Don Sturdy Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Don Sturdy on the Desert of Mystery / Autoing in the Land of Caravans | 1925 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy with the Big Snake Hunters / Lost in the Jungles of the Amazon | 1925 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy in the Tombs of Gold / The Old Egyptian’s Great Secret | 1925 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy Across the North Pole / Cast Away in the Land of Ice | 1925 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy in the Land of Volcanoes / The Trail of the Ten Thousand Smokes | 1925 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy in the Port of Lost Ships / Adrift in the Sargasso Sea | 1926 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy Among the Gorillas / Adrift in the Great Jungle | 1927 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy Captured by Head Hunters / Adrift in the Wilds of Borneo | 1928 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy in Lion Land / The Strange Clearing in the Jungle | 1929 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy in the Land of Giants / Captives of the Savage Patagonians | 1930 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy on the Ocean Bottom / The Strange Cruise of the Phantom | 1931 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy in the Temples of Fear / Destined for a Strange Sacrifice | 1932 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy Lost in Glacier Bay / The Mystery of the Moving Totem Poles | 1933 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy Trapped in the Flaming Wilderness / Unearthing Secrets in Central Asia | 1934 | Buy |
| Don Sturdy with the Harpoon Hunters / The Strange Cruise of the Whaling Ship | 1935 | Buy |
The Moving Picture Boys Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Moving Picture Boys in the Jungle | 1913 | N/A |
| The Moving Picture Boys on the Coast | 1913 | N/A |
| The Moving Picture Boys in the West | 1913 | N/A |
| The Moving Picture Boys in Earthquake Land | 1913 | N/A |
| The Moving Picture Boys and the Flood | 1914 | N/A |
| The Moving Picture Boys at Panama | 1915 | N/A |
| The Moving Picture Boys Under the Sea | 1916 | N/A |
| The Moving Picture Boys on the War Front | 1918 | N/A |
| The Moving Picture Boys on the French Battlefields | 1919 | N/A |
Tom Swift I Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Swift and His Motor-Cycle / Fun and Adventure on the Road | 1910 | Buy |
| The Black Dragon | 1991 | N/A |
| Tom Swift and His Motor-Boat / The Rivals of Lake Carlopa | 1910 | Buy |
| The Negative Zone | 1991 | N/A |
| Tom Swift and His Airship / The Stirring Cruise of the Red Cloud | 1910 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Submarine Boat / Under the Ocean for Sunken Treasure | 1910 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Electric Runabout / The Speediest Car on the Road | 1910 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Wireless Message / The Castaways of Earthquake Island | 1911 | Buy |
| Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers / The Secret of Phantom Mountain | 1911 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Sky Racer / The Quickest Flight on Record | 1911 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle / Daring Adventures in Elephant Island | 1911 | Buy |
| Tom Swift in the Caves of Ice / The Wreck of the Airship | 1911 | Buy |
| Tom Swift in the City of Gold / Marvelous Adventures Underground | 1912 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Air Glider / Seeking the Platinum Treasure | 1912 | Buy |
| Tom Swift in Captivity / A Daring Escape by Airship | 1912 | Buy |
| Quantum Force | 1993 | N/A |
| Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera / Thrilling Adventures While Taking Moving Pictures | 1912 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Great Search Light / On the Border for Uncle Sam | 1912 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Giant Cannon / The Longest Shots on Record | 1913 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone / The Picture That Saved a Fortune | 1914 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Aerial Warship / The Naval Terror of the Seas | 1915 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Big Tunnel / The Hidden City of the Andes | 1916 | Buy |
| Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders / The Underground Search for the Idol of Gold | 1917 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His War Tank / Doing His Bit for Uncle Sam | 1918 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Air Scout / Uncle Sam’s Mastery of the Sky | 1919 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Undersea Search / The Treasure on the Floor of the Atlantic | 1920 | Buy |
| Tom Swift Among the Fire Fighters / Battling with Flames in the Air / Tom Swift and the Flaming Air Battle | 1921 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive / Two Miles a Minute on the Rails | 1922 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Flying Boat / Castaways of the Giant Iceberg | 1923 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Great Oil Gusher / The Treasure of Goby Farm | 1924 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Chest of Secrets / Tracing the Stolen Inventions | 1925 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Airline Express / From Ocean to Ocean by Daylight | 1926 | Buy |
| Tom Swift Circling the Globe / The Daring Cruise of the Air Monarch | 1927 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Talking Pictures / The Greatest Invention on Record | 1928 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His House on Wheels / A Trip Around the Mountain of Mystery | 1929 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Big Dirigible / Adventures Over the Forest of Fire | 1930 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Sky Train / Overland Through the Clouds | 1931 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Giant Magnet / Bringing Up the Lost Submarine | 1932 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Television Detector / Trailing the Secret Plotters | 1933 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Ocean Airport / Foiling the Haargolanders | 1934 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Planet Stone / Discovering the Secret of Another World | 1935 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Giant Telescope | 1939 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Magnetic Silencer | 1941 | N/A |
Tom Swift III Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The City in the Stars | 1981 | Buy |
| Terror on the Moons of Jupiter | 1981 | Buy |
| The Alien Probe | 1981 | Buy |
| The War in Outer Space | 1981 | Buy |
| The Astral Fortress | 1981 | Buy |
| The Rescue Mission | 1981 | Buy |
| Ark Two | 1982 | Buy |
| Crater of Mystery | 1982 | Buy |
| The Gateway to Doom | 1983 | Buy |
| The Invisible Force | 1983 | Buy |
| Planet of Nightmares | 1984 | Buy |
Tom Swift IV Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Black Dragon | 1991 | Buy |
| The Negative Zone | 1991 | Buy |
| Cyborg Kickboxer | 1991 | Buy |
| The DNA Disaster | 1991 | Buy |
| Monster Machine | 1991 | Buy |
| Aquatech Warriors | 1991 | Buy |
| Moonstalker | 1992 | Buy |
| The Microbots | 1992 | Buy |
| Fire Biker | 1992 | Buy |
| Mind Games | 1992 | Buy |
| Mutant Beach | 1992 | Buy |
| Death Quake | 1993 | Buy |
| Quantum Force | 1993 | Buy |
Tom Swift Invention Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Black Dragon | 1991 | N/A |
| Tom Swift and His EnvirOzone Revivicator | 2010 | Buy |
| The Negative Zone | 1991 | N/A |
| Tom Swift and His QuieTurbine Skyliner | 2010 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Transcontinental BulleTrain | 2011 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Oceanic SubLiminator | 2011 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Cyclonic Eradicator | 2011 | Buy |
| Tom Swift: Galactic Ambassador | 2011 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Paradox Planet | 2012 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Galaxy Ghosts | 2012 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Martian TerraVironment | 2013 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Tectonic Interrupter | 2013 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the AntiInferno Suppressor | 2013 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the High Space L-Evator | 2014 | Buy |
| Quantum Force | 1993 | N/A |
| Tom Swift and the IntraEarth Invaders | 2014 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Coupe of Invisibility | 2014 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Yesterday Machine | 2015 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Reconstructed Planet | 2016 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His NanoSurgery Brigade | 2016 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Thermo-Ion Jetpack | 2016 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Atlantean HydroWay | 2016 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Martian Moon Re-Placement | 2018 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Venusian InvulnoSuit | 2018 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the HoverCity | 2018 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the SubNeptunian Circumnavigation | 2019 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Marianas Aquanoids | 2019 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Hypersonic SpacePlane | 2019 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Cybernetic Planeteers | 2023 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Flying RaceYacht | 2023 | Buy |
Tom Swift Jr. Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Swift and His Flying Lab | 1954 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Jetmarine | 1954 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Rocket Ship | 1954 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Giant Robot | 1954 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Atomic Earth Blaster | 1954 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Outpost in Space / Tom Swift and His Sky Wheel | 1955 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Aquatomic Tracker | 1964 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter | 1956 | Buy |
| Tom Swift in the Caves of Nuclear Fire | 1956 | Buy |
| Tom Swift on the Phantom Satellite | 1956 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Ultrasonic Cycloplane | 1957 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Deep-Sea Hydrodome | 1958 | Buy |
| Tom Swift in the Race to the Moon | 1958 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Space Solartron | 1958 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Electronic Retroscope / Tom Swift in the Jungle of the Mayas | 1959 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Electronic Hydrolung | 1961 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Spectromarine Selector / Tom Swift and the City of Gold | 1959 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and The Visitor from Planet X | 1961 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Megascope Space Prober | 1962 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Cosmic Astronauts | 1960 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Asteroid Pirates | 1963 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Repelatron Skyway | 1963 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Triphibian Atomicar | 1962 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His 3-D Telejector | 1964 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Polar-Ray Dynasphere | 1965 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Sonic Boom Trap | 1965 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Sub-ocean Geotron | 1966 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Mystery Comet | 1966 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and the Captive Planetoid | 1967 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His G-Force Inverter | 1968 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Dyna-4 Capsule | 1969 | Buy |
| Tom Swift and His Cosmotron Express | 1970 | Buy |
Tom Swift, Young Inventor Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Black Dragon | 1991 | N/A |
| Into the Abyss | 2006 | Buy |
| The Negative Zone | 1991 | N/A |
| The Robot Olympics | 2006 | Buy |
| The Space Hotel | 2006 | Buy |
| Rocket Racers | 2007 | Buy |
| On Top of the World | 2007 | Buy |
| Under the Radar | 2007 | Buy |
| Quantum Force | 1993 | N/A |
Tom Swift: Inventors’ Academy Reading Order
| Title | Published | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| The Drone Pursuit | 2019 | Buy |
| The Sonic Breach | 2019 | Buy |
| Restricted Access | 2019 | Buy |
| The Virtual Vandal | 2020 | Buy |
| The Spybot Invasion | 2020 | Buy |
| Augmented Reality | 2021 | Buy |
| The Blurred Blogger | 2021 | Buy |
| Depth Perception | 2022 | Buy |
Victor Appleton is not a real person but a house pseudonym created by the Stratemeyer Syndicate in 1910 for the Tom Swift series. Over more than a century, dozens of ghostwriters have written under the name, producing adventures about a young inventor whose gadgets were often ahead of real-world technology. The original Tom Swift series ran forty-three books, followed by Tom Swift Jr. in the 1950s-60s, and multiple reboots including Tom Swift III, IV, the Invention series, and the Inventors’ Academy.
The pseudonym was also used for the Don Sturdy adventure series and The Moving Picture Boys, though Tom Swift remains the franchise’s defining creation. With 170 books spanning from 1910 to 2023, the Victor Appleton name represents one of American children’s publishing’s most enduring brands.