Product Description

Mr Gum is a truly nasty old man. He's absolutely grimsters. But this book is not just about him. There is also a little girl called Polly, an evil butcher, heroes and sweets and stuff, and Jake the dog, who must be saved from terrible, terrible evil.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3476 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
An outstanding opening carries this debut import past some surreal patches. Mr. Gum "lived in a great big house in the middle of town. Actually, it wasn't that great, because he had turned in into a disgusting pigsty." How bad was it? "Insects lived in the kitchen cupboards, not just small insects but great big ones with faces and names and jobs." He keeps his "garden" perfect, though, so when a huge dog takes to stopping by to tear it up, he soaks three pounds of bad hearts from the butcher in rat poison and sets a trap. A bad man indeed - but no fears: After trotting in a host of characters, from a chorus line of gophers and a good Samaritan with a severely short attention span to a nine-year-old heroine with a 31-word first name, Stanton engineers a last-second rescue, a wedding and even (despite several strenuous denials) a slightly hidden "Secret Bonus Story." Illustrated on nearly every page with comical vignettes and spot art, the tale makes a serious assault on the silly bone. (Fantasy. 9-11) (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
Andy has worked as a standup comedian, artist, TV script writer and cartoonist. This is his first book, but we know he will be writing and selling for years to come!

Customer Reviews

You're a Bad Man Mr Gum
This book is so funny and mad we loved it! When we got my dad to read it out loud he started crying with laughter and couldn't speak. A great laugh!

Giggle
If all childrens' books were this giggly, then I wouldn't have got to the adult ones yet because I'd still be happily working my way through books like this.

It's got big jokes, little jokes, jokes that you don't realise are jokes unless you pay attention, jokes that hit you over the head and say 'look at me, I'm a joke!'

Get it, and a few spares just in case one of them dies on the way home.

Looking forward to book 2...

How to hook your child on books
Antony (8) is a good but reluctant reader. We always have to ask him to read and despite lots of research into good storylines, we hadn't found a book that Antony was enthusiastic to pick up. Until Mr Gum. This really hit the spot with his sense of humour and gave him something to laugh about on nearly every page. The thing I love about this book is that there is only avg 10 lines per page (160 pages total), so the child makes fast progress through what seems like a thick book. They are really pleased with the number of pages they have read and this gives them a real sense of achievement. The best bit is the bonus story at the end. My 9 year old daughter read it in 2 nights and has asked me to pre-order the next book due out in Feb 2007. Cannot recommend enough. Well done Andy.