Скачать книгу

68a-5f7f-8748-aabf03e979c7">

      

       In memory of Sam

      You’re a Bad Man, Mr Gum! First published 2006 by Egmont UK Limited This edition published 2019 by Egmont UK Limited, The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road London W11 4AN

      Text copyright © 2006 Andy Stanton

      Illustration copyright © 2006 David Tazzyman

      The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted

      First e-book edition 2019

      ISBN 978 1 4052 9369 3

      Ebook ISBN 978 1 4052 4939 3

       mrgum.co.uk www.egmont.co.uk

      A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

      Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

      Egmont takes its responsibility to the planet and its inhabitants very seriously. We aim to use papers from well-managed forests run by responsible suppliers.

       Read all of Andy Stanton’s books!

       You’re a Bad Man, MR GUM!

       MR GUM and the Biscuit Billionaire

       MR GUM and the Goblins

       MR GUM and the Power Crystals

       MR GUM and the Dancing Bear

       What’s for Dinner, MR GUM?

       MR GUM and the Cherry Tree

       MR GUM and the Secret Hideout

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Dedication and Copyright page

       Front series promotional page

       1 The Garden of Mr Gum

       3 Mr Gum Lays His Plans Like the Horror He Is

       4 Mr Gum Has a Cup of Tea

       5 Jammy Grammy Lammy…

       6 Mr Gum Lays Down His Hearts

       7 Friday O’Leary

       8 Some Things Happen

       9 Polly and Friday Ride into Town

       10 Jake’s Darkest Hour

       11 How It All Turned Out

       About the Authors

       Praise

       Chapter 1 The Garden of Mr Gum

      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 to or Mr Gum will come and shout at your toys and leave slime on your books!’ That usually did the trick.

      Mr Gum lived in a great big house in the middle of town. Actually it wasn’t that great, because he had turned it into a disgusting pigsty. The rooms were filled with junk and pizza boxes. Empty milk bottles lay around like wounded soldiers in a war against milk, and there were old newspapers from years and years ago with headlines like

      VIKINGS INVADE BRITAIN

      and

      WORLD’S FIRST NEWSPAPER INVENTED

      TODAY.

      Insects lived in the kitchen cupboards, not just small insects but great big ones with faces and names and jobs.

      Mr Gum’s bedroom was absolutely grimsters. The wardrobe contained so much mould and old cheese that there was hardly any room for his moth-eaten clothes, and the bed was never made. (I don’t mean that the duvet was never put back on the bed, I mean the bed had never even been MADE. Mr Gum hadn’t gone to the bother of assembling it. He had just chucked all the bits of wood on the floor and dumped a mattress on top.) There was broken glass in the windows and the ancient carpet was the colour of unhappiness and smelt like a toilet. Anyway, I could be here all day going on about Mr Gum’s house but I think you’ve got the idea. Mr Gum was an absolute lazer who couldn’t be bothered with niceness and tidying and brushing his teeth, or anyone else’s teeth for that matter.

      (and as you can see, it’s a big but) he was always extremely careful to keep his garden tidy. In fact, Mr Gum kept his garden so tidy that it was

Скачать книгу