Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (and Other Good Stuff) Chapter Sampler

8/10/2019 Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (and Other Good Stuff) Chapter Sampler

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You get THREE

GOLD STARSfor readingthis book

(good choice).


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s p a r e

b o ot s

Vampire

SWAMP

mons

ter

Home

-

work


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Smile!

ByLizPichon

ExcellentExcuses(andother

goodstuff)

Includesaspecialgl

ossarybyTOM!


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This is a work of ction. Names, characters, places,

and incidents are either products of the authors

imagination or, if real, are used ctitiously.

Copyright 2011 by Liz Pichon

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be

reproduced, transmitted, or stored in an information

retrieval system in any form or by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including

photocopying, taping, and recording, without

prior written permission from the publisher.

First U.S. edition 2015

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2014944793

ISBN 978-0-7636-7474-8

14 15 16 17 18 19 BVG 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in Berryville, VA, U.S.A.

This book was typeset in Pichon.

The illustrations were done in mixed media.

Candlewick Press

99 Dover Street

Somerville, Massachusetts 02144

visit us at www.candlewick.com

Tree

photograph

P.21court

esy

of

LilyPichon

Flannery.


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(Ho

meworksnacks)


8/39

1

Wake up this morning and

suddenly remember something absolutely

BRILLIANT!


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Yeah


10/39

3

I can forget ALL about less ons(and irritating things l ike

Marcus Meldrew). And concentrate

on GOOD stuff l ike:

Inventing new ways to annoymy sister, Del ia. (So many!)

Drawing pictures(that annoy Del ia) .

Watching TV andeating caramel wafers .

Eating carame l wafersand watching TV .

And most important . . .

Ha! Ha!


11/39

4

-Band pract i ce for with Dere k

(whos my bes t mate and

next-door neighbor.)

Tonight were plann ing a s leepoverat his house. Which is easy to doas hes so close.

zzzzz

zzzz

Excellentchoice.

OK!


12/39

5

One of the other great things about going toDereks is he doesnt have an annoying

s ister ( l ike I do) . . .

AND he has a dog cal led Rooster.

Which I know is a stupid name

for a dog, but Im getting used

to it (sort of) .

Sometimes Rooster can b ealmost as annoying as Del ia. Especial ly when

he wont s top

Occasional ly Dere k

throws him a to shut him up.

Woof

BARKING !

DoggyTreat

Yum!


13/39

6

But if that doesnt work, I g ive him apair of D el ias s unglasse sto chew on. It keeps him happy

forHOURS .Right now I can hear Deliashuffl ing around outside my

bedroom (which usual ly means trouble) .

So I LEAN on my door to stop he rfrom barging in.

Somehow she st i l l manages tostick her head

around the door.

She says . . .


14/39

7

Youre in trouble.

Mom wants to se eyou RIGHT NOW,

(That doesn t sound good . . . groan .)

I wish I cou ld shut Del ia up with a doggy

treat. How good would that be?

Ha!Ha!

DELIA

TREATS

SHUTSHERUP!

.


15/39

8

When I see Mom, she s holding aletter from school . Im trying

real ly hard to

remember

ANYTHING Ive donethat might have gotten me into trouble.

No. . . cant th ink of anyth ing.Nothing at al l .

(I am innocent. )

But by the way

Mom is looking at me,

in that

What have you gotto say for yourself?

kind of way, I mu st have forgottensomething. She gives me the letter to read.


16/39

9

OK, just remembered.

ToMr. andMrs. Gates

RE:TomGates D

ogAttack

Dear Mr.andMrs

. Gates,

I dohopethat Tom

hasrecoveredfro

mthevicious

dogthat attacked

himonthelast d

ayoftheterm

ashewalkedtos

chool .

What luckthat he

hadhis schoolbooktodefen

d

himself with.

Im SO gladit wa

sonlyhis homew

orkthat was

chewedandnot To

m.Enclosedis AN

OTHERcopy

of the HOMEWO

RKtoreview a

film/book/

TVshowforTo

mtocomplete aga

induringhis

holiday.

Lets hope there

are noother AN

GRY beasts

readytopouncei

nthefuture!

Manythanksfory

ourhelp.

Kindregards,

Mr.Fullerman

Class5FTeacher


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10

I am trying to explain to Mom whathappened to me by reenacting the

who le scene in s l ow motion.

(There was no choic e. . . . It was me or the

homework. )

But shes not impressed . I think shesuspects I might have made up the dog

attack (I d id. )

Instead I have to agree to:

1.Do my review homework (AGAIN).

2.Not use vic ious dogs as an excusefor lack of homework (or any otherG

rrrr

Grrrr


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11

kind of creature, for that matter.)

3. Clean my room. (Mom added that one. ) S

ti l l , at

least I have

to do the

review homework in .

Though I w i l l probably leave it unti l the las t

possib le moment, l ike the night before school .

That works for me.

Gotit.

Homework

Alien

Handoveryour

homework.Ifyouinsist.


19/39

12

NOW?What do you mean I have to do my homeworkright now? I ve sti l l got

TWO WHOLE WEEKS!Mom says, Theres no time l i ke the present.Then she adds, No sleepover at De reks unti l

youve done your homework .

Which is a

DISASTER!


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13

I have to think of something to review quickly. Mmmmmmmmm.

Th ink . . . th in k . . . th ink . . . th ink . . .

th ink . . . .

If I dont think of something FAST

Mom wi l l k eep me in th e house

Then, just to add to the

, Derek phones up to

find out what time Im comi ng over for the

s leepover and band practice.

Ihear Mom saying ,That a ll dependson howlong it takes Tom to do

h is rev iew homework ,Derek .

(Thats ALL I need. )

when


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14

Mom think s I should go to my room tosit quietly and concentrate on getting it

done.

(Its not work ing. )

B L A N K


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15

So I do some drawing i nstead.

Its a lot more fun i nventing my own

characters . . . .

The ONLYthing I can th ink of that Icould review is the concert thatDad took me to. Its actual ly a BRILLIANT idea

becau se is amazi ng.

(Even Mr. Ful lerman is a fan. )

Suddenly my review wi l l be no problem at al l .

Dereks house , here I come.

Ha,Ha!THEBODGE

BROTHERS

Straw?

Rubbish at EVERYTHING


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17

I run downstairs and show it quickly to Mom.

There . . . al l done.


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18

I am busy pack ing a few essentialsfor Dereks hou se when

Dad comes up

to see me.

Apparently Momdoesnt think I am tak ing my review homework

serious ly. Dad says I have do it agai nPROPERLY .

Which is a b it HARSH . (OK, I admit myreview was short, but true . )

Dad suddenly holds up a packet ofwafers.

For the sleepover,

when youve done you r

homework again , OK?

WAFERS

ROCKWEEKLY

ROCKWEEKLY

SNAC

KS


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19

SUDDENLY I am VERY

In fact I have a TOTALto get my homework done in doub le-quick time.

(I am a genius . )

I rund o w n sta irs and grab

the first book from the shelf that

looks thick (but not TOO thick. ) Momsees that I am hold ing a BOOK and

assumes that:

TOM

(She looks p leased with me. )

WAVEBRAIN

THICKBOOK

SERIOUS ATTEMPTAT HOMEWORK.

SIGH

..

.

.


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20

The book Ive got is about . . .let me see . . .

TREESNever mind, that wi l l have to do. I can see

theres a lot of good stuff written on

the back of thi s book (and ins ide! ) that

wi l l he lp make my REVIEW seem veryimpress ive indeed.

Here goes .


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22

Homework FINISHED.

YEAH!

I tel l Mom and Dad, and they want me to

READ it to them.

What, NOW?Yes, Tom, now. Wed love to hear it.

(Which actual ly means just checking youve

real ly done it this time.)


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23

Del ia is lu rking in t he kitc hen, trying tol isten. So I sh ut the kit chen

door (in he r face) , then read

it as quic kly as I

can.

LUCKILY, my homework i sEXCELLENT (if I do say so myse lf) .

Mom and Dad are pleased and sl ightly

surpr ised Ive managed to write suchagood review SO quick ly. I let them see it

by WAFTINGit under the ir noses . . .

super fast.

(Must remember to hide the book on trees . )

SLAM

WAFT


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24

M om and Dad say well done for beingso FOCUSED.

Isay, It's al l due to

(Which is something Ive heard my teachers say.)

Then I add, Im actual ly VERY interested

in TREES. (I m not.)

This goes down real ly wel l and

stops Mom and Dad from asking me any more

difficul t quest ions .

GREAT!(I s hould s ay nic e stuff l ik e that more often. )

SOSWEET

."


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25

They are both in a good mood now, so Isuggest that another s ign of

would be to reward my hard work and

EFFORT with some

EXTRA

p o c k e t m o n e y ?

Which doesnt go down quite so wel l .

No chance .

(Worth a try, though. )


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26

S LEEPOVER

Derek is happy

Ive brought SNACKS.

But stupid ly, Ive forgotten to bri ng my

guitar for band practice. And farmore important, I ve left

my special teddy at home. (I dont tel lDerek becau se we agreed that Special Teddies

were probably a bit TOObabyish now thatwere in a band. )

ATDEREKS.

Yeah !

WRO

NG


34/39

27

Lucki ly Dereks hou se is right next doorto mine. So I run back home to get them both.

Del ia is s itting in the frontgarden with her dodgyboyfriend, Ed(or Ted

or whatever his

name is ) . He says, All right, Tom?

(Which is nice and takes

me by surprise. ) Then Del ia shouts ,

Get lost idiot.(Which is not a surprise at al l . )Thats when I notice Ed and Del ia a reactual ly HOLDING HANDS. U

GH !


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28

Its

I feel a bit s ick and have to run into

the house quickly.

Igrab my guita r, teddy,

ANDa selection of

embarrassin g photos of Del ia that Ive been

saving for aVERY specia l occas ion .

I think this might be the SPECIALoccasion I ve been waiting for.

.


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Del ia w ith a potty onher head

Delia after cuttingher own ha ir withplay scissors

Del ia with scary

smi le

Del ia after I pushedher into the mud (mypersonal favorite)

Del ia with more badhair and zits


37/39

30

Derek cant stop laughi ng at Del iasphotos.

We both agree that photos this

funny need to be shared with

OTHERpeople .

Other people l ik e

Del ias boyfriend, ED.

Ha!Ha! Ha!Ha!Ha!Ha!


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31

(I have a good plan. )


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Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses

(and Other Good Stuff)L. Pichon

www.candlewick.com
http://www.candlewick.com/http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tom-gates-liz-pichon/1119987308?ean=9780763674748http://www.amazon.com/Tom-Gates-Excellent-Excuses-Other/dp/0763674745/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1409940854&sr=8-3&keywords=tom+gates+excellent+excuseshttp://www.indiebound.org/book/9780763674748http://www.candlewick.com/

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Tom Gates: Excellent Excuses (and Other Good Stuff) Chapter Sampler