You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum ! 1

Product Description
Mr Gum was a fierce old man with a red beard and two bloodshot eyes that stared out at you like an octopus curled up in a bad cave. He was a complete horror who hated children, animals, fun and corn on the cob. What he liked was snoozing in bed all day, being lonely and scowling at things.
He slept and scowled and picked his nose and ate it. Most of the townsfolk of Lamonic Bibber avoided him and the children were terrified of him. Their mothers would say, ‘Go to bed when I tell you or Mr Gum will come and shout at your toys and leave slime on your books!’ That usually did the trick.

Mr. Gum may be the nastiest man on Earth, but he has the tidiest, greeniest, floweriest, gardeniest garden in the world…that is, until a giant whopper of a dog named Jake destroys it in a fit of doggy joy. In retaliation, Mr. Gum hatches one of his astonishingly evil plots, involving some poisonous meat, and soon-very soon-things will get uglier than Mr. Gum in his underwear.

Unless, of course, Polly-a golden-haired local girl with hair like cat?s daydream who is as good and true as Mr. Gum is wretched and smelly-can stymie Mr. Gum, save Jake, and prove to the world why the truth is lemon meringue . . .

Children’s Literature
Young readers will enjoy reading about Mr. Gum and his very gross hygiene habits. He is known to ‘pick his boogers, and he eats them!’ Mr. Gum is a scab-eating slob and the meanest and nastiest man that has ever lived. His ‘bloodshot eyes stare out at you like an octopus in a bat cave.’ Naturally, Mr. Gum hates children. He house is filthy and dilapidated. His unique skill is having the tidiest garden in the world. Everyone admires Mr. Gum’s garden, although they are astonished by it. One day, a huge dog named Jack decides to dig some huge holes in Mr. Gum’s garden. This is very bad news for Mr. Gum. He devises an evil plot to get rid of his dog problem. Mr. Gum buys some stinky rotting meat from the equally rotten butcher and decides to poison the big dog Jake. Sweet neighborhood girl Polly discovers his evil doings and sets out to save Jake. British humor keeps this brief chapter book funny throughout. The author’s one-liners and clever, kid-appropriate grossness ensure this will be a must-read book for upper elementary and middle school students. Black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout the text. Reviewer: Sue Reichard

Kirkus Reviews
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)