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Seanan McGuire Q&A + Complete Wayward Children Series List

Chris Well

Author photo by Beckett Gladney

“I have never been an author who didn’t write in series form. That’s how my brain works.”

Urban fantasy author Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series has won multiple awards, including the Hugo, Nebula, Alex and Locus Award. The Wayward Children books revolve around a mysterious boarding school for children who have returned from trips to portal fantasy worlds—where they were heroes or monsters—and have trouble readjusting to their ordinary lives. A fresh take on the portal fantasy genre that blends Alice in Wonderland, The Magicians, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Syfy Channel has optioned the Wayward Children books to develop as a TV show.

“The Wayward Children Series is beautifully and lyrically written, but it is also dark. Some of the worlds have vampires, mad scientists, and skeleton people. Sometimes, bad things happen. People are murdered or transformed, or go mad, and McGuire doesn’t hold punches. We see all of this play out, and I think that the series is better for that. It is a perfect fall read. Despite the darkness, it’s still whimsical and full of magic.” (Silver Petticoat Review)

“In every way, the diversity shown in this series is stunning. With a rainbow of worlds available to them, these children understand that everyone is perfect for someplace. While there is a bit of judgement shown by the kids for those coming back from a high-wicked world – generally the message and reality of these worlds are based on acceptance and celebration.” (Writing. Reading. Overthinking.)

Seanan McGuire—the first person to appear five times on the same Hugo ballot—is a productive author who has published more than 40 novels, plus novellas and short stories. She has also written Spider-Gwen and X-Men stories for Marvel Comics.

Below, find a complete list of books in the Wayward Children series, descriptions of each title, plus quotes from author interviews with McGuire. (You can also find links to all the other articles we’ve posted about her on Monster Complex.)

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Complete list of titles in the Wayward Children series:

  1. “Skeleton Song” (A Wayward Children Story)

  2. Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1)

  3. Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2)

  4. Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3)

  5. In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children #4)

  6. Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5)

  7. Across the Green Grass Fields (Wayward Children #6)

  8. Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children #7)

  9. Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children #8)

More about each book in the series plus author interview quotes below…

Complete Wayward Children series:

“Skeleton Song” (A Wayward Children Story)

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions—slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere...else. Adventures are always interesting, but they’re not always happy.

From the worlds of Wayward Children comes a story of love, of devotion, of bones wrapped in flesh.

Buy “Skeleton Song” from Amazon

Reviews:

“‘Skeleton Song’ is another short story for the Wayward Children series. Readers get to learn about the beautiful world, the blooming love, and the sadness that trails behind it. My Rating: MUST READ IT NOW (5 out of 5)!!! (Aquavenatus)

“Is everyone ready to squeal with me? Here we go: eeeee! As a huge fan of the Wayward Children series, the release of this short story absolutely made my day.” (Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks)

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1)

Every Heart a Doorway has won several awards including a Hugo Award, an Alex Award, the Locus Award, and the Nebula Award. NPR exclaimed that Every Heart a Doorway was “a mini-masterpiece of portal fantasy—a jewel of a book that deserves to be shelved with Lewis Carroll's and C. S. Lewis' classics.”

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children
No Solicitations
No Visitors
No Quests

Children have always disappeared under the right conditions; slipping through the shadows under a bed or at the back of a wardrobe, tumbling down rabbit holes and into old wells, and emerging somewhere... else.

But magical lands have little need for used-up miracle children.

Nancy tumbled once, but now she's back. The things she's experienced... they change a person. The children under Miss West's care understand all too well. And each of them is seeking a way back to their own fantasy world.

But Nancy's arrival marks a change at the Home. There's a darkness just around each corner, and when tragedy strikes, it's up to Nancy and her new-found schoolmates to get to the heart of things.

No matter the cost.

Buy Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) from Amazon

Reviews:

“Tight and tautly told, Every Heart grabs one of speculative fiction's most enduring tropes — the portal fantasy, where a person slips from the real world into a magical realm somewhere beyond — and wrings it for all the poignancy, dark humor, and head-spinning twists it can get.” (NPR)

“This tale, at its heart, is about what it means to belong and find a true home. It is a beautiful story, and I am looking forward to reading the next installment of The Wayward Children series, Down Among the Sticks and Bones, as soon as I finish writing this review. I want to find out more about the characters introduced in the first installment, and if you are a lover of fantasy with heart you will too.” (Dallas Pubic Library)

Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2)

Seanan McGuire returns to her popular Wayward Children series with Down Among the Sticks and Bones—a truly standalone story suitable for adult and young adult readers of urban fantasy, and the follow-up to the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Tiptree Honor List book Every Heart a Doorway.

Twin sisters Jack and Jill were seventeen when they found their way home and were packed off to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. This is the story of what happened first…

Jacqueline was her mother’s perfect daughter—polite and quiet, always dressed as a princess. If her mother was sometimes a little strict, it’s because crafting the perfect daughter takes discipline.

Jillian was her father’s perfect daughter—adventurous, thrill-seeking, and a bit of a tom-boy. He really would have preferred a son, but you work with what you've got.

They were five when they learned that grown-ups can’t be trusted.

They were twelve when they walked down the impossible staircase and discovered that the pretense of love can never be enough to prepare you a life filled with magic in a land filled with mad scientists and death and choices.

Buy Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2) from Amazon

Reviews:

“Fast-paced and exciting, Down Among the Sticks and Bones was everything I wanted and more. It gives the reader a chance to get to see Jack and Jill before they go through their door, which I also really loved. I’m hopeful the sisters will return in later books. The Wayward Children series if fast becoming one of my favourites and I cannot wait to visit a nonsense world in Beneath the Sugar Sky! (The Bibliophile Chronicles)

“I truly, deeply, loved this book and the contents within these pages. The Moors is a piece of my own spooky heart and reading this book felt like a piece of home. And reading about two interesting characters, one of them being after my own heart, how could I not be enthralled with their story. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series and I have so many hopes, so many expectations, but I have no doubt that I will fall madly in love with it just as I have done with the first two.” (Chapter Malliumpkin)

Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3)

Beneath the Sugar Sky, the third book in McGuire's Wayward Children series, returns to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children in a standalone contemporary fantasy for fans of all ages. At this magical boarding school, children who have experienced fantasy adventures are reintroduced to the “real” world.

When Rini lands with a literal splash in the pond behind Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, the last thing she expects to find is that her mother, Sumi, died years before Rini was even conceived. But Rini can’t let Reality get in the way of her quest—not when she has an entire world to save! (Much more common than one would suppose.)

If she can’t find a way to restore her mother, Rini will have more than a world to save: she will never have been born in the first place. And in a world without magic, she doesn’t have long before Reality notices her existence and washes her away. Good thing the student body is well-acquainted with quests...

A tale of friendship, baking, and derring-do.

Warning: May contain nuts.

Buy Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3) from Amazon

Reviews:

“Once again, Seanan McGuire created something unique is less than 200 pages. We’re still amazed by this! We both can’t wait to read In An Absent Dream… (The Book Dutchesses)

“McGuire’s positive messages and morals shine through... The lure of doors to new worlds still rings in my head as I journey through the series, and visiting those worlds is a real treat.” (The Quill to Live)

In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children #4)

A stand-alone fantasy tale from Seanan McGuire’s Alex award-winning Wayward Children series, which began in the Alex, Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Award-winning, World Fantasy Award finalist, Tiptree Honor List Every Heart a Doorway

This fourth entry and prequel tells the story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should.

When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well.

Buy In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children #4) from Amazon

Reviews:

“This series is special and awesome in a way that’s hard to describe. It’s as though the dreams of all of us who were bookish misfits as children dreamed all our dreams only to see those dreams come true in the form of nightmares. Some gifts come at just too high a price—and sometimes we’re desperate enough to pay that price anyway.” (Reading Reality)

“Each of the Wayward Books touches on essential lessons. In an Absent Dream can function just as easily as a standalone novel as it does as the fourth in the Wayward series and it is a masterpiece folks. An utterly magical story and I highly recommend reading it.” (Before We Go Blog)

Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5)

The fifth installment in New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire's award-winning Wayward Children series, Come Tumbling Down picks up the threads left dangling by Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones

When Jack left Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children she was carrying the body of her deliciously deranged sister—whom she had recently murdered in a fit of righteous justice—back to their home on the Moors.

But death in their adopted world isn't always as permanent as it is here, and when Jack is herself carried back into the school, it becomes clear that something has happened to her. Something terrible. Something of which only the maddest of scientists could conceive. Something only her friends are equipped to help her overcome.

Eleanor West’s “No Quests” rule is about to be broken.

Again.

Buy Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5) from Amazon

Reviews:

“McGuire’s brand of weird and wonderful gifts readers with the sort of dramatic punch that does much more than propel a plot. The author creates monsters with ease—no one will challenge that assertion—but her monsters are complex and compelling and even heroic. They demand not just recognition of their alluring strangeness but open admiration and love for it. And, as she has consistently proven in the Wayward Children series, readers have been waiting for this kind of depth to the monstrous for a very long time. Her words are darkly gorgeous and her characters incredibly appealing. Come Tumbling Down is more proof of the charismatic power Seanan McGuire has long exhibited in the fantasy field; simply put, no one does it better. (Locus)

“Fans of the series will be happy that this installment picks up the threads left from Every Heart a Doorway and Down Among the Sticks and Bones, adding more the story of the familiar characters. They’re well established at this point, as is the worlds of the school and the Moors, which is Jack’s weird but favorite place. The story is young adult, features McGuire’s comfortable, easy-to-read style and, as usual, leaves a warm, inclusive feeling behind it. The theme of acceptance of all the odd children at the school is this series’ main attraction, and it promises that many will eventually find the place they want in life. This particular storyline has the extra bonus of promoting STEM, as Jack considers herself a scientist.” (Lela E. Buis)

Across the Green Grass Fields (Wayward Children #6)

A young girl discovers a portal to a land filled with centaurs and unicorns in Seanan McGuire’s Across the Green Grass Fields, a standalone tale in the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Wayward Children series.

“Welcome to the Hooflands. We’re happy to have you, even if you being here means something’s coming.”

Regan loves, and is loved, though her school-friend situation has become complicated, of late.

When she suddenly finds herself thrust through a doorway that asks her to "Be Sure" before swallowing her whole, Regan must learn to live in a world filled with centaurs, kelpies, and other magical equines—a world that expects its human visitors to step up and be heroes.

But after embracing her time with the herd, Regan discovers that not all forms of heroism are equal, and not all quests are as they seem…

A standalone Wayward Children story containing all-new characters, and a great jumping-on point for new readers.

Buy Across the Green Grass Fields (Wayward Children #6) from Amazon

Reviews:

“The world McGuire creates is well developed. Her imagery brought the lands and the creatures who dwell there to life. While it appears perfectly magical, like our world, there are issues from prejudices to vicious rumors and outdated traditions. McGuire creates realistic children with troubling problems and sets them into worlds, and the results are fascinating.” (Caffeinated Reviewer)

“The Wayward Children series as a whole is a delightful, magical experience, and Across the Green Grass Fields introduces a wonderful new world and heroine. Highly recommended.” (Bookshelf Fantasies)

Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children #7)

In Where the Drowned Girls Go, the next addition to Seanan McGuire’s beloved Wayward Children series, students at an anti-magical school rebel against the oppressive faculty…

“Welcome to the Whitethorn Institute. The first step is always admitting you need help, and you’ve already taken that step by requesting a transfer into our company.”

There is another school for children who fall through doors and fall back out again.

It isn’t as friendly as Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.

And it isn’t as safe.

When Eleanor West decided to open her school, her sanctuary, her “Home for Wayward Children,” she knew from the beginning that there would be children she couldn’t save; when Cora decides she needs a different direction, a different fate, a different prophecy, Miss West reluctantly agrees to transfer her to the other school, where things are run very differently by Whitethorn, the Headmaster.

She will soon discover that not all doors are welcoming...

Buy Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children #7) from Amazon

Reviews:

“With the newest novella from Seanan McGuire, I was in for such a treat because we find out more in the Wayward Children series than we did before! It always excites me to read another journey through a door and this is no exception. I love the new direction this series is going and I can’t wait to read the next one.” (Simone and Her Books)

“Where the Drowned Girls Go is another wonderful addition to the series—one that gives Cora her due and opens up potential storylines that will likely find their way into future Wayward Children books.” (Tor.com)

Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children #8)

A young girl discovers an infinite variety of worlds in this standalone tale in the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Wayward Children series from Seanan McGuire, Lost in the Moment and Found.

Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.

If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.

If you ever wondered about a favorite toy from childhood... it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back.

And the headphones that you swore this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….

Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the Shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she discovers that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.

And stepping through those doors exacts a price.

Lost in the Moment and Found tells us that childhood and innocence, once lost, can never be found.

Buy Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children #8) from Amazon

Reviews:

“Before our eyes, Lost in the Moment transforms into a whimsical story about being lost. And what it means to be found. All the worlds Antsy finds herself in which are full of danger and promise. We become transported into McGuire’s signature worlds. The topsy turvy ways logic follows us and colors take on new meanings. But not all is right. Because all knowledge, opportunities, and promises seem to come with prices. This is where Lost in the Moment and Found shines.” (Utopia State of Mind)

“If you’ve been on the fence about Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series or needed an excuse to return to it, consider Lost in the Moment and Found your signal to get to it.” (Tor.com)

More about Seanan McGuire from Monster Complex

Interview quotes from Seanan McGuire

“Part of how we learn as humans to have empathy and to treat other people as people is by seeing them in a story. That is a documented psychological fact of humanity. I think everyone should get the opportunity to see themselves as the hero, too.”—Seanan McGuire, award-winning fantasy author, talks new novel and her Marvel Comics dream (Los Angeles Daily News)

“I don’t think it’s possible to write fiction without writing allegory, at least on some level. We’re all trying to say something, always. Whether that’s “wisdom” is sort of up to the individual.”—Humans Need Stories: A Chat with Seanan McGuire (Speculative City)

How she keeps writing so many books: “I mostly maintain this pace by being very regimented when it comes to my work hours, and making sure that I hit my goals as frequently as I can. If I have a day where I know I won’t be able to work, I work more the day before and after, to help and take the pressure off. As for what I’m most excited about, I try never to have favorites among my projects, because it causes people whose favorites I don’t pick to get mad at me. And not making people mad at me is also a large part of my workflow.”—Q&A Seanan McGuire (Mystery and Suspense)

What she enjoys most in writing WAYWARD CHILDREN stories: “I enjoy the scope and freedom of it all. Sometimes the responsibility can be a little weighty–these books mean so much to people, and I want to be sure I handle them correctly, for the sake of my readership.”—WAYWARD CHILDREN: Interview with Seanan McGuire (Darkstars Fantasy News)

Her picks for her top five favorite or most influential authors: “Stephen King, Tanya Huff, Terry Pratchett, Robin McKinley, Kelley Armstrong.”—Interview With an Author: Seanan McGuire (Los Angeles Public Library Blog)

Most of the time, portal stories focus on young girls and McGuire has “no idea” why so many authors choose that particular focus: “I do think that the absence of boys is often remarked upon when the absence of girls is not, because boys are encouraged to take up space and be seen more than girls are, but I’ve got no clue what motivated the authors of many of my favorite books.” McGuire also mentioned this trend isn’t one we see on the big screen. “Ever notice how when a female-led property is adapted for the screen, her male sidekicks somehow become much more central, sometimes to the point of the female lead becoming secondary to her own story? The Avengers were named by a woman in the comics. Yet somehow, when the franchise launched, Janet Van Dyne was nowhere to be seen.”—After “Ever After” — An Interview with Seanan McGuire and Lee Harris (Tor.com)

How the author creates the rules for her fictional worlds: “I tend to develop the rules organically and write them down as I go, then make sure I don’t contradict myself. I do want to stress that this is how things work for me. That doesn’t mean it’s how things will work for you. Everyone is different, and that’s the way things are supposed to be. So please don’t take my process as a commandment.”—An Interview with Seanan McGuire (Grimdark Magazine)

McGuire found her love of stories through book—fantastical yarns that became foundational for the Wayward Children: “I was getting a lot of children’s fiction from the ’50s and ’60s, which included a whole bunch of things like Five Children and It, The Boxcar Children, and all of those children’s classics no one has heard of anymore, which is a bit distressing. While this was going on I was a child in the ’80s, which was really the resurgence of portal fantasy in at least the American consciousness. We don’t necessarily think of 1980s children’s cartoon properties as being portal fantasies. But they very much were. They were commercials and they wanted you, as the child watching, to imagine yourself having these great adventures. So you’d have the Dinosaucers or Transformers or Care Bears, depending on which side of the franchises you were on, having these grand, glorious, intensely dangerous adventures with a small kidnapped human child around to observe on it for the audience at home. And those really are by definition portal fantasies.”—Seanan McGuire Leads Us Through Wayward Childrens Magical World (Nerdist)

When she realized she wanted to become a writer: “[As a child] one of my favorite shows was an anthology series on the USA Network called Ray Bradbury Presents. Every episode began with this white-haired dude sitting at a typewriter pounding away. Then there’d be a ding, and he would pull a sheet of paper out of the typewriter and throw it into the air. It fluttered down and formed part of the logo. One day I asked my grandmother, ‘Who the heck is that? Why is this old dude taking up like a whole minute of what could be story?’ She said, ‘That’s Ray Bradbury. He wrote all these stories.’ That was my bolt of lightning moment. Wait, one person made all this up? This is all fake, and one person sat down and thought of it, and that was okay? That was allowed? I pretty much decided on the spot that that’s what I was going to do.”—Galaxy’s Edge Interviews Seanan McGuire (Signals from the Edge)

Do authors almost need to create series to make a real living these days? “I have no idea. I have never been an author who didn’t write in series form. That’s how my brain works. Maybe I’d make more if I mostly did stand-alones. Maybe my career benefits from having a bunch of series, with the attendant backlists. I cannot say either way.”—Interview: Seanan McGuire (Nightmare)

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