Kelly Barnhill Books in Order

This short nonfiction book explores how cave animals survive in darkness, from lost eyesight to sharpened senses. It is a clear, kid-friendly look at adaptation in one of Earth's strangest habitats.

A gross-out science guide to drinking water, this book follows water through history, treatment plants, and the tap. Kids get the messy details behind what they drink every day.

Barnhill dives into the deep ocean to show how creatures survive crushing pressure, darkness, and scarce food. Strange bodies, glowing lures, and other wild adaptations make the science easy to remember.

Barnhill takes readers underground to trace what happens after the flush. Along the way she covers toilets, sewer systems, waste treatment, and the creatures that thrive where people would rather not look.

From fake monsters to forged documents, this fast nonfiction book looks at famous hoaxes that fooled plenty of people. It is a fun, unsettling reminder to ask questions before believing a wild story.

This brisk nonfiction title surveys frightening creatures from myth and legend, and the fears that made them endure. It is creepy enough to hook curious readers while still keeping one foot in folklore and history.

Barnhill tours some of history's strangest cures and medical ideas, from bloodletting to other treatments that now seem horrifying. It is a quick, gross, memorable look at how medicine has changed.

From mummification and firewalking to tattoos and human sacrifice, this short history book looks at startling rituals from different cultures. The focus is on why people did them, and what they believed those acts meant.

What is blood actually made of, and why does your body need it? Barnhill turns a squeamish subject into an accessible science lesson about circulation, healing, disease, and staying alive.

This lively body book explains why we sweat, what sweat does, and why it sometimes smells so bad. It turns an awkward topic into clear, memorable science for younger readers.

Why does your body make urine, and what happens if it cannot? Barnhill answers the gross questions with humor and solid science in a quick guide to how pee helps keep us healthy.

This photo riddle book invites kids to study clues and close-up pictures, then guess which plant is sprouting. It is a simple, interactive way to build observation skills and nature knowledge.

Tracks in mud, sand, or snow become clues in this photo riddle book for young readers. Kids are invited to guess the animal before the answer is revealed, turning nature study into a game.

After his parents split up, Jack is sent to Hazelwood, Iowa, where everyone suddenly seems to know him. New friends, local disappearances, and a hidden magical past turn his lonely summer into a mystery about belonging.

Princess Violet, her friend Demetrius, and a scarred old dragon uncover a forbidden story about the imprisoned Nybbas. To save their kingdom, Violet must learn how dangerous stories can be, and who gets to shape them.

After her husband dies, a widow falls for a Sasquatch, and her scandalized neighbors want the local priest to stop it. Barnhill turns the setup into a sly, funny tale about grief, desire, and refusing to behave.

When shy Ned survives the river and his twin does not, everyone thinks the wrong boy lived. Then stolen magic, a bandit king's daughter, and a looming war force him to become the hero no one expected.

A dead magical baby survives the Minister's purge and is hidden away by unlikely protectors. As Sparrow grows, so does her power, and her quiet life becomes a threat to a cruel regime.

Each year the Protectorate leaves a baby for the witch in the forest, not knowing Xan rescues them. When she accidentally feeds one child moonlight, Luna grows up full of dangerous magic as old lies begin to crack.

This collection gathers strange, dark tales about girls and women who push back against the roles set for them. Widows, witches, pirates, monsters, and quiet rebellions fill stories that feel like fairy tales told sideways.

In this dark, sea-soaked fantasy, the pirate Gabrielle Belain becomes a legend by freeing enslaved people and defying the powers hunting her. It reads like a fierce ballad about rebellion, sacrifice, and memory.

Stone in the Glen is falling apart, and the mayor is eager to blame the kind ogress on the edge of town. The orphans know better, and must uncover the real danger before fear destroys their home.

In an alternate 1950s America, Alex Green grows up in the shadow of the Mass Dragoning, when countless women transformed and flew away. As silence closes in around her family, she starts asking who gets erased, and why.

A fifteen-year-old girl who already runs her household watches her artist mother bring home a towering crane and call him family. This dark retelling of The Crane Wife turns obsession, art, and survival into something sharp and eerie.