Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses

Gr 4–6—Tom Gates, a British lad in year five, can't wait for his two-week holiday from school. He and his best mate, Derek, have some grand plans: doing nothing; having sleepovers; practicing being rock stars in their band, Dogzombies; annoying Tom's snarky older sister, Delia; and watching lots of television. Unfortunately, a letter home from Tom's teacher Mr. Fullerman puts the brakes on the fun. Mr. Fullerman may or may not have fallen for Tom's "attacked by a vicious dog on the way to school" excuse regarding his missing homework. His mother insists that the homework be completed before anything else and throws in the demand for a clean room to boot. Faced with this task, Tom draws a total blank and ends up drawing cobwebs in his notebook instead. Hilariously unreflective and self-absorbed, Tom aspires to avoid schoolwork at all costs and become a rock star, even though he hasn't mastered the music part and his band lacks a drummer. Tom and Greg Heffley are kindred spirits, and Tom's notebook, filled with frenetic, free-wheeling attempts to avoid homework, responsibility, Marcus Melgrew, his uncle, and all things remotely unpleasant, should entertain, if not resonate. This is not the first in the series, but readers will have no problem jumping into the story. Many terms have been Americanized, such as Mom instead of Mum, but those Briticisms that were not, such as bodged or bogey, are explained in a short glossary at the end of the book.