Friendship List Books in Order

The Friendship List books follow Kaylan and Ari, two best friends trying to stay steady while school, family life, and growing up keep moving under their feet. The series opens as sixth grade is about to begin, and Kaylan is not excited. Middle school looks loud, messy, and full of chances to embarrass yourself. So she and Ari come up with a plan, a list of goals to finish before they turn twelve.

That list idea gives the series its shape.

Each book uses a fresh list and a fresh stretch of time to track what changes, and what does not. There are school schedules, lockers, cliques, detention, crushes, birthday pressure, bat mitzvah plans, camp friendships, and the low-grade panic that comes from realizing your best friend does not always want exactly what you want. Greenwald keeps the stakes grounded in everyday kid life, which is exactly why they land. Nothing here is world-ending, but to Kaylan and Ari, a weird lunch table, a missed text, or a shifting social circle can feel enormous.

What makes the series work is the push and pull between the girls. Kaylan tends to think ahead and worry. Ari is more relaxed and often reads as naturally confident. That balance helps them through a lot, but it also creates friction. As the books go on, both girls start building experiences that the other cannot fully share. Ari comes back from camp changed. New friends enter the picture. Familiar rituals stop feeling so automatic. Their bond is real, but it is not magically protected from jealousy, distance, or misunderstanding.

The later books lean even more into that bittersweet side of friendship. 12 Before 13 and 13 and Counting show how fast middle school can widen a world. By 13 and 3/4, the girls are facing their first summer apart, with Ari back at Camp Silver and Kaylan off to comedy camp. Instead of pretending nothing is changing, the series lets them try to love each other through the changes. That gives the books a little more depth than a simple best-friends-forever setup.

There is a strong sense of season in these stories, too. The pool, the porch, school events, camp sessions, and birthday countdowns all matter. Greenwald is very good at writing the texture of tween life, the way a whole friendship can seem to hinge on one party, one inside joke, or one summer.

At heart, this is a series about what it means to grow alongside someone instead of away from them. It is funny, warm, and realistic, but it never pretends that friendship is easy just because it is important. If you like middle grade stories about best friends, lists, and the weird speed of growing up, this series has a lot to enjoy.