Andy Stanton

"Mr. Gum" redirects here. For the comic book character, see Atomics (comics).

For the Pixar executive see Andrew Stanton.

Andy Stanton is an English children's writer. He lives in North London.

Books

He has written nine books in the 'Mr. Gum' series:

• You're a Bad Man, Mr. Gum!
• Mr. Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire

Mr Gum in 'The Hound of Lamonic Bibber'

• Mr. Gum and the Goblins
• Mr Gum and the Power Crystals
• Mr. Gum and the Dancing Bear
• What's for Dinner, Mr. Gum? he is a weirdo
• Mr. Gum and the Cherry Tree
• Mr Gum and the Secret Hideout

A special Mr. Gum book was also produced for World Book Day. This was a flip book that featured Beast Quest on one side and "Mr. Gum in the Hound of Lamonic Bibber" on the other.

The 'Mr. Gum' books are published by Egmont Books in the UK. Additionally Stanton has written 'The Story of Matthew Buzzington', published by Barrington Stoke.

Audiobooks

The Mr Gum audiobooks were Produced and Directed by David Tyler (UK) for BBC Audio.

You're a Bad Man Mr Gum. 2006.

Mr Gum and The Biscuit Billionaire. 2010.

Mr Gum & The Goblins. 2010.

The 'Mr. Gum' books are set in the fictitious town of Lamonic Bibber. The town has its own newspaper, The Lamonical Chronicle, which features on the Mr. Gum website [1]. The newspaper's tag-line is 'Lamonic Bibber's second best and only paper'.

The books have won numerous prizes including the Red House Children's Book Award, 2 Blue Peter book awards for Best Book With Pictures, and the inaugural Roald Dahl Funny Prize Award.

The characters of the first book

There are several characters that feature in the Mr. Gum series.

• Polly is the main character, she is a young girl who is nine years old and is friends with Jake (a massive whopper of a dog). She is kind and stops Mr. Gum's evil plots. Her real name is ridiculously long (Jammy Grammy Lammy F'Huppa F'Huppa Berlin Stereo Eo Eo Lebb C'Yepp Nermonica Le Straypek De Grespin De Crespin De Spespin De Vespin De Whoop De Loop De Brunkle Merry Christmas Lenoir) but her friends call her Polly.

• Mr. Gum is a mean, grumpy old man with "two bloodshot eyes that stare out at you like an octopus in a bad cave”. He hates “children, animals, fun and corn on the cob”. His favourite TV show is Bag Of Sticks (a picture of a bag of sticks for half an hour) and Leg Mash, a program showing ways people have broken their legs. He is the main villain. He and Billy William the Third are good friends. "Shabba me whiskers" is his favourite phrase.

• Jake (the dog) likes to dig up gardens and eat bones. He is very friendly but Mr. Gum hates him because he keeps on digging up Mr. Gum's beautiful garden.

• Friday O'Leary is an eccentric oldish man who befriends Polly and helps her on their many adventures. He is very knowledgeable but for some strange reason he shouts out "the truth is a lemon meringue".

• Jonathan Ripples is the fattest man in the town and he doesn't like Martin Launderette; they play practical jokes on each other.

• Martin Launderette is the opposite of Jonathan Ripples in weight terms. He is very thin and runs the towns launderette. He plays practical jokes on Jonathan Ripples but usually gets sat on for doing so.

• Billy William the Third is the butcher of Lamonic Bibber and serves horrible meat. He is rude and like Mr. Gum, mean. He is a villain like Mr. Gum and helps Mr. Gum in his evil plots.

• Mrs Lovely runs the local sweet shop; she is very kind and is so good that she can turn potato money into real money. Friday O'Leary likes Mrs Lovely and ends up marrying her.

• Beany McLeaney lives in Lamonic Bibber and always rhymes.

• The Spirit of the Rainbow is a mysterious young boy who tells Mr. Gum to be nice and tries to get Mr Gum to do good things. He is the spirit of the rainbow and has a mum who calls him in for tea.

References

External links

• Official Website
• The Observer article

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Name	Stanton, Andy
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