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For Vicky and William
Mr Gum and the Dancing Bear First published 2008 by Egmont UK Limited This edition published 2019 by Egmont UK Limited, The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road London W11 4AN
Text copyright © 2008 Andy Stanton
Illustration copyright © 2008 David Tazzyman
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted
First e-book edition 2019
ISBN 978 1 4052 9373 0
eISBN 978 1 4052 5931 6
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library Printed and bound in Great Britain by the CPI Group
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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
2 The World Champion of the Butcher’s Shop Lying Contest
3 What’s to Be Done with Padlock the Bear?
4 The Baddies, the Bear and the Balloon
10 She and the Bear are Put on a Plank and Set Adrift on the Ocean Blue
Some of the crazy old townsfolk from Lamonic Bibber
Who likes bears? Everyone likes bears. I likes bears, you likes bears, this guy I know called Will Bulman likes bears. Everyone likes bears. They are truly the king of the jungle. They are nature’s way of saying, ‘here’s what bears look like’. They are the best. They are the bears.
And guess what, bear-likers? You’re in luck, because this story is all about a bear. Not just any bear, mind you, but a startlingly big and handsome specimen who came strolling into the little town of Lamonic Bibber one fine autumn morning. He was a proper fat shaggy rumble-me-tumble sort of a roly-poly flip-flap-flopper of a big brown bear, not like some of these cheap bears you see nowadays who have hardly got any legs and need batteries.
He was as tall as two men, or about forty hamsters if you could only manage to glue them on top of each other to prove it. And he weighed as much as two hundred watermelons, or roughly nineteen thousand grapes.
But what about his fur? Well,