Sara Pennypacker Books in Order
Browse Sara Pennypacker books in order, with quick summaries, series guides for Clementine, Pax, and more, plus easy help on where to start.
Last updated: July 8, 2026
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Publication Order
30 books
Dumbstruck
by Sara Pennypacker
1994
Ivy Greene wakes to find her sensible parents gone and possibly robbed of their common sense. With the help of oddball relatives and villains, she dives into a wildly comic search full of strange science and stranger people.
Stuart's Cape
by Sara Pennypacker
2002
Newly moved to Punbury, Stuart worries about almost everything. Then he makes a cape from a hundred old ties, and ordinary life tips into a string of absurd magical adventures.
Stuart Goes to School
by Sara Pennypacker
2003
Stuart starts a new school with no friends and plenty of fears, but his magical cape is still around to complicate things. He wants to impress his classmates, yet the cape seems just as likely to embarrass him.
Shark Tale Movie Storybook
by Sara Pennypacker
2004
Oscar, a fast-talking little fish, gets famous after everyone mistakes him for a shark-slaying hero. The lie brings glamour and danger, and he has to figure out who he wants to be before it sinks him.
Clementine
by Sara Pennypacker
2006
When Clementine tries to help her friend Margaret after a glue disaster, everything gets worse by the day. Funny and warm, it follows a bright, impulsive third grader who worries she might be the hard kid in her family.
Pierre In Love
by Sara Pennypacker
2007
Pierre, a shy fisherman, is hopelessly in love with graceful Catherine but cannot bring himself to speak. A string of comic misunderstandings forces him to choose between hiding and being brave.
The Talented Clementine
by Sara Pennypacker
2007
Clementine needs an act for the school talent show, but none of her talents seem stage-ready. At the same time, small troubles at home grow into one more wonderfully chaotic week.
Clementine's Letter
by Sara Pennypacker
2008
Clementine's favorite teacher might leave for a year in Egypt, and she is determined to stop it. Her plan to write a letter turns into a messy, heartfelt lesson about love and letting people choose for themselves.
Sparrow Girl
by Sara Pennypacker
2009
In 1958 China, Ming-Li sees her village turn against sparrows and cannot stand by. Her quiet act of rescue becomes a story about courage, empathy, and the cost of blaming nature.
The Big Mountain Adventure / The Mount Rushmore Calamity
by Sara Pennypacker
2009
On a family trip to Mount Rushmore, Flat Stanley and Arthur join cowgirl Calamity Jasper and stumble into a Wild West style adventure. Stanley's flatness becomes the only thing that can help when the boys land in a real tight spot.
The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery
by Sara Pennypacker
2009
When an archaeologist asks for help, Flat Stanley gets mailed to Egypt to search for treasure inside a pyramid. His unusual shape turns a history-filled trip into a fast, funny rescue mission.
The Intrepid Canadian Expedition
by Sara Pennypacker
2009
Stanley heads to British Columbia with his family for snow and skiing. A snowboarding mishap leaves him and a new friend in trouble, and Stanley's flatness becomes both the problem and the solution.
The Japanese Ninja Surprise
by Sara Pennypacker
2009
Stanley and Arthur send Stanley to Japan to meet movie star ninja Oda Nobu. The visit turns risky, and Stanley must decide whether he can be more than just a fan.
ClementineFriend of the Week
by Sara Pennypacker
2010
Chosen as Friend of the Week, Clementine worries her classmates will not have much to say about her, so she launches a campaign to win them over. Then her beloved kitten disappears, raising the stakes fast.
The African Safari Discovery
by Sara Pennypacker
2010
A strange flat skull sends Stanley, Arthur, and their father to Africa in search of answers. Instead of easy clues, they find a safari packed with animals, surprises, and fresh questions about Stanley himself.
The Amazing Mexican Secret
by Sara Pennypacker
2010
When Stanley's mother needs a secret ingredient, Stanley mails himself to Mexico to find it. What starts as a simple errand becomes a chase involving spies and one very flat hero.
Clementine and the Family Meeting
by Sara Pennypacker
2011
When a FAMILY MEETING sign appears at home, Clementine is sure she is in huge trouble. Instead she faces news that will change her family, along with all the worry, guessing, and wild imagination that follow.
Clementine All About You Journal
by Sara Pennypacker
2012
This companion journal invites readers into Clementine's world with writing prompts, quizzes, doodles, and space for their own stories. It is part keepsake, part activity book, and full of Clementine-style personality.
Summer of the Gypsy Moths
by Sara Pennypacker
2012
Stella's careful summer on Cape Cod is upended by prickly foster kid Angel, and then by a tragedy neither girl can ignore. Alone together, they must survive, hide the truth, and decide whether they can become family.
Clementine and the Spring Trip
by Sara Pennypacker
2013
Clementine is thrilled for spring and the class trip to Plimoth Plantation, until lunch rules, bus drama, and other third-grade disasters appear. It is another lively school story full of sharp observations and small-but-huge kid worries.
Completely Clementine
by Sara Pennypacker
2015
Summer is coming, a baby is on the way, and Clementine still is not speaking to her dad. As big changes pile up, she has to face goodbyes, new beginnings, and feelings she cannot joke away.
Meet the Dullards
by Sara Pennypacker
2015
The Dullard family likes everything plain, gray, and predictable, at least the parents do. Their children have other ideas, and the joke grows funnier as boring turns into joyful rebellion.
Pax
by Sara Pennypacker
2016
Peter is forced to leave his pet fox in the wild when war pulls his father away. Boy and fox each begin a dangerous journey, carrying love, fear, and the hope of finding each other again.
Waylon! One Awesome Thing
by Sara Pennypacker
2016
Science-loving Waylon wants life to make sense, but his world feels like it is flying apart. Class politics, a scary new kid, and changes in his family push him to look for one awesome thing to hold onto.
Waylon! Even More Awesome
by Sara Pennypacker
2017
Waylon and Baxter share a dog named Dumpster Eddy, which would be hard enough without police visits and animal control trouble. Waylon turns to science and reluctant teamwork to save the dog.
Waylon! The Most Awesome of All
by Sara Pennypacker
2019
Waylon has his heart set on the Boston Science Expo, but his family's plans all crash into the same day. What looks like his most embarrassing moment might turn into something much bigger.
Here in the Real World
by Sara Pennypacker
2020
Ware would rather dream about knights than spend summer at rec camp. Then he meets Jolene in an abandoned church lot, and the two misfits build a refuge worth fighting for.
Pax, Journey Home
by Sara Pennypacker
2021
A year after the war, Peter and Pax are living separate lives shaped by loss and change. When one of Pax's kits is in danger, both of them are pulled into a new journey about healing, trust, and home.
Leeva at Last
by Sara Pennypacker
2023
Leeva Thornblossom has grown up ignored by greedy parents in the odd town of Nutsmore. With help from librarians, a cautious friend, and an orphaned badger, she starts asking what people are for, and changes everything.
The Lions' Run
by Sara Pennypacker
2026
In Nazi-occupied France, Lucas DuBois is tired of being known as a coward. Caring for abandoned kittens draws him into a web of hidden resistance, dangerous secrets, and real choices about bravery.
Where should I start?
If you want a funny school series: Clementine → The Talented Clementine → Clementine's Letter
If you want a thoughtful animal story: Pax → Pax, Journey Home
If you want science-loving chapter books: Waylon! One Awesome Thing → Waylon! Even More Awesome → Waylon! The Most Awesome of All
If you want younger, quirky read-alouds: Stuart's Cape → Stuart Goes to School
If you want stand-alone middle grade novels: Summer of the Gypsy Moths → Here in the Real World → Leeva at Last
Author bio
Sara Pennypacker was born in Massachusetts and grew up there, a kid who loved books, art, gardening, beaches, and, by her own cheerful telling, cake. She has said she was very tall and very shy as a child, and that books and art felt like places where she could hide out and make sense of things.
Long before many readers met Clementine or Pax, Pennypacker spent years as a painter, especially in watercolor. She drew, painted, carved, and made things by hand, and that visual streak stayed with her even after writing moved to the center of her work.
Eventually, writing won.
Her first published novel was Dumbstruck, and from there she built a career writing for children across several age ranges. She has said that story ideas often begin when she notices an ordinary moment and imagines how it could go badly for a character, then follows the trouble from there.
A lot of readers first find her through Clementine, the chapter-book series about a third grader whose curiosity, honesty, and sideways thinking keep getting her into scrapes. Kids love Clementine's voice. Adults tend to notice how closely Pennypacker listens to what childhood actually feels like, the worries, the misunderstandings, and the huge emotions packed inside ordinary school days.
She takes children seriously, and that shows.
Then there is Pax, and later Pax, Journey Home, which move into deeper water. Those books follow the bond between a boy and his fox against the backdrop of war and its aftermath. Readers often come for the animal story and stay for the tenderness, the grief, and the hard questions about home, damage, and healing. In other books, like Summer of the Gypsy Moths, Here in the Real World, and Leeva at Last, she brings the same mix of humor, heart, and sharp observation to very different kinds of kids.
Across her work, certain threads keep returning: children who do not fit neatly into the space adults expect for them, families that are messy or changing, animals, unfairness, and small acts of bravery. Her books have earned major recognition without losing that grounded feeling. Clementine received a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor, Clementine's Letter won a Christopher Award, Pierre in Love won a Golden Kite Award, and Pax became a number one New York Times bestseller.
She has also written the Waylon! books, the Stuart stories collected in The Amazing World of Stuart, picture books such as Sparrow Girl and Meet the Dullards, and several Flat Stanley adventures. These days she splits her time between Massachusetts and California, and still loves reading, gardening, bird-watching, and making art. She has two grown children, and she has said she feels lucky to write every day.
Edited by
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