Goth Girl
#3474.03 adjusted 4.03 for sample size in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 5 books Status Complete 2013–2017 Reading commitment Medium Chris Riddell Last reviewed 2026-10-18
Overview
Chris Riddell's Goth Girl books (2013-2017), written and illustrated by the 2015-2017 UK Children's Laureate, are gothic comedies for young readers set in Ghastly-Gorm Hall, the enormous home of Lord Goth, a poet, and his only child, Ada. Lord Goth believes children should be heard and not seen, so Ada wears large clumpy boots, and she is rather lonely until friends arrive, among them a ghostly mouse called Ishmael. Each book stages a grand event at the Hall, a garden party and bake-off, a literary dog show, a music festival, while the sinister indoor gamekeeper Maltravers hatches a new plot. The series plays on Gothic literature and its writers, with puns on Lord Byron and his circle, and the first book won the Costa Children's Book Award.
Comic fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (5 works) counts toward ranking
Goth Girl Chris Riddell
| Work | Year | Internal chron. | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse | 2013 | 1 | core | 4.00 (4,109 ratings) |
 | Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death | 2014 | 2 | core | 4.08 (2,002 ratings) |
 | Goth Girl and the Wuthering Fright | 2015 | 3 | core | 4.02 (1,414 ratings) |
 | Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony | 2017 | 4 | core | 4.10 (819 ratings) |
 | Goth Girl and the Pirate Queen; A 96-page World Book Day book (2015), a short companion to the four novels. | 2015 | N/A | N/A |
Chris Riddell's illustrated gothic comedies about Ada Goth of Ghastly-Gorm Hall.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Goth Girl? Goth Girl's Core Canon is 5 books.
- What is the reading order for Goth Girl? Publication order, starting with Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Goth Girl finished? Complete (2013–2017).
- How much reading does Goth Girl take? Medium reading commitment (estimated from 4 Core Canon books).
- How is Goth Girl ranked? #347 in this site's official ranking, based on 8,344 reader ratings across 4 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #347?
Ranked #347 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.03 across 4 core books.
- A smaller readership (8,344 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Remarkably consistent across the whole series: all 4 rated core books rate within 0.10 of each other.
- Less than 0.01 behind #346, Pendragon Cycle (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Well rated · 4 books · Complete · 8k ratings · Ranks #347 overall
Good choice if you want a moderate-length comic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (4 Core Canon books)
- Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse (2013)
- Goth Girl and the Fete Worse Than Death (2014)
- Goth Girl and the Wuthering Fright (2015)
- Goth Girl and the Sinister Symphony (2017)
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)
- Costa Book Awards (Children's Book), 2013: won: Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Goth Girl and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- Hamster Princess Fairy-tale retelling / Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.23
- Dragonbreath Comic fantasy · Complete · High commitment · 4.17
- The Sheep-Pig Comic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.06
- Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians Comic fantasy · Complete · Medium commitment · 4.05
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.03 across 8,344 ratings on 4 Core Canon books. 1 additional Core Canon book hasn't been rated yet, so it isn't counted here. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Goth Girl (Chris Riddell) accepted 2026-10-18
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
- Toppsta (series listing) Tier 2
- Our Mythical Childhood survey (University of Warsaw) Tier 2
- Reader list on the rating platform (ratings with titles) Tier 2
Last reviewed: 2026-10-18
Rule: Core Canon = Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse (2013), the Fete Worse Than Death (2014), the Wuthering Fright (2015) and the Sinister Symphony (2017).