The Mr Gum books are a series of children's books written by English author Andy Stanton, concerning suspicious goings-on in the (fictional) small town of Lamonic Bibber, with the chief antagonist being the eponymous Mr Gum, a sordid, red-bearded, middle-aged man with a fondness for doing evil, and the chief protagonist being an (almost) eternally cheerful nine-year-old girl named Polly. They contain large amounts of Surreal Humour, an almost manic degree of Lampshade Hanging and Leaning on the Fourth Wall, and a rich amount of verbal inventiveness, as well as an obvious debt to the work of Roald Dahl.
As of 2015 there are nine Mr Gum books:
- You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! (2006)
- Mr Gum and the Biscuit Billionaire (2007)
- Mr Gum and the Goblins (2007)
- Mr Gum and the Power Crystals (2008)
- Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear (2008)
- What's for Dinner, Mr Gum? (2009)
- Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree (2010)
- Mr Gum and the Secret Hideout (2011)
- Mr Gum and the Hound of Lamonic Bibber (2011)
The books provide examples of:
- Aerith and Bob: Among the oddly named characters in the books, including Friday O'Leary, Jonathan Ripples, Martin Launderette and Billy William the Third, there's a sentient billionaire gingerbread man called ... Alan Taylor.
- Affectionate Parody: Of Enid Blyton's writing, for at least some part (Andy cites her as an influence, Polly's description as "a little girl with a long name" is akin to George's (from the Famous Five books) as "a little girl with a boy's name"), and to a greater extent, Roald Dahl's (the Goblins might be a reference to the Gremlins).
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The website describes Mr. Gum and the Cherry Tree as "a tale of forests! Of legendary beasts! Of dreadful villains! Of caterpillars called Graham!"
- Artistic License – Physics: In Chapter 2 of book 8, Polly and Friday O' Leary watch clouds fall out of the sky. One of them crushes a hen, causing it to lay an egg out of its mouth!
- The Alcoholic: Old Granny, who is so fond of sherry that she has a bottle of sherry which has another, smaller bottle of sherry concealed within it.
- Bait-and-Switch: Combined with Exact Words in "What's For Dinner, Mr Gum?". In chapter one, we are introduced to "a quick word from Friday O'Leary himself". Any Mr. Gum superfan would expect him to say his catchphrase: "The truth is a lemon Meringue!", but instead he just says "BREADBIN."
- Beach Episode: "What's For Dinner, Mr Gum?" starts out as this.
- Catchphrase: Friday O'Leary's cry of "The truth is a lemon meringue!"
- Cool Old Guy: Friday O'Leary.
- "Day of the Week" Name: Friday O'Leary, again.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Lampshaded in 'Old Granny's Cardigan Adventure':One cold winter's day, Old Granny awoke in her big brass bed from before the War, had a little nip of sherry from the bottle she always kept by her bedside, and got up. She brushed her false teeth with her false toothbrush, and had a little sip of sherry from the bottle she kept in her bathroom cabinet from before the War. Then she went downstairs, had some cornflakes, and turned on her old TV from before the War. Actually, a lot things in Old Granny's house were from before the war, I think I'll stop mentioning that now.
- Foreign Queasine: Johnathan Ripples offers some of this to Polly in "Mr Gum and The Dancing Bear."
- Gender-Blender Name: There's a little boy named Rita, a little girl called Peter and her father, called Rachel.
- Genki Girl: Polly. Combined with Only Sane Man.
- I Am Very British: Averted. Everybody can be presumed to be English, but none of them sound posh, and Polly's mode of speech lurches inexplicably from one accent to another for comic effect: one minute she'll say "Blimey, you men is well ignorant", which is pure Cockney, but then she'll say something (incidentally lampshading the Unexplained Accent of other characters) which sounds like she's from a Western film: "Why's everyone a-talkin' all funny like in weird old books?"
- Lampshade Hanging: A large part of the books' humour comes from this. For example, when Polly tells a bunch of men to stop drinking in the pub and go home, they obey, saying 'OK, nine-year-old girl, you're the boss, for some reason.'
- Meaningful Name: Oh, so many. Martin Launderette runs the launderette, Johnathan Ripples is very fat, and therefore probably has ripples on his body, Old Granny is old, the name of the bear enslaved by Mr. Gum and Billy William III is "Padlock", Beany McLeany's name rhymes, so of course, he speaks in rhymes, Miss Lovely has a sweet personality... etc.
- Mundane Made Awesome: ‘Old Granny’s Cardigan Adventure’, the special bonus story in ‘’Mr Gum and the Goblins’’, evokes this trope in-universe: Old Granny wakes up, has breakfast, phones her brother Old Danny in Australia, loses her cardigan and finds it three minutes later lying on the kitchen floor. She is so struck by this that she resolves to phone her brother again. The End. In the course of their conversation, it is revealed that Old Granny used to be in a punk band called Rancid Vomit, but this is considered less exciting than the fact that she loses her cardigan.
- Namesake Gag: Once again, Martin Launderette owns the launderette. And the inventor of the saxophone is named Sir Henry Violin.
- No Ontological Inertia: Zigzagged in Secret Hideout: after the incinerator producing very rapid, localised climate change is switched off, all the nasty tropical insects and the like that had appeared die off, but the parrots remain, because everyone likes parrots.
- Only Sane Man: Polly, although she also has Genki Girl tendencies.
- Overly Long Name: Polly's real name is not Polly, but 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. Her friends call her Polly, however.
- Pretentious Pronunciation: Billy Williams III believes that he is related to royalty, so it makes sense that he uses this trope. However, his use of it is not very posh, and is as simple as saying "funty" instead of "funny", "mittersy" instead of "mystery" and an unknown word instead of "fountain". (No-one knows that word because they've never heard him say the word "fountain".)
- Rhymes on a Dime: Beany McLeany not speaks like this, but everything he does rhymes too. For example, in book 2, at the funfair, he does a showbiz quiz on a girl named Liz, and in book 1, the flowers in his garden grow like towers.
- Secret Level: Rather, a Secret STORY (or song in the fourth book's case), but there's still one at the end of every book. The first book takes this to the extreme, by encouraging the reader to put down the book once the story ends and lying that the rest of the book is just "blank empty space". Even on the "96% Official Website" it says "SHHHHH! Don’t tell anyone." in regard to it.
- Shaped Like Itself: In Mr Gum's garden in the first book, it is winter in winter.
- Shout-Out: Alan Taylor's name sounds a little like that of Hollywood star Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Also, one of the books features a Dancing Bear. (The Dancing Bear is a book by Michael Morpurgo.) And one to a song by Crowded House in "What's For Dinner, Mr. Gum?", where it says: "hey now, hey now, don't dream it's over."
- Show, Don't Tell: At the start of "The Power Crystals", a bumblebee does "that thing where it goes near your ear and makes you jump in astonishment". Also, Mr. Gum's garden in summer is full of those little blue plants that kind of look like dinosaurs.
- Show Within a Show: "Bag of Sticks", "Funtime with Crispy", "Legmash", and "Oi, Put That Down!"
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Spiritual Successor: It got one in the form of Matthew Buzzington, a book by the same author about a boy that can turn into a fly. - Super Serum: Sherry is this for Old Granny. As long as she has some, she has (limited) magical powers. As soon as she runs out of sherry, she reverts to being an 'old wrinkler'. Also, the Power Crystals for everyone in the fourth book.
- Take That, Audience!: According to Science, your little sister is crying because you called her "Stinky" and broke all her toys with a hammer.
- Unusual Euphemism: All for the sake of humour, the franchise adores this trope. Characters have been "as happy as toast" or "happy as the Bank Of England", or "as rich as a mushroom", or "giggling like a packed lunch".
- Wealthy Philanthropist: Alan Taylor becomes this in the heartwarming ending to the second book, after he uses all his money, which, judging by his title as "The Biscuit Billionare", must be a LOT, to turn his mansion into a school for orphaned children, after Polly teaches him that friendship is more important than wealth.
