Tom Gates: Genius Ideas (Mostly)

Tom Gates uses words and drawings, scribbles and doodles to recount his everyday experiences of school and home. In this, the fourth book in the series, sports figure large in the telling. To Tom’s deep embarrassment, Dad starts working out, dressed in bright blue cycling shorts, and teacher Mr Fullerton shows his competitive streak by getting his class to practise endlessly for sports’ day. At the same time, auditions for the talent show competition are underway, classmate Marcus continues to annoy and sister Delia’s hair turns green.

The first-person account, mainly in the present tense, is very funny and spontaneous, with one event or portion of the day folding seamlessly into the next. It is also effective in creating strong and convincing characters. Tom comes across as fully rounded – and someone with whom we’d like to be friends. He’s cheerful, friendly and observant, intelligent and good-natured – and has a very special outlook on life. In this story – as in the whole series – pictures and visuals have as much importance as words and even form part of the sentence structure. Fonts in varying size and style and the use of capital letters add exuberance to every page, a trait reinforced if you flip through the pages quickly, which will make the bug in the right-hand corner start to dance. This is a thoroughly original, joyous and addictive read.