Netflix announced Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure on November 6, 2026. The live-action prequel is due in 2028 and takes place in the 1950s, before both the original series and the events of the 1959 stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow. If you want one Stranger Things book to read today, start with Gwenda Bond’s Suspicious Minds. If you want the closest match to the new show’s era, put The First Shadow graphic novel on your list for January 19, 2027.
Netflix’s announcement lists no required reading or source book for Other Worlds. The recommendations below are based on what each book adds to the franchise, from Henry Creel’s early years to the history of Hawkins Lab.
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| If you want… | Read… | What you’ll get |
|---|---|---|
| The story closest to the prequel’s era | The First Shadow—An Adaptation | Henry Creel and Hawkins in 1959. Due January 19, 2027. |
| A novel you can start now | Suspicious Minds | Terry Ives and Dr. Brenner’s experiments in 1969. |
| Another period mystery | Darkness on the Edge of Town | Jim Hopper’s NYPD years and a 1977 murder investigation. |
| A look at how the series was made | Worlds Turned Upside Down | Interviews, photographs and concept art from the original show’s early seasons. |
1. Stranger Things: The First Shadow—An Adaptation
Dark Horse Books’ forthcoming graphic novel adapts Kate Trefry’s stage play. Rachel Pinnelas adapted it for the page, with art by Jake Bartok. It opens in Hawkins in 1959, when Joyce, Hopper and Bob Newby are still in high school. Henry Creel arrives hoping for a fresh start, and his friendship with Patty Newby gives him a reason to believe he might get one.
This is my first pick for readers who want to see Hawkins before the kids on bikes. Familiar adults are young enough to be caught up in a mystery themselves, and Henry enters the story as a new student with a past he can’t leave behind. Trefry also co-created Other Worlds and serves as its showrunner. That shared creative connection and the proximity of the two stories in the timeline make the comic the most relevant pick here. The stage story comes after Other Worlds in the franchise timeline.
Check preorder availability for The First Shadow graphic novel on Amazon
2. Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds by Gwenda Bond
In the summer of 1969, college student Terry Ives signs up for an experiment that brings her into Dr. Martin Brenner’s orbit. The novel follows Eleven’s mother as she begins to understand what she has volunteered for and how much the people running the experiments are keeping from her.
Start here if the original show hooked you with the lab conspiracy. Terry enters the story as a willing participant, which makes the gap between what she agrees to and what the researchers intend especially unsettling. The events take place years after Other Worlds, so the book works best as a way into the history of Hawkins Lab and the Ives family.
Find Suspicious Minds on Amazon
3. Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town by Adam Christopher
Hopper tells Eleven about his life as a New York City detective. The story he shares takes readers back to the summer of 1977, when federal agents take over a murder investigation and Hopper keeps digging.
Choose this one if what you like most about Stranger Things is watching a stubborn investigator follow a lead that someone with more power wants buried. The city setting and murder case give it the feel of a period crime novel. It’s an especially good follow-up if The First Shadow makes you curious about what Hopper did between his Hawkins school days and his return as police chief.
Find Darkness on the Edge of Town on Amazon
4. Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down by Gina McIntyre
McIntyre’s nonfiction companion goes behind the scenes of the original series, with a focus on its first two seasons. It includes photographs, concept art and interviews.
Pick this up if you’re curious about how the original show made Hawkins feel like a real town before it asked viewers to believe in the Upside Down. With Other Worlds moving to a different decade, the companion offers a way to revisit the production choices that gave the original series its sense of place.
Find Worlds Turned Upside Down on Amazon
What order should you read the Stranger Things books in?
For this shortlist, read The First Shadow first if you want to follow the fictional timeline. Then move to Suspicious Minds(1969) and Hopper’s main story in Darkness on the Edge of Town (1977). Read the nonfiction companion whenever you’re in the mood for a behind-the-scenes look, ideally after watching the first two seasons.
If you’re starting today, go straight to Suspicious Minds and come back for The First Shadow when the graphic novel arrives. That pairing gives you two distinct eras of Hawkins through the eyes of people who are just beginning to understand what’s happening around them.
Related reading on Books of Brilliance — Millie Bobby Brown’s favorite books.
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