Welcome to Wonderland Books in Order

These books are set at the Wonderland Motel in St. Pete Beach, Florida, which is already a great premise before the first chapter really gets moving. P.T. Wilkie loves the place, and once you spend a little time there, it is easy to see why. The motel is goofy, colorful, and full of the kind of small-business chaos that makes a kid narrator feel useful every single day.

P.T. and his sharp, practical friend Gloria are the heart of the series. He brings big stories and wild energy. She brings focus and business sense. Together they keep trying to save the Wonderland from bad luck, thin budgets, strange guests, rivals, and one emergency after another.

That is the ongoing pleasure of the series. Each book has its own crisis, a movie shoot, a sand-sculpture festival, a new restaurant, another summer showdown, but the emotional stakes stay rooted in the motel. If the Wonderland fails, P.T. loses more than a building. He loses the place that feels like home.

The Florida setting really matters here. Sun, beaches, tourists, tacky fun, and stormy unpredictability are part of the mood.

Start with Home Sweet Motel and move forward in order. Readers who like family businesses, summer trouble, oddball local color, and fast, funny friendship stories will probably end up wanting to check in for the whole run.