Emily Windsnap
#3684.02 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 10 books Status Ongoing 2003–present Reading commitment High Liz Kessler Last reviewed 2026-10-13
Overview
Emily Windsnap is an ongoing middle-grade series by Liz Kessler, running from 2003 to the present with ten novels so far, following Emily Windsnap, a girl living aboard a boat with her mother, who discovers on learning to swim that she is half-mermaid. Across the series, beginning with The Tail of Emily Windsnap (2003) and continuing most recently with Emily Windsnap and the Crystal Caves (2025), Emily navigates a hidden undersea world alongside her mermaid friend Shona, uncovering family secrets, including the identity and fate of her merman father, and confronting threats to both the human and merfolk realms. The series has sold widely in the UK and internationally and helped establish Kessler as a prominent author of accessible, ocean-themed children's fantasy. Later installments send Emily further afield, including the Arctic and pirate-haunted waters, while keeping the core cast and dual-world premise consistent throughout.
Portal fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (10 works) counts toward ranking
Emily Windsnap Liz Kessler
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | The Tail of Emily Windsnap | 2003 | 1 | core | 3.93 (29,856 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep | 2004 | 2 | core | 3.95 (12,200 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist | 2006 | 3 | core | 4.05 (10,956 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret | 2009 | 4 | core | 4.15 (7,206 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun | 2012 | 5 | core | 4.23 (3,635 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Ship of Lost Souls | 2015 | 6 | core | 4.29 (2,371 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Falls of Forgotten Island | 2018 | 7 | core | 4.17 (1,562 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince | 2019 | 8 | core | 4.27 (1,312 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Tides of Time | 2020 | 9 | core | 4.14 (959 ratings) |
 | Emily Windsnap and the Crystal Caves | 2025 | 10 | core | 4.22 (145 ratings) |
A large tier of companion material (early-reader collections, short-story anthologies, boxed-set repackagings) exists alongside these 10 numbered novels; kept out of Core as supplementary, non-numbered material.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Emily Windsnap? Emily Windsnap's Core Canon is 10 books.
- What is the reading order for Emily Windsnap? Publication order, starting with The Tail of Emily Windsnap. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Emily Windsnap finished? Ongoing (2003–present).
- How much reading does Emily Windsnap take? High reading commitment (estimated from 10 Core Canon books).
- How is Emily Windsnap ranked? #368 in this site's official ranking, based on 70,202 reader ratings across 10 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #368?
Ranked #368 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.02 across 10 core books.
- A smaller readership (70,202 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #367, Tale of the Kin (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 10 books · Ongoing · 70k ratings · Ranks #368 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running portal fantasy universe that's still ongoing, with new books still coming.
Reading order
Publication order (10 Core Canon books)
- The Tail of Emily Windsnap (2003)
- Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep (2004)
- Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist (2006)
- Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret (2009)
- Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun (2012)
- Emily Windsnap and the Ship of Lost Souls (2015)
- Emily Windsnap and the Falls of Forgotten Island (2018)
- Emily Windsnap and the Pirate Prince (2019)
- Emily Windsnap and the Tides of Time (2020)
- Emily Windsnap and the Crystal Caves (2025)
Documented internal/story chronology is recorded for every Core Canon book here, and matches publication order exactly, with no divergence to show separately.
Awards (verified)
- No independently verifiable award found for this series.
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Suggestions computed from what Emily Windsnap and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Chronicles of Narnia Portal fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.14
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- Young Wizards Portal fantasy · Ongoing · High commitment · 4.01
- Tales of Magic Portal fantasy / Comic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.00
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.02 across 70,202 ratings on 10 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Emily Windsnap (Liz Kessler) accepted 2026-09-09
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Wikipedia — Emily Windsnap Tier 2
- Liz Kessler's official site Tier 1
Last reviewed: 2026-09-09
Rule: Core Canon is the 10 sequentially numbered main novels (The Tail of Emily Windsnap through Emily Windsnap and the Crystal Caves). A large tier of companion material — early-reader collections, short-story anthologies, and boxed-set repackagings — is not registered.