Wayward Children reading order

A plan for the whole series

9 volumes, 1,613 pages, about 30 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 6 weeks.

• Readers scored volume 3, “Beneath the Sugar Sky”, below its predecessor (7.8 after 8.2). If you slow down there, that is on the book, not on you. From volume 4 the form returns.
• The series is still running; the last volume came out in 2026. You will wait for the next one anyway, so no need to rush.

Stages

2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around December 17, 2026, 9 days later than in one go.

1. 1
   Stage 120 habout 4 weeksby November 25, 2026

   • 1. Every Heart a Doorway2016 · 176 pages · 3 h
   • 2. Down Among the Sticks and Bones2017 · 190 pages · 3 h
   • 3. Beneath the Sugar Sky2018 · 158 pages · 3 h
   • 4. In an Absent Dream2019 · 208 pages · 4 h
   • 5. Come Tumbling Down2020 · 150 pages · 3 h
   • 6. Across the Green Grass Fields2021 · 208 pages · 4 h
2. BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.05 h, by December 4, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
3. 2
   Stage 210 h13 daysby December 17, 2026

   • 7. Where the Drowned Girls Go2022 · 184 pages · 3 h
   • 8. Lost in the Moment and Found2023 · 160 pages · 3 h
   • 11. Through Gates of Garnet and Gold2026 · ≈ 179 pages · 3 h
4. The end of the series

   December 17, 2026

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

≈ next to a page count: a volume with no page count in our data is counted at this series’s average.

Does the series hold up

Shape of the series: uneven. Scores jump by 0.5 points with no clear direction.

Best volume: Lost in the Moment and Found (8.3, 126 ratings). Weakest: Across the Green Grass Fields (7.8). The series is not finished; the last volume came out in 2026. The last volume (8.0) scores close to the series average or above it.