Bad Girls books in order

Bad Girls is a seven-book middle grade series by Cynthia Voigt following the friendship between Mikey and Margalo, two girls who meet in fifth grade and navigate school life, social dynamics, and growing up together through high school.

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 The Bad Girls 1996 Cynthia Voigt Buy
2 Bad, Badder, Baddest 1997 Cynthia Voigt Buy
3 The Seductress 2016 Cynthia Voigt N/A
4 It’s Not Easy Being Bad 2000 Cynthia Voigt Buy
5 Bad Girls in Love 2002 Cynthia Voigt Buy
6 From Bad to Worse 2003 Cynthia Voigt Buy
7 Bad Girls, Bad Girls, Whatcha Gonna Do? 2006 Cynthia Voigt Buy

The Bad Girls series follows Mikey Elsinger and Margalo Epps from the moment they meet in fifth grade through their high school years. Voigt writes the friendship with genuine humor — the two girls are different in nearly every way, which generates most of the comedy, but their mutual respect and loyalty hold the series together across seven books and several years of fictional time.

The series spans 1996 to 2006, with The Seductress (2016) arriving a decade after the main run, revisiting the characters as adults. Voigt keeps the tone lighter here than in the Tillerman books — the Bad Girls series is genuinely funny, and the friendship at its center is one of the more honest portrayals of female friendship in middle grade fiction from that era.


Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Bad Girls series?

There are seven books in the Bad Girls series, published between 1996 and 2016.

What is the first book in the Bad Girls series?

The first book in the Bad Girls series is The Bad Girls, published in 1996.

Who are the bad girls in the series, and why are they called that?

The bad girls are Mikey and Margalo, two fifth-graders who don’t fit neatly into social expectations at their school. The title is ironic — they aren’t villainous, but they’re independent, stubborn, and unwilling to conform, which makes them troublemakers to teachers and other students who prefer compliance.

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