Tom Gates: Yes! No. (Maybe...)
Tom Gates: Yes! No. (Maybe...) by Liz Pichon
Tom has a difficult decision to make or rather, a whole roomful of them. Mum is determined to tidy the house, and anything Tom cannot decide to keep may be cleared out for him. With grumpy Delia looming nearby, that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
Fortunately, Tom has his doodles, his talent for turning ordinary family life into comedy and some timely assistance from the Fossils. What begins as a tidy-up becomes another gloriously muddled Tom Gates episode, filled with indecision, treasured belongings, family interference and plans that rarely stay simple for long.
Liz Pichon tells the story through Tom’s lively first-person diary, combining handwritten-style text, lists, doodles, comic strips, changing type and jokes hidden throughout the page. The pictures are part of the storytelling rather than decoration, making this a highly visual reading experience with frequent pauses, surprises and reasons to keep turning the pages.
Funny, familiar and full of personality, Yes! No. (Maybe...) is a strong choice for readers who enjoy school-and-family comedy, recurring characters and books that sit between a prose novel, a diary and a comic.
