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Genius Ideas is the fourth book in the Tom Gates series.

Plot[]

At the start of the book, Tom is recovering from quite the fright. After sitting to read a comic book pretending to have a shower, he hears a knock on the bathroom door. Assuming it is Delia, he ignores her, however after a while he opens the door to find Delia with a messy hairstyle and without sunglasses.

Shocked, Tom screams. Frank comes to see to them, saying it would be nice to have just one morning without Tom and Delia arguing. Delia correctly suggests Tom was the only one who was "disturbed", before telling Dad he looked "totally ridiculous". Frank is wearing rather embarrassing bright blue cycling shorts. Rita comes up, confused by everyone's arguing, before laughing when Frank tells her the cycling shorts were part of his "carefully-planned new fitness regime." Tom returns to his room and imagines a "fun and very relaxing" school day. He then remembers the previous week, when in response to a question from Mrs Nap he replies "Yes, mummy". Tom then realises he is quite late; Rita is still laughing at the phrase "fitness regime", yet Tom reckons Frank will continue to wear "dodgy" sports outfits.

Tom goes downstairs and considers asking Rita to write a late note, but then decides to forge one:

Dear Mr Fullerman,


Poor Tom has had a VERY nasty shock this morning due to his rotten stupid sister scaring him. I'm very sorry he's late for school. His sister has been warned not to scare him again (or else).

Because of his SHOCK, Tom might find it hard to concentrate on any tricky maths today. Just letting you know.

Thank you, Rita Gates

Tom bids farewell to Frank who, after being reminded that Tom would be going to Norman's for a band practice, promptly suggests he run over and collect him, which Tom straightfastly refuses, suspecting he may turn up in the cycling shorts. However, he tells Frank that Mr Fingle would be collecting him (this is a lie).

Derek has already left, and so Tom pops into the shop for a snack (thinking he would be insured by the late note). When he arrives, he hears Mrs Nap singing the register to her class, with Charlie Smith happening to be just one of the unfortunate students having to sing "<name> is here, Mrs. Nap" back to her. Mrs. Nap then sings "Isn't this fun, everyone?", to which Charlie replies back (singing) "No, not really.", which makes Mrs. Nap "a bit cross". As such, Mrs. Nap sings back "Oh dear... let's sing it again from the beginning and this time we'll all do it properly." Charlie tries to say he is joking, however it is too late for him.

Tom then hears Mrs Mumble behind him, who suggests he should be in class. Mrs Mumble then says to Tom that there is a "special buddy talk", which required Mr Fullerman to take his class down to the younger children, yet she isn't sure which class they went to.

Characters[]

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Tom Gates, Derek Fingle, Delia Gates, Frank Gates, Rita Gates, Mr Sprocket, Mrs Worthington, Mr Fullerman, Amy Porter, Marcus Meldrew, Brad Galloway, Julia Morton, Florence Mitchell, Soloman Stewart, Mr Fingle, Norman Watson, Joey.

Books in the Tom Gates Series
The Brilliant World Of Tom Gates | Excellent Excuses | Everything's Amazing | Genius Ideas | Absolutely Fantastic | Extra Special Treats | A Tiny Bit Lucky | Family, Friends and Furry Creatures
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