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Excellent Excuses (and Other Good Stuff)Liz Pichon
Excellent Excuses (and Other Good Stuff)
by Liz Pichon
Tom's excuse notes, doodles and half-finished homework, plus a band rehearsal that goes considerably worse than the last one.
A story about children and families, funny and silly in tone. We would put it with children of 7–10, and at a reading age of about 8 for reading alone.
Nothing flagged
We have not flagged any content in this one that a parent would usually want warning about.
Part of a series
This is book 2 of the Tom Gates series, so there is more to read if it goes down well — which is worth a great deal with a reluctant reader.
Our take on this book
Tom Gates is back with more doodles, more excuses and more schemes to avoid homework, annoy his sister and get his band Dogzombies off the ground, all recorded in his scribble-filled, biscuit-obsessed diary. Liz Pichon's award-winning series is a visual feast — the words weave in and out of drawings, doodled fonts and marginal jokes, so the page itself is part of the comedy and reading never feels like work. Tom is an engaging, put-upon everyboy whose schemes reliably backfire, and the humour is gentle, school-and-family stuff with nothing to trouble anyone. For an eight- to eleven-year-old, and especially a reluctant reader, the Tom Gates books are one of the great gateway series: the doodles carry the story, the laughs come easily, and children who insist they hate reading often make an exception for Tom. This one assumes you know the characters but works well as a way in, and sends readers straight to the rest.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
The Brilliant World of Tom GatesLiz Pichon
Diary of a Wimpy KidJeff Kinney
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick RulesJeff Kinney
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.