Everything's Amazing (Sort of)

Tom Gates #3

by Liz Pichon

Things are looking up for Tom Gates. The school dance is coming up, and his birthday, too! What could possibly put him in a bad mood? Well, the words math lesson, for one thing. And that annoying twit Marcus Meldrew at school. And Granny Mavis threatening to bake Tom’s birthday cake (carrots!). And the fact that nobody seems to be noticing the long list of birthday presents Tom has prominently displayed. Worst of all, can it be true that Tom’s dad has volunteered to deejay the school dance wearing the wacky costume from his new job?

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Humor, School, Comics, Comedy

416 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

L. Pichon says that when she was little, she loved to draw, and her mom said she was very good at making a mess (this is still true today). She kept drawing, went to art school, became a designer and art director at Jive Records, and began to publish children’s books. After its publication in the U.K., The Brilliant World of Tom Gates won several prestigious awards, including the Roald Dahl Funny Prize, the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, and the Blue Peter Book Award. L. Pichon lives in Brighton, England, with her family.

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very very very funny!!!

[Abdollah zarei · Rating 4 out of 5]

به عنوان یه کار کودک بهش 4 می دم. واقعا دوستداشتنی و عالیه. تفکرات و خیالهای تام رو خیلی دوست دارم.

[Millie Hodgson · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was hilarious

[Ben Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great fun all aged book

[Razvan Zamfirescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spicuiri din recenzia finala care se gaseste pe blogul meu



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Stilul lui Pichon nu e unic. E testat și demonstrat că așa trebuie să construiești un personaj care să placă publicului și care să ofere șansa scriitorului de a deveni unul iubit și apreciat de milioane de puștani de pe tot globul. Dar nu mă deranjează absolut deloc aceste mod subliminal de construcție a seriei și a lui Tom Gates. Ba dimpotrivă, cam așa ceva îmi și doresc când vine vorba de a mă delecta cu o carte pentru copii. Vreau un puști vioi, amuzant, deștept, șmecher, care știe cum să manipuleze planetele astfel încât să se așeze cum vrea el. Dacă totul este asezonat cu desene care să te facă să râzi cu gura până la urechi și care să amplifice scriitura, este mai mult decât perfect!

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[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never read a graphic novel prior to this book so I couldn't understand the excitement surrounding the Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Smile, or similar series, but I can now! I thoroughly enjoyed middle-school student, Tom Gates, perspective of what an adult would have perceived as fairly typical events in the life of a typical student. Embarrassing parents, out-of-touch grandparents, a moody sister, friends (and friend problems), a birthday party, a school dance, homework... It was all there and it was all fun to read.

I can't wait to introduce this book to my classroom library and watch my students reaction! For their full understaniding it will be advisable to direct them to the glossary of British terms in the back of the book.

(ARC-no payment was provided in return for this review)

[Kati Végh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this might have been my favorite book as a kid

[Jaina Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is also available on my blog, Read Till Dawn.

First things first, this book is so British! It's like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books (or at least like what I'd heard they're like), but written by a British author so full of words and phrases that make me feel like I'm a little English kid. As someone who dearly loves all things U.K., that definitely brings this book up in my esteem - for an American kid reading this with no real understanding of the linguistic differences between our two cultures, it could be very off-putting. On the plus side: Pichon includes a glossary for things that, as Tom puts it, "might sound a bit ODD." On the negative: it's literally the last page of the entire book, so confused readers won't discover it until they've already muddled through the entire book.

But what of the book itself? Well, I have to say that this sucker is not winning any literary awards. It's like cotton candy, all fluff and no substance - but you know what? It's good cotton candy. It's realistic and silly and funny and witty, and Tom is such a genuine character that I could totally imagine running into him on some random street corner in the UK. He's also a genuinely nice kid, which I really liked - the problem with the popular series like Diary of a Wimpy Kid is that all of the characters are such jerks I can't stand reading about them. Tom, on the other hand, isn't obnoxious or horrible or unreasonably disrespectful. He argues with his sister, sure, and complains about his grandmother's cooking and makes fun of his father's terrible old-fashioned dance moves, but he does it in a way that's just honest, not over-the-top. I fight with my siblings, too. I pick at food I don't like (but, just like Tom, when someone I love cooks it I only complain about it when they're not there to be hurt). I laugh at my parents when they seem particularly out of touch with modern culture. That doesn't make me a mean person, it just makes me human, and the same goes for Tom.

So if you get a chance to read a Tom Gates books, by all means do so! I'm not going to go around advertising it from the street corners as God's gift to literature, but it might just be exactly the fun, light, silly read you're looking for.

Disclaimer: I received a complementary ARC of this novel at KidLitCon.

[Susannah Kotyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom loves to doodle. Whenever given the opportunity or even whenever not he is busy doodling something, somewhere. Tom and his mates are in a band. Their band has only ever played once for a seniors home but now they find out they are headlining the school disco. What will they do? and how to prepare for the worst? To make things even worse it's close to Tom's birthday, his Dad has bought a strange Dino van and there is a mysterious Dino costume hanging in his Dad's closet. Tom is worried his Dad will be in charge of the DJ position for the disco and he will be wearing his Dino costume. He is also worried about his birthday party, the fossils and who to invite? Will his Dad wear the costume? Will his birthday party be a success? will the band suck? All will be revealed.


This book is filled with Tom's doodles as you read along with him and his adventures. The doodles make the book! It is written with British humour and it will have you giggling throughout the book even if you don't understand everything they are saying. There is also a handy index complete with doodles at the back explaining the British words.

[Guida Al·lès · Rating 5 out of 5]

Els llibres de Tom Gates són divertits com El Diari del Greg o El Petit Nicolàs, però a diferència dels altres, en Tom té aficions, curiositat i gustos marcats (li agrada dibuixar, tocar la guitarra, escoltar música) i és un líder dins l´aula. Els seus enemics no són tant els mestres sinó una germana i un alumne pressumptuós. L´autora il·lustra i escriu. Les il·lustracions precioses.
El meu nebot Lluc, de 8 anys, llegeix i riu, llegeix i riu.

[Rasta Nasseri · Rating 5 out of 5]

خیلی خنده‌دار بود. واقعا میخندیدم. ویراستگری‌ش خیلی خیلی عالی بود. و حتما دنبالش می‌کنم.

این کتاب را مهر ۹۶ در ۷سالگی خواندم.

[하영 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an amazing book worth reading.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5**

[Titanic Lego Boy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like the Tom Gates book series 👍.I have 6 or 7 books

[Archinator5798 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me 3 days to read. Really good book,interesting facts. Highly recommend.

[Robbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 sterren van Daaf

[Mr.Rato · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one took me 1 year to read

[Dylan Davison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not much of a plot but loads of humour

[Eilidh Rowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

[Aarushi]

Hi so everything's amazing is super good it include tom's dino bday party which was hosted by his dad! enjoy reading and remember enjoy
bye
Ps i read it 8 times myself

[Jackie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tom Gates: Everything's Amazing (Sort of) is a humorous account of a boy who has all the typical problems of a tween: a devilish older sister, school bullies, parents who embarrass him at every turn, and grandparents (lovingly named The Fossils) who are out of touch, but huggable.

His birthday is coming up and although he leaves gift hints all over, he's not sure they are taken seriously and his parents want his party to be held at Dino Village! For goodness sakes, that's a little kid venue! Yet, he gets to invite all his friends and it turns out better than he thought it would. Luckily for Tom, too, his band will not be playing at the school disco and thankfully his friend's dad won't be the DJ. Things are turning out ok.

For fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, the Tom Gates series will be a quick read, but it does not come close to matching the cleverness of Kinney's work. The story is scattered and pointless at times (maybe on purpose?). Another distracting element are the British terms used throughout the book. Some of them left me scratching my head for their meaning. There is a small glossary in the back of the book, but it does not define all the confusing terms for us.

Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers, L. Pichon, and Candlewick Press for this copy.

I give the book 2 1/2 stars.

[Advait Shiralkar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tom gates has many occasions to look forward too! he has his birthday, The school disco, Derek Tom's best friend and tom are entering rooster (Derek's Dog) in the dog show but for that he needs loads more cleaning and washing.Tom is mostly happy because his grumpy and gloomy sister is not invited to any of these occasions. His dad started to work in the really small theme park THE DINO VILLAGE. So as a part of his job, he was allowed to keep a van for free Tom and his dad had started to take the van everywhere even the supermarket and it was doing it's job really well. But there was only
one problem with his birthday that granny Mavis wanted to cook for his birthday which cold be a huge disaster! Dad wanted to take the van for a ride so planned to arrange Tom's birthday in the Dino village.

[Rohan Arvind · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is the third of the series. In this book Derek his best friend enter Derek's dog into the dog show, buy ultra violet pens, have a birthday party and go to school. School seems fun for Tom but the character describes the days as everything is horrid. In the book, Derek and Tom describe the relationship very strongly. Tom says he would put his life ahead of Derek's life and so would Derek as described in the book. I recommend this book to people who like to read funny books because Tom has a good sense of humor and he describes everything in a funny way.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, quick read with nearly every sentence illustrated with doodles. Great book for reluctant readers but couldn't read it to class because of all the pictures. Story is very funny and fast paced, though his life is a little bit too perfect for me! I especially liked how it reminded me of a child's view of teachers and adults as people who often get in the way of what kids are really concerned with.

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing. An easy read and very interesting! I bet you will read it over and over again!

[Ysabel · Rating 3 out of 5]

its cool it has great creativity with the drawing

[Brittany King · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this on a give away. Its adorable and totally fun.

[Shaihak · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very good book

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever.

[Skyler Pritchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the bit with the school disco