Tyler Whitesides Books in Order

If you want a middle grade fantasy adventure: Janitors → Secrets of New Forest Academy → Curse of the Broomstaff
If you want funny wish magic: The Wishmakers → The Wishbreaker
If you want an adult fantasy heist: The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn → The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn → The Last Lies of Ardor Benn
If you want more janitorial magic: Janitors School of Garbage → Trials of Trash → War of the Wasteland
If you want a fast standalone mystery: Magic's Most Wanted

Tyler Whitesides was born in Washington State and grew up in northern Utah, where mountains, streams, and lots of open space gave him plenty to explore. He loved books early, and that love turned into the kind of dream many kids have but few keep for long. He wanted to write stories of his own.

Music mattered too.

He studied percussion performance at Utah State University, and while he was there he worked part time as a night custodian at a middle school. That job ended up shaping his writing life in a big way. Walking quiet hallways after hours, pushing a broom through empty classrooms, and seeing the strange side of school life gave him the spark for Janitors, the series that became his debut.

He did not come to publishing through a neat, straight line. His path ran through a music degree, late custodial shifts, and a story idea weird enough to stick. That practical beginning still feels important to his work. Whitesides has a gift for taking something ordinary, a school, a peanut butter jar, a pile of trash, and asking what hidden rules or dangers might be tucked inside it.

That is a big part of why Janitors connected with so many young readers. The books mix school comedy, creepy creatures, fast action, and magical cleaning tools, but underneath all of that they are about kids learning who to trust. The Wishmakers uses a different setup and hits a similar sweet spot. A boy named Ace releases a genie named Ridge and learns that every wish comes with a consequence. Magic's Most Wanted keeps the playful energy going, this time with a wrongly accused kid, a junior detective, and a talking bunny.

Whitesides later shifted into adult fantasy with The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn, the first book in his Kingdom of Grit trilogy. The audience is older, but the appeal is still easy to spot. He likes clever setups, rule-based magic, and characters who think their way through trouble. Ardor Benn is a con artist in a world shaped by dragon-fueled magic, and the trilogy grows from a fantasy heist into something much larger, with secret organizations, royal intrigue, and world-level danger.

He has also returned to the janitorial side of his imagination with Janitors School of Garbage. That series opens up a magical landfill, young garbologists, animated trash monsters, and a new cast led by Landon Murphy and Jade Shu. It feels very much in line with the rest of his work. Whitesides likes hidden systems, strange magical rules, teamwork, and the moment when a regular person realizes the world is far weirder than it looked a minute ago.

He even kept percussion in the picture.

Whitesides has continued to play drums and percussion, and he has performed in a garbage-can drum quartet called the Jammin' Janitors. He has also spent years visiting schools and speaking with readers, which fits the direct, energetic feel of his books. Off the page, he has long been associated with northern Utah, and his hobbies have included hiking, fly fishing, cooking, and theater. That all tracks with the fiction too. His stories are hands-on, fast-moving, a little mischievous, and always alert to the possibility that everyday life might be hiding something delightfully strange.