123. Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (and other good stuff) by Liz Pichon

Excellent Excuses (and other good stuff) by Liz Pichon
Tom Gates (#2)

Rating: (3/5)

(Canada) ONLY

Feb. 24, 2013, Scholastic Canada,  351 pgs
Age: 8+

"Tom Gates, master of excuses, expert doodler and hilarious story writer is back: 
Gold Star Award Chart! 
Getting to the Top of Mr. Fullerman's AWARD chart is proving a bit Tricky! This is mostly because: 
1. Marcus Meldrew is a sneaky so-and-so and up to NO good, if you ask me. 
2. My tooth is aching SO much that I can't EVEN concentrate on drawing in class. 
3. I keep getting sidetracked by interesting activities like SWIMMING, bug catching and, most importantly, spending quality time annoying my sister Delia."

Received a review copy from Scholastic Canada.

Much like the "Wimpy Kid" books, this series is very similar except written at a bit of an easier level; it has much more drawing and graphically appealing that in some ways it could be called a graphic novel, though don't get me wrong it has no comic bubbles or panels and is a chapter book.  It is also decidedly British and hasn't been Americanized; in fact, at the end of the book "Tom" has created a visual and funny glossary which defines a lot of the British-isms for the reader.  I haven't read the first book and it didn't hamper my understanding of this one at all but I think I may have had an extra fondness for the characters if I had.  Extremely humorous in the British humour way but with no real plot, just the average (well, not-so-average) day-to-day doings of a middle school boy, his friend, annoying older sister and the class bully.  Fun read will appeal to reluctant readers and those who like to draw.