Liz Pichon’s Tom Gates Top of the Class (Nearly) is a funny school story for 9 year olds about a test that goes about as badly as a test can go.<\/p>\n
It starts with Tom on the school council, with the whole school cheering him. Everything’s going brilliantly. Then Mr Fullerman wakes him up (it was a daydream, and he’s actually in catch-up class).<\/p>\n
So how did he end up there? The mock test, mostly. His pen kept running out. Then his foot got SO itchy that the shoe and sock had to come off. By the time he looked up, most of the questions were still blank and the paper was covered in doodles.<\/p>\n
Now Mum and Dad are writing worried notes in his planner. Worse, his sleepover at Derek’s is off until the test is over.<\/p>\n
Catch-up class gets more interesting when Tom talks his way into the library to sit near Derek. He ends up right next to Buster Jones, the older boy some kids call Bully Buster (never to his face). Buster has a rude nickname for every teacher, and the one for Mr Fullerman makes Tom laugh out loud.<\/p>\n
Tom draws it, of course. Then he hides the drawing inside a library book and walks off without it. Which book? He can’t quite remember. And he might just have signed it.<\/p>\n
Reading it is like having Tom tell you about his week himself. He’s sure none of it is really his fault (and to be fair, some of it isn’t). His doodles and hand-lettered words fill the pages around the story. A laugh gets spelled out one big letter at a time, and his lists, plans and window signs to Derek sit right in among the text. It makes the pages feel quick and busy, which can really help a child who finds a solid page of words a bit much.<\/p>\n
Home isn’t much calmer. Delia’s in charge of dinner and says the pie is slug and crunchy frog. A sneaky cookie on the clean sofa leaves chocolate stains that someone else ends up blamed for (Tom keeps VERY quiet).<\/p>\n
Got a child who’d rather doodle in the margins than answer question three? They’ll probably see a lot of themselves in Tom.<\/p>\n
For more of Tom, Derek and Marcus, try Best Book Day Ever (so far). Marcus Meldrew still sits next to Tom in class, and Tom’s busy making an Alien Scale Monster costume for the book parade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liz Pichon’s Tom Gates Top of the Class (Nearly) is a funny school story for 9 year olds about a test that goes about as badly as a test can go. It starts with Tom on the school council, with the whole school cheering him. Everything’s going brilliantly. Then Mr Fullerman wakes him up (it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14375,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"lr_next_read_post_id":9592,"lr_next_read_anchor":"Best Book Day Ever","lr_seo_hook":"A rude drawing of his teacher, left in a library book. Did Tom sign it?","lr_series_id":130,"lr_series_name":"Tom Gates","lr_series_position":9,"lr_series_label":"","lr_author_order":"634"},"book_tag":[23],"age_group":[24],"book_type":[1044],"book_author":[634],"class_list":["post-14376","our-books","type-our-books","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","book_tag-funny-books","age_group-books-for-9-year-olds","book_type-paid","book_author-liz-pichon"],"yoast_title":"Tom Gates – Top of the Class (Nearly) by Liz Pichon | Little Reads","yoast_metadesc":"A rude drawing of his teacher, left in a library book. Did Tom sign it? For ages 9+. 3,000+ books in the Little Reads app. 7-day free trial.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n