Betsy Byars / Betsy Cromer Byars

Author Information
Betsy Byars / Betsy Cromer Byars's Latest Book

Newest Release

  • Bibliography:
    67 Books (6 Series)
  • First Book:
    September 1965
  • Latest Book:
    July 2015
  • Author Rating:
  • Share:

Full Series List in Order

Ant

1 - My Brother Ant (Mar-1996)
2 - Ant Plays Bear (Jul-1997)

Bingo Brown

1 - The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown (May-1988)
2 - Bingo Brown and the Language of Love (May-1989)
3 - Bingo Brown, Gypsy Lover (Jul-1990)
4 - Bingo Brown's Guide to Romance (May-1992)

The Blossom Family

1 - The Not-Just-Anybody Family (Mar-1986)
2 - Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady (Sep-1986)
3 - The Blossoms and the Green Phantom (Mar-1987)
4 - A Blossom Promise (Sep-1987)
5 - Wanted...Mud Blossom (Aug-1991)

The Golly Sisters

1 - The Golly Sisters Go West (Oct-1985)
2 - The Golly Sisters Ride Again (May-1994)
3 - Hooray for the Golly Sisters! (Aug-1990)

A Herculeah Jones Mystery

1 - The Dark Stairs (Sep-1994)
2 - Tarot Says Beware (Sep-1995)
3 - Dead Letter (Aug-1996)
4 - Death's Door (Mar-1997)
5 - Disappearing Acts (Apr-1998)
6 - King of Murder (Mar-2006)
7 - The Black Tower (Sep-2006)

Little Horse

1 - Little Horse (Apr-2002)
2 - Little Horse on His Own (Aug-2004)

Book List in Order: 67 titles

  • The Dancing Camel

  • Rama the Gypsy Cat

    Rama the cat has no home. He is the Gypsy Cat, and a life full of travel and adventure awaits him. When a gypsy woman found Rama as a kitten, she pierced his ear with a golden earring and named him after an exiled prince who wandered for years, ha...

  • The Midnight Fox

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Tom hates having to spend the summer on a farm . . . until he discovers the midnight fox. No one asked Tom how he felt about spending two months on his Aunt Millie's farm. For a city boy, the farm holds countless terrors -- stampeding baby lambs, bo...

  • Trouble River

    Safety is downriver -- but first there’s trouble ahead.

    As soon as Dewey Martin sees the Indian creeping toward the cabin -- and toward his unsuspecting grandmother -- he knows what to do: knock him down and take off before the rest of the ...

  • The Summer of the Swans

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Sometimes you don't know what you love -- until you almost lose it. Sara's fourteenth summer was turning out to be the most confusing time of her life. Up until then, things had flowed smoothly, like the gliding swans on the lake. Now she wanted t...

  • Perfect, the Pig

  • Go and Hush the Baby

  • The House of Wings

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    When Sammy must spend weeks alone with his grandfather, he learns that the old man isn’t quite as boring as he thought . . .When his parents leave for Detroit, Sammy is left alone with his out-of-touch grandfather in a dull, creaky house. All S...

  • The 18th Emergency

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Would you rather be a coward . . . or a candidate for the emergency ward? Mouse Fawley has just done something very, very dumb. No kid in his right mind would go out of his way to enrage Marv Hammerman, the school bully -- but when Mouse saw the ...



  • The Winged Colt of Casa Mia

    There’s no such thing as a colt with wings—is there?When Charles arrives at his Uncle Coot’s Texas ranch from back East, he’s sure that books have taught him everything he needs to know about horses. He wants to prove he&rsquo...

  • After the Goat Man

  • The Lace Snail

  • The TV Kid

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Lennie lives in the Fairy Land Motel with his mom. But Lennie's own fairyland is in TV shows. There, he can win gobs of money, meet interesting people, have a much better time than in real life. He even invents a commercial for a new product called "...

  • The Pinballs

    From Newbery-winning author Betsy Byars comes a story full of "poignancy, perception, and humor" (The Chicago Tribune), about three foster kids who learn what it takes to make a family. You can't always decide where life will take you -- especia...

  • The Cartoonist

    Alfie only feels comfortable when he’s drawing comics in the attic—but soon his safe haven will be off limitsAlfie is perfectly content to spend his time drawing alone in the attic. Nobody bothers him, and he has his door sealed tight aga...

  • Goodbye Chicken Little

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    Jimmie Little is scared of life. Ever since his father died, the world seems frightening and unpredictable. Jimmie worries so much he's even nicknamed himself Chicken Little.

    Then one day Uncle Pete has a terrible accident. Jimmie's nightmar...

  • The Night Swimmers

    Retta, Johnny, and Roy have no parental rules to follow, so they’ve made up their ownAfter their mother passes away, Retta, Johnny, and Roy don’t have much parenting in their lives. Their dad is a country singer who keeps them well fed bu...

  • The Cybil War

    When Cybil Ackerman crosses her eyes at Simon for the first time, he knows he's in love. The battle over Cybil begins when Simon's best friend, Tony, decides he is, too. And he'll stop at nothing to wreck Simon's chances of winning her! Tony tells...

  • Animal, the Vegetable, and John D. Jones

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    It was supposed to be a great vacation for  everyone. Clara and Deanie were thrilled about spending  time with their father now that the divorce was  final. But they're surprised and horrified at  having to share Dad with his girl friend and ...



  • The Two-Thousand-Pound Goldfish

    What lives in the sewer beneath the city, weighs two thousand pounds, and is coming out tonight to get you? Warren wants to make a horror movie about a gigantic fish that terrorizes the sewers of a big city. Everyone will love it. He'll be famous....

  • The Glory Girl

    Anna’s role in her family of gospel singers is an important one—far away from the stageEvery member of the Glory family is blessed with abundant musical talent. Everyone, that is, except for Anna. She can’t sing or play an instrumen...

  • The Computer Nut

    Kate's new friend is really out of this world -- he's an alien! When Kate sits down at the computer, nothing seems out of the ordinary. But suddenly a mysterious message flashes up on the screen. Someone who calls himself BB-9 is trying to get thr...

  • Cracker Jackson

    A backlist gem from a Newbery-winning author!

    Cracker Jackson has a problem. A big, serious, adult problem. When he receives an anonymous note in the mail, he finds out that his old babysitter, Alma, is in danger. Cracker's the only one who ca...

  • The Golly Sisters Go West

    The Golly Sisters - 1
    I Can Read: Level 3

    A funny introduction to pioneer life, perfect for classrooms and homeschoolers

    The Golly Sisters are heading west. They’ve got new dresses and the best show on either side of the Mississippi. But can they keep their act together long enoug...

  • The Not-Just-Anybody Family

    The Blossom Family - 1

    When Junior Blossom wakes up in the hospital, his last memory is of crouching on the barn roof with cloth wings tied to his arms, and of Maggie and Vern in the yard below, urging him to fly. That had been just before Junior spotted a police car appro...

  • Blossoms Meet the Vulture Lady

    The Blossom Family - 2

    What's Junior Blossom up to this time?



    When we first met Junior in The Not-Just-Anybody Family, he was trying to fly with his homemade wings. Now, having recovered from two broken legs, he's ready to startle the world by inventing the ...

  • The Blossoms and the Green Phantom

    The Blossom Family - 3

    Junior Blossom has finally created the ultimate invention -- the Green Phantom. It’s big, black, Day-Glo green, and it’s beautiful! All it needs is the secret ingredient. The whole family makes a promise to ensure that Junior’s invention wil...

  • A Blossom Promise

    The Blossom Family - 4

    For the Blossom family it's the best day of their lives -- and the worst. Maggie, out west with her mother, is about to become the newest Blossom on the rodeo circuit. And now that the rain has finally stopped, Junior can at last visit his friend Mad...

  • The Burning Questions of Bingo Brown

    Bingo Brown - 1

    When Bingo has to keep a notebook for school, all he can come up with are questions. Like how could I fall in love with three girls in three minutes? But not even his teacher, Mr. Mark, has the answers. In fact Mr. Mark has been acting pretty weird l...



  • Beans on the Roof

    George Bean always wants to play on the roof of his apartmentbuilding. But only his older sister Anna can sit there, because she's writing a roof poem. Anna may be the first Bean to be in a book if the poem wins a contest at school.



    Ge...

  • Bingo Brown and the Language of Love

    Bingo Brown - 2

    When Bingo learns his mother is expecting a baby, it sparks off a whole new round of questions. The author also wrote "Burning Questions of Bingo Brown", "The Midnight Fox", "The Summer of the Swans", winner of the Newbury Medal, "The Eighteenth Emer...

  • Bingo Brown, Gypsy Lover

    Bingo Brown - 3

    Can Bingo Brown live up to his reputation as the most romantic middle-schooler in town?Romance is never easy when your girlfriend lives in another state and your life savings consists of just over three dollars. Still, thirteen-year-old Bingo Brown i...

  • Hooray for the Golly Sisters!

    The Golly Sisters - 3

  • The Seven Treasure Hunts

    THE HUNT IS ON! On Saturday, Jackson and his best pal, Goat, hide treasures for each other to find. It's the Hunt for the Secret Treasure -- and it's so much fun that the boys decide to do it all over again. This time, the hunts will be trickier, an...

  • Wanted...Mud Blossom

    The Blossom Family - 5

    Mud, Pap Blossom's loyal dog, has never before been in such deep trouble. Scooty, the school hamster Junior brought home for the weekend, is missing and the evidence points right to Mud. The only sensible thing for a dog to do is to head under the po...

  • Bingo Brown's Guide to Romance

    Bingo Brown - 4

    Bingo’s ultimate guide to finding love might need a few more chapters when his long-distance girlfriend returns homeBingo Brown is confident that he can write the definitive guidebook for middle-school boys trying to win over girls. With his ba...

  • Coast to Coast

    Thirteen-year-old Birch's grandfather has always  wanted to fly across the U.S. in his antique Piper  Cub. When her grandmother dies and her grandfather  decides to sell the plane, Birch discovers that  it's not so hard to convince Pop to tak...

  • The Moon and I

  • McMummy

    This is no ordinary plant... When Mozie agreed to take care of the professor's greenhouse, he never dreamed he'd be haunted by one of the plants. But ever since he discovered the weird mummy-shaped, human-sized pod, Mozie's felt a strange connecti...



  • The Golly Sisters Ride Again

    The Golly Sisters - 2
    I Can Read: Level 3

    It's show time!

    May-May and Rose, those hilarious singing and dancing Golly sisters, return for five more zany adventures in which they find a talking rock, run into some bad luck, and take a vacation that's pure Golly folly.

    Betsy Byars' third b...

  • The Dark Stairs

    A Herculeah Jones Mystery - 1

    The Moloch did not come back to where she crouched in fear. Instead he moved over to the workbench. He stood there, and then, as if he were familiar with the table, he picked up something, opened a drawer, and took something from it. Herculeah longed...

  • Growing up Stories

  • Tarot Says Beware

    A Herculeah Jones Mystery - 2

    Madame Rosa, the eccentric local fortune teller, has been murdered, and the only witness is her parrot,Tarot. But he’s not talking. Herculeah Jones thinks she knows who the killer is, but she’s not the only one. . . . Someone else knows -- someon...

  • Literacy Place

  • The Joy Boys

  • My Brother Ant

    Ant - 1
    Young Readers: Level 3

    Meet Ant, the little brother who's big on laughs. In four upbeat stories, Ant and his big brother confront the monster under the bed, recreate the story of the three little pigs, and write a letter to Santa -- in July! Sometimes funny, always endeari...

  • Tornado

    From Newbery Medal-winning author Betsy Byars comes a sweet, entertaining story that will touch the heart of dog lovers at any age.A tornado appears in the distance, and the family quickly gathers into the storm cellar. The storm rages outside, but P...

  • Dead Letter

    A Herculeah Jones Mystery - 3

    I don't want to die. He's going to kill me, I know it. He's back! Look inside . . . When super-sleuth Herculeah Jones discovers a mysterious letter hidden in the lining of a secondhand coat, she knows she's getting a lot more than she bargained f...

  • Death's Door

    A Herculeah Jones Mystery - 4

    Herculeah Jones finds herself in the middle of another mystery when her best friend Meat barely escapes a hitman’s bullet. Someone must have mistaken Meat for someone else. But who? Herculeah is determined to solve the mystery, before the assassin ...



  • Ant Plays Bear

    Ant - 2
    Puffin Easy-to-Read: Level 3

    In this delightful follow-up to My Brother, Ant, Anthony comes face to face with a growling bear, pretends to be a dog, and hears a giant tapping on the window. These enchanting stories capture the relationship between Ant and his brother with warmth...

  • Disappearing Acts

    A Herculeah Jones Mystery - 5

    When Herculeah Jones's best friend, Meat, decides to take a comedy class, he just expects to get a few laughs. But then he discovers a dead body in the bathroom, and realizes that there's nothing funny about murder. Things can't get any worse -- unti...

  • Me Tarzan

    Ahh-Ahh-Ahh-Ahhhh!

    Dorothy knows she could make a great Tarzan in the class play, even if she is a girl. When she gets up to introduce the world to her primal yell, something comes over her -- something wild and untamed. She...

  • My Dog, My Hero

    'My Hero' to Be Chosen: Eight finalists will compete tonight for the title My Hero. The winner will wear the coveted gold Hero medal. These brave and courageous dogs will each appear with their nominator who will tell their story. There's Smiley, who...

  • Little Horse

    Little Horse - 1

    Can Little Horse find his place in the big world?After accidentally falling into a stream, Little Horse fights the swift current that carries him farther and farther from the valley where he was born.When he finally manages to scramble ashore, a gian...

  • Keeper of the Doves

    Amen McBee, the youngest of five sisters, gobbles up words the way other children gobble up sweets.  She couldn't be more different from her elder twin sisters Arabella and Annabella-called the Bellas.  The mischievous Bellas constantly fri...

  • Top Teen Stories

    A compilation of short stories and extracts from novels includes tales about turning points in life by twenty-six authors including Judy Blume, William Saroyan, L. M. Montgomery, and Roald Dahl. Previously published as Growing Up Stories. Rep...

  • The S.O.S File

    Have you ever needed to call 9-1-1, but you couldn't get to a phone? Have you ever needed to run, but your legs were like spaghetti? Have you ever needed to yell "help!" but your throat was dry with fear? Laugh, cry, and panic with Mr. Magro's class...

  • Little Horse on His Own

    Little Horse - 2

    Little Horse had never known the sky to be so black, the air so still. He heard the big horses whinny again. Little Horse's fear grew. The adventures of Little Horse continue as he makes his way back to the valley of little horses and his mother The ...

  • King of Murder

    A Herculeah Jones Mystery - 6

    Together with her best friend and reluctant sidekick, Meat, Herculeah Jones meets a famous mystery author, Mathias King, aka the Murder King. King's novels mirror gruesome, real-life murders, particularly A Slash of Life, which is about an unsolved l...

  • The Black Tower

    A Herculeah Jones Mystery - 7

    At the eerie Hunt mansion, Herculeah Jones has been reading aloud to Lionus Hunt, an elderly stroke victim who can only communicate by blinking his eyes (once for yes, twice for no). Mr. Hunt seems to be trying to tell Herculeah something, but his gr...

  • Boo's Dinosaur

    An early chapter book from Newbery Medal winner Betsy ByarsWhen Boo brings home a dinosaur that only she can see, her brother Sammy, doesn't want to encourage her antics. Boo and her dinosaur are inseparable until Boo says good-bye to the dino quite ...

  • Dog Diaries: Secret Writings of the WOOF Society

    It is the first annual meeting of the WOOF Society. Dogs of all different backgrounds and breeds have gathered together to listen to the diaries of twelve dogs from around the world and throughout history. Abu is the ruler of ancient Egypt, but Miu, ...

  • Domino

  • Boo's Surprise

    "A dinosaur! A new dinosaur!" Boo shouted. "This dinosaur left me a big surprise." Boo is excited to receive a giant egg -- and to find out what's inside! Her brother, Sammy, is not -- but he is still willing to help her after the egg hatches into a ...

  • Cat Diaries

    At the annual gathering of the MEOW society, cats of all kinds convene to share their stories and those of their ancestors. Chico, the smallest cat in the world, recounts stopping a crime. The Pirate Cat tells of the fateful day when he discovered a ...

  • Wanted . . . Mud Blossom

    What happened to the class hamster? Find out in this Edgar Awardâ€"winning mystery story with some “delightfully comic twists” (Kirkus Reviews). When Junior brings home the classroom hamster, Scooty, he decides to build the best hamster tunnel ev...

  • The Eighteenth Emergency

Award-Winning Books by Betsy Byars / Betsy Cromer Byars

Cracker Jackson
1986 South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award -- Children's
My Dog, My Hero
2003 Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award -- Young Readers
2003 South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award -- Children's
The Pinballs
1979 Georgia Children's Book Award -- Children's Book
The Summer of the Swans
1971 Newbery Medal -- Children's
Tornado
1998 Bluebonnet Award -- Children's
1998 South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award -- Children's
Wanted...Mud Blossom
1992 Edgar Allan Poe Award -- Juvenile


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Betsy Byars / Betsy Cromer Byars has published 67 books.

Betsy Byars / Betsy Cromer Byars does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, The Eighteenth Emergency, was published in July 2015.

The first book by Betsy Byars / Betsy Cromer Byars, The Dancing Camel, was published in September 1965.

Yes. Betsy Byars / Betsy Cromer Byars has 6 series.
Author Series
Publisher Series
No ads, please...

$20 / year

FictionDB Premium Membership

Subscribe