Julie Gardner Berry Books In Order

Publication Order of Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys Books

Publication Order of Wishes and Wellingtons Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Children's Books

About Julie Berry

The American writer Julie Berry is well known for her Young Adult and children’s literature, instantly grabbing the reader’s attention with her creative and imaginative stories. Also known as Julie Gardner Berry, her work has become a mainstay for many, establishing her as a household name for many. Over the years her work has been appreciated by readers from all over the world, as her audience continues to come back for more time and time again. Taking the form and transforming it, she makes each story unique to her, saying something entirely different in the process.

Pacing each of her stories well, she definitely manages to entertain and hold the reader’s imagination from the outset. Clear and accessible, she articulates herself in an easy to understand manner that’s direct and to the point, while also containing an underlying meaning. Over time this has progressed, as she’s managed to carve a niche within the industry that is very much all her own. Her stories and characters are easy to relate to, resonate with readers from all over, regardless of where they’re from.

Creating strong characters, she gives each of her protagonists a clearly defined personality that’s easy to comprehend. Staying with the readers long after they’ve finished too, she provides clear message through her work and stories as well. Allowing her readers to invest themselves in her fiction, she creates intricate worlds that feel wholly believable upon the page. With a lot more to come as well, she has many more books planned upon the horizon, as her writing career carries on growing onwards and upwards.

Early and Personal Life

Growing up in Western New York on a fifty acre farm, Julie Berry would grow up in the great outdoors, enjoying an active childhood amongst a family of avid readers. Reading all of the classics from an early age, she would focus on her craft as a writer, finding her own style and approach to the form. This would continue throughout high-school, as she’d remain active whilst continuing to read voraciously and regularly.

Attending Renssealer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, she would go on to major in Communication there. Pursuing a number of different creative outlets from performing to the sciences, she would always come back to her primary love of writing. Currently living with her husband they have four boys, and she continues to write to this present day on a regular basis.

Writing Career

It was back in 2009 that Julie Berry would bring out her first novel titled ‘The Amaranth Enchantment,’ and it would be a stand-alone Young Adult fantasy novel. Later she would go on to create her first series in 2010, and it would begin with the children’s novel titled ‘The Rat Brain Fiasco.’ This would be the first in her series of ‘Splurch Academy’ novels, and they would be illustrated by the artist Sally Gardner.

Many of her books would be translated later on, with her work reaching an international audience, largely due to the universality of her writing. Winning many awards too, including the ‘Best Children’s Book of 2014’ through the Wall Street Journal, and a 2017 Printz Honor to name just a few, she’s not without critical acclaim either. Making a name for herself, she continues to maintain a strong presence both online and off, with more and more discovering her work every day.

The Trouble With Squids

This would be the fourth book in the ‘Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys’ series of novels, with this being a bright and colorful children’s collection of novels. First published in 2011 on the 23rd of June it would come out through the ‘Grosset and Dunlap’ publishing imprint to an already eager audience. Illustrated by Sally Gardner, the books would be a creative and imaginative series, as they’d follow on from each other thematically.

The book itself is an exciting and lively story for young readers, with lots of jokes and humor along the way. It’s a great introduction to reading for its young audience too, grabbing their attention in what is an engaging story. Featuring well written characters alongside lively visuals, it definitely works as a children’s story on several different levels.

Still looking to escape from Splurch Academy, the boys this time uncover a swimming pool that seems to have otherwise been forgotten. Located beneath the school’s gymnasium, this undersea world could possibly provide them with a way out of the academy. Then they begin to realize that their path may be blocked by the monster squids that infest the swimming pool’s waters. Will they be able to find their way out? Can they deal with the monster squids? Just what are the trouble with squids?

Lovely War

Originally brought out in 2019 on the 5th of March, this would first be released through the ‘Viking Books for Young Readers’ outlet. Working entirely as a stand-alone, it was a novel aimed primarily at Young Adults, although its story and subject matter would be accessible to a wide range of readers. There’s a lot here for the reader to invest themselves, as it asks a lot of interesting questions of a deeper and more profound nature. The characters are all well drawn, and its premise is definitely an intriguing one, with it being a historical saga, with some elements of fantasy brought in.

When James and Hazel see each other at a party in London it’s love at first sight, but it’s 1917 and James is soon shipped off to the trenches of the First World War, cutting short his dreams of becoming an architect too. Aubrey Edwards is another similar case, in that he was to play Carnegie Hall as musician, but is stationed as part of the African-American regiment in Europe, also cutting his romance with Colette Fournier short. Later, during the Second World War, Greek goddess Aphrodite meets with her husband Hephaestus in Manhattan in a hotel room there to discuss the fate of humanity and love and war during World War Two. Where will their conversation take them? Can love overcome war and suffering? What can be considered a lovely war?

Julie Gardner Berry is the pen name that author Julie Berry publishes her “Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys” series under. These books are illustrated by Julie’s sister, Sally Gardner. The first book came out in the year 2010, and was called “The Rat Brain Fiasco”. The series has four books to it.

Julie grew up on a fifty acre farm in Western New York and is the youngest of seven kids. They grew a lot of their own food and harvested eggs from their chickens. They had rabbits, pigs, turkeys, and many cats and dogs. Julie found that she was free to ramble around their pond filled with turtles and frogs, and wade in their crick full of crawdads and minnows.

She considers herself to be lucky that she was the caboose kid in a huge family made up of avid readers, and a mom that loved poetry. She had a great little library of children’s classics to read and reread to her heart’s content and came close to memorizing some of those books.

During high school, she filled much of her time with clubs, sports (cross country, volleyball, track), singing, music lessons, jobs (YMCA), and babysitting, as well as books. College was more of the same. More friends, more volleyball, more jobs (making copies and slinging pizza). She went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and majored in communication.

She dreamed of becoming many things: a mom, a chemist, a marine biologist, a Solid Gold Dancer, and a gymnast, but writing was always on the back of her mind. She always hoped that writing would be a part of the mix, whatever she wound up doing.

During college, she met her husband, Phil. They married young and quickly began a family after that. They have four sons, and they have zero idea where the time went. In order to make the gender balance more even in their home, they have two girl cats, Nisha and Athena.

Once her fourth son was born, she figured that since her family dreams were well underway, she decided to pursue writing books. She went back to school and got her MFA in writing for kids and young adults from Vermont College of the Fine Arts. It is a place that she was able to learn from many committed and talented writers for young people.

She writes young adult fiction and children’s fiction. Her first book, “The Amaranth Enchantment” was released in the year 2009, under the name Julie Berry.

“All The Truth That’s in Me” was named a School Library Journal Best of 2013, a 2013 Horn Book Fanfare title, and was a Kirkus Best Teen Read for 2013. It was also nominated for a Carnegie Best Book Award in the year 2014. “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place” won an Odyssey Honor from the American Library Association. “The Passion of Dolssa” won a Printz Honor from the American Library Association in 2017, and also won a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten award.

“The Rat Brain Fiasco” is the first novel in the “Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys” series, which was released in the year 2010. Cody Mack is called into the principal’s office once again, and he finds something much worse than a detention waiting for him. Splurch Academy, which is a frightfully sinister boarding school for disobedient children. It is run by a group of monstrous teachers.

Berry does a great job of telling an entertaining story with the book that makes readers want to check out more of the series. This does a great job of incorporating elements of a graphic novel into the text. The words and the illustrations combine to tell an excellent and complete story.

“Curse of the Bizarro Beetle” is the second novel in the “Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys” series, which was released in the year 2010. Cody’s arch nemesis, Headmaster Farley is banished from the school, and Cody should really be celebrating. Something is eating at him, and bothering him. Literally gnawing on him. There are dark forces on the rise at Splurch. Cody Mack is unsure of what side of the battle he is on.

This is an ideal book for reluctant readers to read, with its partial narrative and partial comic book format. All of the books from the series are perfect for elementary to middle grade boys and girls. Berry writes fun and entertaining stories for younger readers, especially for reluctant readers.

“The Colossal Fossil Freakout” is the third novel in the “Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys” series, which was released in the year 2011. Headmaster Farley has come back and is ready for revenge, but an unexpected visit from his sister brings some nasty results as she takes over Splurch Academy. He comes up with a plan, after being forced to retreat into his library, to get the school back. At the same time, Cody Mack and the other boys at the school are pitted against their new classmates: the girls from Priscilla Prim Academy for Precious and Proper Young Ladies.

Reading this book is an entertaining and fun time and is a great way to spend time with younger readers just beginning to learn how to read. Especially ones that are picky about the books they pick up and read.

“The Trouble with Squids” is the fourth novel in the “Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys” series, which was released in the year 2011. This is a squid invasion. The boys find a forgotten and old swimming pool that has been hidden away under the floor of the school’s gym. Beneath the surface they find an entire undersea world that might give them a way to escape from Splurch Academy. They quickly find that the pool is overflowing with some evil monster squids.

These are some great illustrations, and go well with the clever writing. These are fun and unique books. For some, it is a shame that the series doesn’t continue for many more installments, as they are well written, well illustrated, and simply a lot of fun.