missing Donut

    The sheriff and his deputy dog have been charged with a mission: to bring a dozen donuts home safely. All seems to be going well until the young sheriff peeks inside the box to check on the tasty treats. They’re practically calling his name, and in...

  • The Sweetest Witch Around

    A young witch’s sweet tooth leads to Halloween mischief in this companion to the New York Times bestselling A Very Brave Witch, which School Library Journal called “a humorous, not-scary-at-all read-aloud.” It’s Halloween night, and one ve...

  • Star Bright

    This perfectly angelic -- and perfectly charming -- Christmas story offers a creative twist on the classic tale of the nativity, from the #1 New York Times bestselling creators of Someday. The angels are aflutter: a baby is soon to be born! One sm...

  • Firefly Hollow

    Firefly. Cricket. Vole. Peter. Can four creatures from four very different Nations help one another find their ways in the world that can feel oh-so-big? Delve into this lush, unforgettable tale in the tradition of Charlotte’s Web and The Rats of N...

  • Tell Me a Tattoo Story

    A bestselling author-illustrator duo join forces to create a modern father-son love story. The father tells his little son the story behind each of his tattoos, and together they go on a beautiful journey through family history. There's a tattoo from...

  • Percy, Dog of Destiny

    Dog park? Let’s go! Percy may be a small dog, but he more than makes up for it in attitude and energy. Holding tight to his precious toy ball, he makes his way to the dog park, coming across three friends along the way -- Molly, with her kerchief; ...

  • Pablo and Birdy

    A boy who drifted into the seaside town of Isla as a baby searches for answers about where he and his parrot came from in this charmer of a tale laced with magical realism from New York Times bestselling author Alison McGhee. The seaside town of I...



  • Never Coming Back

    When Clara Winter left her rural Adirondacks town for college, she never looked back. Her mother, Tamar, a loving but fiercely independent woman who raised Clara on her own, all but pushed her out the door, and so Clara built a new life for herself, ...

  • What I Leave Behind

    After his dad commits suicide, Will tries to overcome his own misery by secretly helping the people around him in this exquisitely crafted story made up of one hundred chapters of one hundred words each, by award-winning and bestselling author Alison...

  • Dear Sister

    What do you do when you have an incredibly annoying little sister? Write her letters telling her so, of course! From New York Times bestselling author Alison McGhee comes a wickedly funny, illustrated, heartwarming, and deeply honest collection of le...

  • The Opposite of Fate

    Who gets to choose? When a young woman emerges from a lengthy coma-like state she must face the decisions that were made about her body -- without her consent -- in this powerful novel of reclamation and hope. Twenty-one-year-old Mallie Williams -...

  • World So Wide

    A celebration of a child’s wonder-filled first experiences, and the love between parents and child, from a Pulitzer Prize"nominated, New York Times bestselling author and a talented illustrator.

    Somewhere in the world
    the world so far...

  • Where We Are

    From New York Times bestselling author Alison McGhee comes a stunning and heartbreaking story of two teens who fight to reunite when one of them is caught in the web of a sinister cult.Micah and Sesame are true best friends. They safeguard each other...

  • Dear Brother

    Diary of a Wimpy Kid gets a little sister twist in this wildly funny and highly illustrated companion to middle grade novel Dear Sister from New York Times bestselling author Alison McGhee that brings sibling rivalry -- and love -- to life through a ...

  • Baby Be

    Dads of all varieties bounce and groove with their babies, letting them know the best thing they can be is themselves, in this exuberant picture book ode to the joy of fatherhood.Baby! High five! Down low! You ready? Let’s go!Dads got moves! Dads g...

  • Telephone of the Tree

    An unforgettable story of grief and the support of community as a young girl, faced with aching loss, begins to understand that what we love will always be with us.Ayla and her best friend Kiri have always been tree people. They each have their own s...

  • Weird Sad and Silent

    In this touching novel by the acclaimed author of Telephone of the Tree, an intriguing new boy at school helps Daisy cope with both bullying and past trauma.Daisy has been working on invisibilizing herself -- ever since living with her mother’s vio...



Award-Winning Books by Alison McGhee

All Rivers Flow to the Sea
2006 Minnesota Book Award -- Young Adult Fiction
Countdown to Kindergarten
2003 Minnesota Book Award -- Children's Fiction
Only a Witch Can Fly
2010 Ezra Jack Keats Book Award -- New Illustrator


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Alison McGhee has published 39 books.

The next book by Alison McGhee, Weird Sad and Silent, will be published in May 2025.

The first book by Alison McGhee, Shadow Baby, was published in July 2001.

Yes. Alison McGhee has 1 series.
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