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Ross Montgomery Books in Order

Explore Ross Montgomery books in order, with quick summaries, child series guides, and simple tips on where to start with his funny, magical stories.

Last updated: July 3, 2026

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27 books

Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door

by Ross Montgomery

2013

Sent away to boarding school after his explorer father escapes hospital, Alex suddenly becomes the key to a dangerous mystery. With a talking dog and a fierce new friend, he heads into a wildly strange adventure.

The Tornado Chasers

by Ross Montgomery

2014

Owen’s new town is obsessed with safety, rules, and the constant threat of tornadoes. Tired of living scared, he and his friends form the Tornado Chasers and go looking for real danger.

Ten Delicious Teachers

by Ross Montgomery

2015

Ten foolish teachers miss the last bus and take a shortcut through the woods. Waiting for them is a hungry crowd of goofy monsters in this gleefully spooky counting tale.

Perijee and Me

by Ross Montgomery

2016

Caitlin finds a tiny alien on the beach and secretly teaches him about the world. But as Perijee grows bigger and more frightening to everyone else, she must protect the friend nobody understands.

The Building Boy

by Ross Montgomery

2016

After his architect grandmother dies, a boy builds a giant figure from her old bricks and girders. When it comes to life, the two set off on a strange, moving nighttime journey.

Christmas Dinner of Souls

by Ross Montgomery

2017

On Christmas Eve, Lewis is trapped serving a secret club devoted to gruesome stories and hatred of festive cheer. If he wants to make it out alive, he will need to survive the night’s chilling contest.

Max and the Millions

by Ross Montgomery

2018

When Max follows a missing caretaker’s clue, he finds a whole tiny civilization living on a school floor. Saving it means facing bullies, adults, and a miniature war that is growing out of control.

Space Tortoise

by Ross Montgomery

2018

A lonely tortoise gazes at the stars and decides they must be other animals calling to him. Using cast-off junk as his gear, he sets out on a brave and hopeful quest for friendship.

Alien Attack!

by Ross Montgomery

2019

The last humans on Finney Island are cornered inside the Town Hall as robots and aliens close in. Ash has one final chance to outthink Perseon V and fight back.

Alien Invasion

by Ross Montgomery

2019

Ash thinks life on Finney Island is dull until his parents start acting very strangely. As the truth comes out, he realizes his little island may be in the middle of a full-scale alien takeover.

Disco Disaster

by Ross Montgomery

2019

Ash and Tabby are hiding in Aunt Emmy’s lighthouse while aliens tighten their grip on Finney Island. To strike back, they crash the Mayor’s wild space party and hunt for the robot-making machine.

Town Hall Horror!

by Ross Montgomery

2019

After escaping Perseon V, Ash, Tabby, and Aunt Emmy crash-land in Finney Forest and stumble into fresh danger. To save the island, they need an uneasy team-up and one desperate run to the Town Hall.

Rock Bottom

by Ross Montgomery

2020

Nick joins the school play hoping Jessie Stone will finally notice him. Instead he lands the role of Bottom, and his plan for romance turns into comic chaos worthy of Shakespeare.

The Midnight Guardians

by Ross Montgomery

2020

During the Blitz, Col discovers that his childhood imaginary friends are real. Together they race across a war-darkened England to save his sister from the terrifying Midwinter King.

The Chime Seekers

by Ross Montgomery

2021

When Yanni’s baby sister is stolen and replaced with a changeling, he is pulled into the dangerous world of the fae. With cousin Amy beside him, he must cross strange lands and outwit fairy tricks.

Tripwrecked!

by Ross Montgomery

2021

Frank’s school trip to perform The Tempest becomes a disaster when a storm wrecks the ferry. Stranded on a mysterious island, he starts to wonder if life is copying the play a little too closely.

Hurly Burly

by Ross Montgomery

2022

Beth expects to win best-behaved pupil for the third year running, until two rivals beat her to it. Furious, she turns to underhand tricks and discovers that playing the villain can get messy fast.

Penguin Huddle

by Ross Montgomery

2022

After a freezing gale leaves an entire penguin huddle stuck together, tiny Pipsqueak comes up with a plan. The bundled flock heads off on a silly, determined adventure to find help.

Fortune's Fools

by Ross Montgomery

2023

Best friends Dom and Blake are split into rival school houses just as Sports Day approaches. What starts as competition soon threatens their friendship in this playful spin on Romeo and Juliet.

Sheep School

by Ross Montgomery

2023

William the lamb cannot keep still, keep quiet, or fit in at Sheep School. But when the Big Bad Wolf strikes, his love of singing and showing off may be exactly what saves the flock.

Spellstone

by Ross Montgomery

2023

Evie is used to being overlooked, until a mysterious man draws her into a hidden magical war. To stop a terrifying enemy, she must learn why her own strange gift matters so much.

I Am Rebel

by Ross Montgomery

2024

Rebel is a farm dog who wants nothing more than to stay with his boy, Tom. When war pulls Tom toward the rebellion, Rebel sets out on a dangerous journey to bring him home.

Porky Pies

by Ross Montgomery

2024

Porky Pies loves scaring his brothers and sisters with stories about the Big Bad Wolf. But when his biggest prank backfires, he learns that lying makes real trouble much harder to fix.

Ant Party

by Ross Montgomery

2025

Andy the ant wants a small birthday party with a few neighbors and some dancing. Instead the guest list explodes, the anthill fills up, and an unexpected intruder sends the whole celebration into chaos.

Gruff Justice

by Ross Montgomery

2025

Big Goat Gruff is blamed when the farmer’s birthday cake is found with a huge bite missing. To avoid ending up as goat pie, he has to sniff out the real naughty nibbler.

New

Small Wonder

by Ross Montgomery

2026

After enemies invade the kingdom, Tick flees with his little brother Leaf and their faithful horse, Pebble. Their race to warn King’s Keep becomes a perilous journey full of pursuit, courage, and long-buried secrets.

New

The Murder at World’s End

by Ross Montgomery

2026

In 1910 Cornwall, a manor house is sealed against the coming of Halley’s Comet, then its owner turns up murdered in a locked study. Under-butler Stephen Pike and sharp-tongued Miss Decima must untangle the house’s secrets.

Where should I start?

If you want wartime fantasy: The Midnight GuardiansThe Chime SeekersSpellstone
If you like funny, strange adventures: Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable DoorPerijee and MeMax and the Millions
If you want the most emotional read: I Am RebelSmall Wonder
If you’re reading with younger kids: Ten Delicious TeachersPenguin HuddleAnt Party
If you want a mystery for adults: The Murder at World’s End

Author bio

Ross Montgomery writes the kind of children’s books that can make room for a talking dog, a tiny kingdom on a school floor, a lonely tortoise in a park, or a wartime tiger, and still feel rooted in real emotion.

He has said that he started making up stories at primary school, kept going as a teenager when he should have been doing homework, and carried on at university. Reading was a huge part of that early life too, and he has named Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Wilson as two of the writers who mattered most to him.

Before writing became the job people knew him for, he tried a strange and useful mix of others, including pig farmer, postman, and primary school teacher. He published his debut novel, Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door, while he was still teaching. That first book was shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award and the Branford Boase Award, and it set the tone for a lot of what followed: big imagination, quick comedy, and genuine feeling underneath the jokes.

Readers who start with Alex, the Dog and the Unopenable Door usually notice how energetic and odd it is, but also how much heart it has. Montgomery likes stories where ordinary children get pushed into the unknown and have to work out who they are while chaos swirls around them. You can see that again in Perijee and Me, where a lonely girl befriends a tiny alien, and in Max and the Millions, where a deaf boy discovers a whole civilization living on a school floor.

He can make enormous ideas feel personal.

The Midnight Guardians showed another side of his work. Set during the Blitz, it mixes imaginary friends, British myth, and wartime danger into a dark, hopeful adventure, and it was picked as a Waterstones Children’s Book of the Month before being shortlisted for the Costa Children’s Book Award. Later books such as The Chime Seekers and Spellstone keep that love of fantasy and danger, but they stay focused on children who feel overlooked and have to find courage the hard way.

He also moves easily between age groups. For younger readers, he has written picture books like The Building Boy, Space Tortoise, Ten Delicious Teachers, Penguin Huddle, and Ant Party, as well as shorter, comic chapter books in the Shakespeare Shake-ups series. Even in those smaller stories, the same qualities show through: silliness, tenderness, strong pacing, and a willingness to follow a wild idea all the way to the end.

Kindness matters in his work just as much as mischief.

Again and again, his books return to friendship, grief, loyalty, bravery, and the way children cope when adults let them down. He is especially good at writing characters who seem quiet, awkward, or underestimated at first, then turn out to be the ones holding everything together. That is part of why I Am Rebel, a war story told through the eyes of a dog trying to save his boy, connected so strongly with readers and went on to become Waterstones Children’s Book of the Year and a number one New York Times bestseller.

More recently, Montgomery has stepped into adult fiction with The Murder at World’s End, a locked-room mystery that pairs former under-butler Stephen Pike with the unforgettable Miss Decima. The setting is different, but the pleasures are familiar: sharp character work, lively plotting, and a delight in pushing a story into gloriously strange places. He lives in London with his wife, their daughter, and a cat called Fun Bobby, and he still spends plenty of time visiting schools and talking to young readers.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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