Start with Story Thieves
The mystery and character relationships carry across all five books, so this series works best from book one.
Book Series · 5 Books
Story Thieves Books
In order from Story Thieves to Worlds Apart.
James Riley's complete five-book middle-grade adventure follows children who can enter fictional worlds—and must deal with what happens when stories, characters, and reality stop staying in their proper places.
Reviewed by the Bookroo Editors Updated
Reading order
How to Read the Story Thieves Books
Read all five books in numbered order. Pick the Plot uses choose-your-path mechanics, but it remains required book four, and Worlds Apart resolves the continuing crisis that follows it.
Secret Origins takes place around comic-book characters, but it is a prose novel rather than a graphic adaptation or side series.
For parents
What Parents Should Know
The tone is humorous and inventive, but the children face villains, mind control, erased memories and identities, drowning danger, dinosaurs, imprisonment, threats of being split in two, and possible destruction of whole realities. The action is generally non-graphic.
Where to start
Where Should My Child Start?
Where the story begins
First Book in the Series
Sale price
$858
Book #1 · Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2015
Story Thieves
By James Riley
Owen's world flips when he discovers Bethany can leap from books. Can they find her father without unraveling reality?
383 pages· 71,193 words· Est. 10 hour read
$8.99Save 5%
Paperback
Summary: Owen's mundane life takes a thrilling turn when he witnesses Bethany, a half-fictional classmate, emerge from a library book. Bethany's quest to find her missing fictional father leads them into the pages of Owen's favorite series, Kiel Gnomenfoot. But their adventure risks exposing Bethany's secret and unraveling the story's fabric. Can they navigate this literary world without causing chaos, or will they be trapped in a final, perilous chapter?
In reading order
Story Thieves Series
5 books · Published 2015–2018
#1
Sale price
$858
Story Thieves
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2015
Owen's world flips when he discovers Bethany can leap from books. Can they find her father without unraveling reality?
#2
Sale price
$1899
The Stolen Chapters
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2016
Owen's erased memory leads to a perilous mystery. Can he save Bethany before time runs out?
#3
#3 in Series
Graphic Nov.
Sale price
$1797
Secret Origins
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2017
Can Bethany and Owen defeat the Dark in a world without heroes?
#4
Sale price
$958
Pick the Plot
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2017
Trapped in a time travel book, Owen's fate is in your hands. Will you help him escape or leave him to the dinosaurs?
#5
Sale price
$958
Worlds Apart
Chapter Book · Ages 8–12 · 2018
Worlds torn apart, imaginations lost. Can they reunite and save reality?
Good to know
Common Questions
How many books are in the Story Thieves series?
There are 5 books in the Story Thieves series. It began with Story Thieves in 2015, and the newest book, Worlds Apart, was published in 2018.
What order should you read the Story Thieves books in?
Start with Story Thieves and follow the series order — the books above are numbered #1 through #5.
What ages are the Story Thieves books best for?
The series is best for ages 8–12, based on the age ranges of the individual books.
The people
The Creatives Behind the Books
The people who bring Story Thieves to life.
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