Tom Gates – Everything’s Amazing (sort of)

Liz Pichon's Tom Gates Everything's Amazing (sort of) is a funny school story for 9 year olds, with a birthday on the way and a dad who might be about to ruin everything.

What happens

Tom starts the week in a VERY good mood. That lasts until maths, when a nickname he only ever says in his head comes out loud in front of Mrs Worthington. (It's about her top lip. You can probably guess the rest.)

Then the school newsletter announces that Dogzombies, the band Tom has with his best mate Derek and Norman, will be playing at the school disco. This is news to Tom. They aren't very good yet!

Home isn't much calmer. Dad turns up with a spotty dinosaur camper van from the theme park he's doing some work for. Then Tom finds a disco dinosaur costume with glittery boots (size 13) hidden upstairs. He's convinced Dad is going to be the school DJ in it.

Along the way his jumper shrinks in the tumble dryer and he tells everyone it's a "shrink knit". Granny Mavis is planning the food for his birthday, and her bedtime treat of custard with carrot sticks doesn't bode well. Who wouldn't be a little worried?

Anyone who's read Tom before knows it's like being inside his head. He's cheeky, he's dramatic and he's very sure everyone else is being annoying (Marcus Meldrew mostly). There's lots of warmth too, especially in Derek, who's the kind of best mate everyone wants.

The whole thing looks like a diary filled in by hand. Words get BIG when Tom's excited and tiny when he's not. There are doodles in every margin, lists, a worksheet filled in with made-up answers and a whole homework story about taking Derek's dog to a dog show. Plenty of the jokes live in the pictures, so a child reading alone gets the punchlines without anyone explaining them. It goes quickly too, probably in a sitting or two.

If you've got a reader who likes their funny books full of mischief and short on danger, this is a great pick. It's the third Tom Gates book. The Brilliant World of Tom Gates and Excellent Excuses (And Other Good Stuff) come before it and Genius Ideas (mostly) follows, but Tom fills you in as he goes.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Tom's book week is in the library too. In Best Book Day Ever he's making an Alien Scale Monster costume for the school book parade, while Marcus gets on his nerves as usual.