View source for What's For Dinner, Mr Gum? by Andy Stanton

{{infobox1 
|title= What's For Dinner, Mr Gum?
|author= Andy Stanton
|reviewer= John Lloyd
|genre=Confident Readers 
|summary= A meaty tale here, but one that needed a little more seasoning - and more Polly - to make this quite as joyously wacky and hilarious as the others.
|rating=4.5 
|buy= Yes
|borrow= Yes
|pages=208 
|publisher= Egmont Books Ltd
|date= October 2009
|isbn=978-1405248242  
|cover=1405248246
|aznuk=1405248246
|aznus=1405248246
}}

As soon as heroine Polly turns her back, and leaves the town of Lamonic Bibber for a day at the seaside, Mr Gum falls out with his best friend, causing carnivorous carnage all over the place.  Meat is getting thrown around like it's going out of fashion, and we have to doubt whether Polly and her companions can ever utilise the power of love and put things to rights.  Especially as this book does not contain a magic unicorn called Elizabeth.
 
It does feature some brilliant new characters, and of course all the returning ones - our favourites, and our lemon meringues, are back in fine form.  However I had a slight quibble as to how much of the book was Polly-less, and how much of it was rap lyrics, which combined to make this quite a slender offering, for this series that is usually so bursting with delights.
 
It is still a near-genius work however, even with a slight reduction in the quantity of absurdist descriptions, lunatic goings-on and monstrously funny happenstances.  I had to wish for a sub-nine year old of my own to read it to, as daft as this sounds - there is still so much of a visual treat here, with the now expected crazy changes in typeface, illustrations, and unpronouncable wordplay.
 
With lessons for all - "W-A-R" spells trouble, truancy is not a good idea, always use Jake the dog wisely - this is perhaps not the most densely sustained entry to the series, but...  Is it still recommended?  ''Cropper in the flopper!''  (Which, in the world of this book, means 'yes'.)
 
(Just so you know.)

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
 
[[Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear by Andy Stanton|Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear]] was the last entry to this series.  You should also invest in [[It's Them Monkey Pirates Again! by Mark Skelton and Ben Redlich]], especially as one of the new characters here could well have crossed franchises.

{{toptentext|list=Bookbag's Christmas Gift Recommendations 2009}}

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