YOU’RE A BAD MAN, MR. GUM!
by Andy Stanton & illustrated by Chad Dezern
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)