Tom Gates is Absolutely Fantastic (At Some Things) by L. Pichon

This is such a fun and engaging story with characters that every kid can relate to.

Tom Gates is your average kid doing kid things-just some things he does better than others. He doesn’t like getting up early for school, he can’t seem to remember his permission slips, but he’s great at art and writing stories. But that permission slip? It’s really important and he’s going to need to remember it if he’s going on the class trip. Luckily for Tom, his parents are in the loop and keep him from being the only one in class who doesn’t get to go. And he wouldn’t want to miss this one-his class trip is full of raft making, midnight snacks, rock climbing and fifth grade shenanigans.

This book is loaded with doodles, drawings, funny monsters, and other craziness. At the beginning, we’re told to watch for the extra monsters that are hidden throughout the story. It completely sucked in The Kid-even though it isn’t a colorful graphic novel-and he read the whole book in one sitting. I really liked how it wasn’t mean-spirited or mouthy. The kids are totally relatable and the storyline was very funny.

The drawings and doodles are such a fun addition to the story and really kept my son interested in the story. Tom is like so many other tween boys that I know and his struggles with school and organization were hilarious.  If you have a younger reader who is just starting out with chapter books or a reluctant reader, this would be a great option.

Thank you to Candlewick Press for the copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

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