Young Wizards Books in Order
Part ofDiane Duane Books in OrderSee the Young Wizards books by Diane Duane in order, with quick summaries, series background, and an easy guide to where to start.
Last updated: June 30, 2026
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Publication Order
13 books
So You Want to Be a Wizard
by Diane Duane
1983
Bullied and hiding in the library, Nita finds a book that offers real wizardry. Taking the Oath pulls her into a partnership with Kit and a fight that reaches all the way to the Lone Power.
Deep Wizardry
by Diane Duane
1985
What begins as a beach vacation turns into an undersea wizardly crisis involving whales, sharks, and an ancient ritual that may demand Nita's life. The scope gets huge, but the fear feels personal.
High Wizardry
by Diane Duane
1990
Dairine Callahan finds a wizard's manual in the form of a computer and takes the Oath for herself. Her first adventure sends her far beyond Earth, and Nita and Kit have to chase after her before things go catastrophically wrong.
A Wizard Abroad
by Diane Duane
1993
Nita is sent to Ireland for the summer in hopes of getting her away from wizardry. Instead she walks straight into ancient relics, Irish myth, and another battle against the Lone Power.
The Wizard's Dilemma
by Diane Duane
2001
Nita discovers that magic cannot solve everything when her mother is diagnosed with a brain tumor. While Kit uncovers a startling secret about his dog Ponch, Nita has to face helplessness head-on.
A Wizard Alone
by Diane Duane
2002
While Nita struggles with grief and withdrawal, Kit is asked to help a young wizard whose Ordeal has gone badly wrong. The result is one of the series' quieter, more inward books, and one of its most humane.
Wizard's Holiday
by Diane Duane
2003
An intergalactic exchange program sounds like the closest thing Nita and Kit will ever get to a vacation. Instead they land on a paradise world with a dark secret about change, death, and a people trapped outside time.
Wizards at War
by Diane Duane
2005
The long fight against the Lone Power stops being distant and turns into open war. Nita, Kit, and their allies are pushed onto the front lines, where every choice costs something.
A Wizard of Mars
by Diane Duane
2010
Nita and Kit join an investigation into the long-lost inhabitants of Mars. As clues deepen and Kit becomes dangerously bound to the mystery, Earth and Mars both end up hanging in the balance.
Not On My Patch
by Diane Duane
2011
Halloween in the Young Wizards neighborhood spins off the rails with overage trick-or-treaters, suburban zombies, and killer pumpkins. It is a lighter side trip, but it still knows how to raise the stakes.
How Lovely Are Thy Branches
by Diane Duane
2015
A holiday gathering takes a sharp turn when a superblizzard traps the gang inside and alien ghosts arrive with unfinished business. It is a festive Young Wizards side story with warmth, weirdness, and trouble in equal measure.
Lifeboats
by Diane Duane
2015
A distant world is facing unavoidable disaster, and wizards from across Earth are called to intervene. Nita, Kit, and their allies have to help in a crisis so large that even wizardry may not be enough.
Games Wizards Play
by Diane Duane
2016
Every eleven years, young wizards compete in the Invitational for a coveted apprenticeship. Nita, Kit, and Dairine become mentors, only to find that rivalry, family pressure, and lunar-scale danger are about to turn the contest into something much riskier.
Series background & context
The Young Wizards books start with a simple idea that opens outward very fast. Nita Callahan, a bookish girl from Long Island, finds a manual that offers wizardry. Soon she and Kit Rodriguez are doing the kind of work that starts locally and ends up mattering to whole worlds.
These are not school-of-magic books.
Duane's wizardry is closer to a calling, a language, and a scientific discipline all at once. Wizards learn the Speech, take on hard jobs, and spend a lot of time fixing what entropy, cruelty, and the Lone Power keep breaking. That means one book might begin with a problem in a neighborhood park and end with choices about sacrifice, death, or the shape of a planet.
Nita and Kit are the center of the series, and a lot of the pleasure comes from watching them grow up. They start as smart, lonely kids who happen to meet at exactly the right moment. As the books go on, their friendship deepens, their families become more important, and the stories get more emotionally ambitious. Dairine, Nita's younger sister, is another major force, and the wider cast keeps expanding in ways that make the universe feel busy and lived in.
The settings do a lot of work too. New York is important here, especially in the early books, but the series ranges outward to the sea, Ireland, Mars, alternate worlds, and stranger corners of the universe. Duane is very good at making the cosmic feel personal.
That matters because the books are willing to deal with difficult things. Grief, responsibility, illness, and the fear of doing the right thing badly all show up. But the tone is not grim. It is curious, funny in places, and full of the sense that knowledge and kindness still count.
If you want the main arc, start with So You Want to Be a Wizard and keep going in order. The later bridge books and side stories make more sense once Nita, Kit, and their world already feel like home.
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