Looking for the Tom Gates books in order? Liz Pichon’s illustrated middle-grade series follows doodle-loving Tom through school, family life, friendships, and his attempts to turn DogZombies into a brilliant band. The stories are packed with jokes, handwritten notes, comics, and the everyday disasters Tom records in his diary.
Pichon writes and illustrates the series, giving it a style that feels part novel, part comic, and part school notebook. Tom’s excuses, squabbles with his sister Delia, and run-ins with Marcus Meldrew make the books especially appealing to readers who enjoy funny, heavily illustrated stories.
Jump to:
- Tom Gates Books in Order
- Optional Tom Gates Companion Books
- Tom Gates TV and Stage Adaptations
- Who is Liz Pichon?
Tom Gates Books in Order
The numbered list below follows Scholastic’s official series order. The years are the original UK publication years, which provide one consistent chronology for this British series. A complete separate U.S.-edition timeline has not been published for all of the later books, so mixing markets would put the early titles out of sequence.
- The Brilliant World of Tom Gates (2011)
- Excellent Excuses (And Other Good Stuff) (2011)
- Everything’s Amazing (Sort Of) (2012)
- Genius Ideas (Mostly) (2012)
- Tom Gates Is Absolutely Fantastic (at Some Things) (2013)
- Extra Special Treats (Not) (2013)
- A Tiny Bit Lucky (2014)
- Yes! No. (Maybe…) (2015)
- Top of the Class (Nearly) (2015)
- Super Good Skills (Almost…) (2016)
- DogZombies Rule (For Now) (2016)
- Family, Friends and Furry Creatures (2017)
- Epic Adventure (Kind Of) (2017)
- Biscuits, Bands and Very Big Plans (2018)
- What Monster? (2018)
- Mega Make and Do (And Stories Too!) (2019)
- Spectacular School Trip (Really…) (2019)
- Ten Tremendous Tales (2021)
- Random Acts of Fun (2021)
- Happy to Help (Eventually) (2022)
- Tom Gates: Five Star Stories (2023)
- Tom Gates: Book of Everything (2024)
- Tom Gates Ha! Ha! Hilarious (2024)
- Tom Gates: Pesky Pets and Parties (2025)
- Tom Gates Is Not Famous (Yet) (2026)
The official Tom Gates site says the books can be read in any order, and most of Tom’s adventures work as self-contained stories. I still recommend starting with The Brilliant World of Tom Gates and following the numbered sequence. It’s the simplest way to meet Tom, his family, his classmates, and the members of DogZombies as Liz Pichon introduced them.
Tom Gates: Book of Everything is officially Book 22, even though it mixes original stories with activities, makes, and pages for readers to complete. It belongs in the numbered series rather than only with the optional activity books.
Optional Tom Gates Companion Books
These books sit outside Scholastic’s numbered sequence. I consider Best Book Day Ever! (So Far) the most useful companion for readers who mainly want more fiction, while the annual, music book, and activity book are better suited to fans who enjoy the creative side of Tom’s world.
- Best Book Day Ever! (So Far) (2013) (Short Story)
- Tom Gates Totally Brilliant Annual (2014)
- The Tom Gates Music Book (2019)
- Tom Gates: Big Book of Fun Stuff (2020)
- The Brilliant World of Tom Gates: 15th Anniversary Edition (2026)
Tom Gates: Big Book of Fun Stuff expands material first published in the 2014 annual and adds new pages. The 15th-anniversary edition of The Brilliant World of Tom Gates is also more than a cover change because it includes new bonus story content. Neither replaces or adds another number to the main series.
Tom Gates TV and Stage Adaptations
The Brilliant World of Tom Gates was adapted as a mixed-media television show for Sky Kids. Across three series, it produced 60 episodes that combine animation, live action, songs, games, drawing, and craft segments. The television run also includes Tom Gates: Epic Christmas Party and Tom Gates: A Monster Halloween.
The first television series won the BAFTA Scotland award for Entertainment in 2021. In my view, the show is best treated as a companion to the books rather than a book-by-book adaptation because it turns Tom’s world into short episodes and creative segments instead of retelling each novel in full.
Tom also moved to the stage with Tom Gates Live on Stage!, which toured the UK in 2019. The later Tom Gates EPIC Stage Show began a second UK tour in 2026.
Who is Liz Pichon?
Liz Pichon is a British author and illustrator who studied graphic design at Camberwell School of Art in London. Before writing her own books, she worked as an art director in the music industry and as a freelance designer, then began illustrating books by other writers.
Tom Gates is her best-known series. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, Best Book for Younger Readers at the Red House Children’s Book Award, and the Best Fiction for 5–12 Year Olds category of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize. Genius Ideas (Mostly) won the 2013 Blue Peter Book Award for Best Story.
I think the series works so well because Pichon makes the drawings, lettering, jokes, and story feel inseparable. She has also drawn on memories from her own school years, which helps Tom’s classroom distractions, family frustrations, and big plans for DogZombies feel familiar without losing their exaggerated humor.
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.