You're a Bad Man Mr. Gum!; Andy Stanton, illustrated by David Tazzyman

Meet Mr. Gum, a deplorable man who hates everything and loves nothing more than being nasty and horrible. Strangely though, Mr. Gum does love his garden and he has the most loveliest garden in the whole of Lamonic Bibber. So when Jake the dog threatens the loveliness of Mr. Gum’s garden, Mr. Gum knows something must be done and he has the perfect plan…

You’re A Bad Man Mr.Gum is a brilliant and sidesplittingly funny read from Andy Stanton. I’m sure we all know somebody like Mr. Gum. A man who is permanently grumpy and takes great pleasure in being mean, horrible and a right old horror of a man. And Mr. Gum’s mean streak comes out in all it’s grizzly glory when ‘a massive whopper of a dog’ named Jake appears in town. Jake loves playing in people’s gardens which often results in a bit of a mess. Despite Mr. Gum living in a pigsty of a house, there is one place that he can not stand mess and that is in his garden. Whether this is because he is incredibly proud of his garden or because of the angry fairy that appears in his bathtub and whacks him with a frying pan when the garden is anything less than perfect is anyone’s guess! Mr. Gum has the perfect poison-plan to put an end to Jake’s fun-loving antics but there are plenty of people in the town who are ready to foil the plan and save the day.

Mr. Gum is truly disgusting, by the end of the second page he is picking nose and eating it but he isn’t he only odd character in this book. There is the lovely Mrs. Lovely the sweet-shop owner who has a not-so-lovely side, Billy William the third who speaks in a language full of mispronounced words, Martin Laundrette (obviously the laundrette owner), Jonathon Ripples - the fattest man in town, Peter the girl, the random Friday O’Leary and Polly. All are unique and have their own quirks and eccentricities.