Big Nate Books in Order: Complete Novels & Comics List

The Big Nate books in order follow Nate Wright, a confident sixth grader whose big plans usually end in detention, embarrassment, or another showdown with Mrs. Godfrey. Lincoln Peirce tells Nate’s story through illustrated novels, newspaper comics, graphic-novel-style collections, and animated adventures.

The illustrated novel series contains eight books, while the main comic-strip collection series is numbered separately through volume 36, Big Nate: Talks Trash (2027). The other publishing lines are separated so you can follow the right order without mistaking reprints and overlapping compilations for new stories.

Jump to:

• Big Nate Books
• Big Nate Comic-Strip Collections
• Big Nate Comix Books
• Big Nate TV Series Graphic Novels
• Little Big Nate Books
• Other Big Nate Books and Collections
• Big Nate Animated Show
• About Lincoln Peirce

Big Nate Books

Peirce expanded Nate’s comic-strip world into eight illustrated novels with longer, connected stories. Each book has its own central problem, but friendships, rivalries, and earlier events carry forward. I recommend reading these in publication order.

1. Big Nate: In a Class by Himself (2010)
2. Big Nate Strikes Again (2010)
3. Big Nate on a Roll (2011)
4. Big Nate Goes for Broke (2012)
5. Big Nate Flips Out (2013)
6. Big Nate: In the Zone (2014)
7. Big Nate Lives It Up (2015)
8. Big Nate Blasts Off (2016)

Big Nate Blasts Off is the eighth and final published illustrated novel. In some countries, Big Nate: In a Class by Himself was published as The Boy with the Biggest Head in the World. It’s the same novel, not an additional book.

Big Nate Comic-Strip Collections

These books collect Lincoln Peirce’s newspaper strips. Readers often call them graphic novels, but they form a separate numbered collection series from the eight illustrated novels. I’d follow the publisher’s volume order below, even though volume 10 was first released as an ebook before its later placement in the print series.

1. Big Nate: From the Top (2010)
2. Big Nate Out Loud (2011)
3. Big Nate and Friends (2011)
4. Big Nate Makes the Grade (2012)
5. Big Nate All Work and No Play: A Collection of Sundays (2012)
6. Big Nate: Game On! (2013)
7. Big Nate: I Can’t Take It! (2013)
8. Big Nate: Great Minds Think Alike (2014)
9. Big Nate: The Crowd Goes Wild! (2014)
10. Big Nate: Dibs on This Chair (2013)
11. Big Nate’s Greatest Hits (2015)
12. Big Nate: Say Good-bye to Dork City (2015)
13. Big Nate: Welcome to My World (2015)
14. Big Nate: Thunka, Thunka, Thunka (2016)
15. Big Nate: Revenge of the Cream Puffs (2016)
16. Big Nate: What’s a Little Noogie Between Friends? (2017)
17. Big Nate: A Good Old-Fashioned Wedgie (2017)
18. Big Nate: Silent But Deadly (2018)
19. Big Nate Goes Bananas! (2018)
20. Big Nate: Payback Time! (2019)
21. Big Nate: Hug It Out! (2019)
22. Big Nate: Blow the Roof Off! (2020)
23. Big Nate: The Gerbil Ate My Homework (2020)
24. Big Nate: In Your Face! (2021)
25. Big Nate: Aloha! (2021)
26. Big Nate: Beware of Low-Flying Corn Muffins (2022)
27. Big Nate: Release the Hounds! (2022)
28. Big Nate: Nailed It! (2023)
29. Big Nate: Move It or Lose It! (2023)
30. Big Nate: This Means War! (2024)
31. Big Nate: Remain Calm! (2024)
32. Big Nate: Attack of the Cheez Funk Breath (2025)
33. Big Nate: No Harm Done! (2025)
34. Big Nate: Code Red! (2026)
35. Big Nate: Curse of the Puffy Shorts (2026)
36. Big Nate: Talks Trash (2027)

Big Nate’s Greatest Hits collects three ebook-only releases: Big Nate Makes a Splash, Big Nate: Dibs on This Chair, and Big Nate: Pray for a Fire Drill. My advice is to choose the collected edition or the individual ebooks rather than buying both formats unless you don’t mind duplicated material.

For readers starting from a specific title, Big Nate: The Gerbil Ate My Homework follows Big Nate: Blow the Roof Off!, and Big Nate’s Greatest Hits follows Big Nate: Dibs on This Chair in the numbered series. Big Nate: From the Top is volume 1 of this modern collection line, but it doesn’t begin with the earliest strips from 1991.

Big Nate Comix Books

HarperCollins published four Big Nate Comix compilations in their own series. They collect comic-strip material and overlap with other Big Nate collections, so I prefer to keep them separate from the numbered Andrews McMeel volumes.

1. Big Nate: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (2012)
2. Big Nate: Here Goes Nothing (2012)
3. Big Nate: Genius Mode (2013)
4. Big Nate: Mr. Popularity (2014)

Big Nate TV Series Graphic Novels

These graphic novels adapt stories from the animated series. They have their own numbering and don’t continue the illustrated novels or the newspaper-strip collection sequence.

1. Big Nate: Destined for Awesomeness (2022)
2. Big Nate: Prank You Very Much (2022)
3. Big Nate: Next Stop, Superstardom! (2023)

Little Big Nate Books

The Little Big Nate board books reimagine Nate for preschool readers. I’d treat them as an optional younger-reader series rather than part of the main Big Nate order.

1. Little Big Nate: Draws a Blank (2019)
2. Little Big Nate: No Nap! (2020)

Other Big Nate Books and Collections

A few other releases are worth knowing about because they contain early strips, digital collections, retrospective material, or stories tied to the animated series.

Early and Retrospective Collections

1. Add More Babes!: Awesome Big Nate Comics (1992)
2. Big Nate: I Smell a Pop Quiz! (2008)
3. Epic Big Nate (2016)

Add More Babes!: Awesome Big Nate Comics is the earliest verified Big Nate print collection. Big Nate: From the Top, however, remains the first volume in the modern numbered comic-strip series. Epic Big Nate is a retrospective treasury, so I’d read it whenever you want a broader look at the strip’s history rather than placing it inside the numbered order.

Digital Big Nate Collections

1. Big Nate Makes a Splash (2013)
2. Big Nate: Pray for a Fire Drill (2013)

Big Nate: Dibs on This Chair is the third 2013 digital collection, but it already appears as volume 10 in the numbered list above. All three digital collections were later combined in Big Nate’s Greatest Hits.

Companion and Archive Books

1. Big Nate: The Nate Files (2024)

Big Nate: The Nate Files combines original material, animated-series stories, comics, and pages from Nate’s notebook. The Complete Big Nate series is a numbered ebook archive that collects newspaper strips year by year. I think it’s the best option if you want early material that isn’t included in From the Top.

Two-in-one editions such as Big Nate Stays Classy and Back to Back Hits, along with box sets and bind-ups, repackage books already listed above. They can be convenient purchases, but they don’t add new stories to the reading order.

Big Nate Animated Show

The Big Nate animated series premiered in 2022, and its second season premiered in 2023. The show tells original adventures inspired by Peirce’s books and comic strip, with Nate still causing chaos at P.S. 38 alongside Francis, Teddy, Dee Dee, Chad, and his other classmates.

Lincoln Peirce worked with the production as a consultant and helped adjust scripts to fit the characters. The three TV series graphic novels listed above adapt episodes from the show, so I recommend starting with the series itself if you want the original screen version of those stories.

About Lincoln Peirce

Lincoln Peirce is the cartoonist, author, and illustrator who created Big Nate. He was born in Ames, Iowa, grew up in Durham, New Hampshire, and studied art and art history at Colby College in Maine. Charles Schulz and Peanuts were major early influences, while Nate Wright grew from Peirce’s own memories of sixth grade.

The Big Nate comic strip debuted on January 7, 1991. Its Monday-through-Saturday run ended on June 13, 2026, while new Sunday strips continue. Peirce also created the Max & the Midknights series after completing the eight illustrated Big Nate novels.

Looking for more books in order?

If you want more authors and reading-order guides like this one, start with my Books in Order index.

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• Diary of a Wimpy Kid Books in Order
• Dog Man Books in Order
• Dork Diaries Books in Order