Tom Gates Totally Brilliant Annual by Liz Pichon
| Tom Gates Totally Brilliant Annual by Liz Pichon | |
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| Category: Confident Readers | |
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Reviewer: Louise Jones
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| Summary: It's Here! A totally BRILLIANT annual all about the adventures of our favourite schoolboy. Get ready to doodle... | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? No |
| Pages: 64 | Date: August 2014 |
| Publisher: Scholastic | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 9781407145099 | |
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Fans of Tom Gates are in for an extra treat with the publication of this Totally Brilliant Annual, which announces its presence with a rather 'loud' front cover, replete with starts, arrows, doodles swirls, aliens and stick men in bold, bright primary colours.
Schoolboy Tom is the main character and is a kind of 'everyman' who most kids will be able to relate to, much in the same vein as Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He lives with his parents and grumpy older sister Delia and is in class 5F at school, where he has to put up with his nemesis, Marcus.
The annual is a nice mix of stories, activities and puzzles and encourages young readers to use their pens and crayons to personalise the book as much as possible. The cynic in me perhaps resents the inclusion of several blank pages for 'doodling' (notebooks are so much cheaper...), but thankfully, this is redeemed by the fact that there is plenty of quality content packed in there as well.
The stories are humorous and feature situations that kids will find funny, such as dealing with an embarrassing school photo, or coping with an interfering, bossy older sister. The stick characters are appealing and encourage readers to emulate the artwork, colour in the pages and generally get creative. There are a couple of simple cookery projects, as well as a board game, so all in all, there is enough variety to keep kids entertained for a couple of hours. At 63 pages it seems more substantial than other annuals I have bought for my children in the past.
The annual looks great and compliments the book series perfectly. It would make a perfect gift for creative, artistic kids. Many thanks to the publishers for my review copy.
Need more Tom Gates? We recommend Tom Gates is Absolutely Fantastic (at some things)
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You can read more book reviews or buy Tom Gates Totally Brilliant Annual by Liz Pichon at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
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