Gregory Maguire Books In Order

Publication Order of Another Day Books

Publication Order of The Hamlet Chronicles Books

Publication Order of The Wicked Years Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Picture Books

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Stephen Schwartz Wicked Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Being a writer is an idiosyncratic job. It’s always the writer versus blank sheets of paper. All you need to do is to bleed your thoughts out and mark the defeat of the sheets with the stains of your words. Certainly there indeed have been many novelists till date but there is one such anomalous writer who is absolutely magnificent and spectacular at his work. He is the Locus award nominated author Gregory Maguire.

Early and Personal Life

Gregory Maguire, an American author, born on June 9, 1954 in Albany, New York is basically a fantasy and children’s literature writer. Being born and brought up in Albany, he completed his BA from the state university of New York and pursued his PhD in English and American literature from the Tufts University. Later, he was appointed on the post of professor and co-director at the Simmons college center for the study of children’s literature in the year 1979 which lasted till the year 1985. He is also the co-founder of children’s literature New England and is still serving as its co-director. Furthermore, The National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance includes him in their board of members.

Gregory Maguire loves scrutinizing the works in the field of arts. One day while visiting an art biennial, a showcased painting took his heart; he was mesmerized by the allure of the art and wanted to meet the artist. Few days later he met Andy Newman, the creator of the painting and fell in love with him. In the year 2004, they both got married to each other in Massachusetts and later adopted three children and stated that they are providing a stable environment to their family.

Writing career

Maguire as a professional writer started his work in 1978. His very first book “The Lightning Time” was published in the same year. He has written 15 books and 1 series of 7 books for children; out of these the “Missing Sisters” is the latest which was published in 2009. His series “Hamlet Chronicles” gained immense popularity among children. He then started writing for adults as well. He gave his heart out to the series “The Wicked Years” which was eulogized for its prodigious success. He wrote 4 more books keeping in mind the interest of the adult generation. The most recent book that he wrote for adults is “The Next Queen of Heaven” in 2010. Gregory also contributed in the short story segment in the world of writing by delivering many short stories like Scarecrow, Beyond the Fringe, In That country, Matchless: a Christmas story, etc. In the year 2009, he stepped into the non-fiction genre of writing and gave to the world a very agog book titled “Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation”.

Among all his works in the field of writing, his series “The Wicked Years” which constitutes 7 separate books in it gained massive popularity and is praised all over the world. Maguire being an open gay author contributed a lot in providing courage to people who are gay or lesbians to unveil and be proud of them. To highlight this issue he wrote “The Honorary Shepherds” in am I blue? : Coming Out From The Silence. He was also nominated for Locus Award for best fantasy novel of the year and has received many stared reviews for many of his books. His most famous series “Hamlet Chronicles” and “The Wicked Years” are so avid and vaunt that it would be unjust if the idea, concept and story line of the initial volumes of both the series won’t be described.

Seven Spiders Spinning

The very first book of the series: Seven Spiders Spinning is a very endearing and adorable story with excitement at its peak. Gregory Maguire has very smartly added to its captivating quality by annexing humorous content to it.

This is a story about seven Siberian spiders that ages ago got frozen. As Halloween was approaching the Tattletales girls club and the Copycats were wiping the floor where the spiders defrosted and saw the seven girls and gradually fell in love with them. They just wanted to be loved back and this desire of them lacked any ray of hope. Eventually, the more they grew, the furious they turned. All the seven girls were followed by these Siberian monsters putting everyone in their city in extreme danger. When one of the spiders bit Miss Earth, her students went in utter worry and did every possible thing to comfort her in pain. Later, both the boys and girls put their grudges aside and united to make every attempt to save their city. With their continuous efforts and forbearance they managed to get rid of the gigantic spiders and saved the planet.

This is a fun story and the characters themselves are the most interesting part of the story. They are portrayed as being one dimensional, haughty, conceited and snooty. Maguire’s way of showing the change in the children’s attitude in the story was very impressive and the story line in itself did wonders.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

This story revolves around the main character of the book- The Wicked Witch of the West. The theme of the book is very draconian and is about one of the most hated fictional characters in literature. Maguire in his book has exhibited the life of a witch who is not as wicked as humans traduce about. Sometimes, people are not wicked, it’s the circumstances that turn them so. The readers are instigated to a variety of supposition throughout the story which a witch has to go through all along her life. Elphaba too was an abused child; she was addicted to medication, deprived of her mother’s love. During her days in college, she realized that there is a need to save this world from the hands of negative powers but all her efforts went to trash and at the end she was titled as the wicked witch of the west.

This book of Gregory was also made into a Broadway musical and was highly praised.