Change of genre for this month’s reading challenge. For some reason, Mr8 is as not as interested with the Tom Gates series as he is with the Wimpy Kid diary series. They were given to him as Christmas and birthday presents. So I thought I’d try reading them myself. This one I’m reviewing is the first book in the series.

At first I thought Tom Gates was Australian but as I read on, there were expressions like “that’s rubbish” if Tom didn’t like something; or he would say “BRILLIANT” if he thought things were cool. And he would call his canteen lunches – school dinners! A-ha I thought – he is from the UK.

So as the title suggests it’s about the brilliant world of Tom Gates who is in Grade 5. He lives with his parents and sister Delia. His best friend’s name is Derek and he has a crush on a girl called Amy. His favourite band is called Dude3.

So this first book in the series is about Tom’s first term back at school after the summer holidays where he went on a disaster camping trip with his family. That part was funny. He introduced us to his grandparents who he calls “the fossils” and he had the best time of his life because he high-fived the 3 members of his fave band Dude3.

I could understand the appeal of this book to young kids at similar age. There are plenty of drawings and doodles about. I found him not as annoying as Greg in the Wimpy Kid diaries. Overall, quite a funny and light-hearted book. I’d recommend it especially to boys aged 7-12 years or to adults – why not?!