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Children's books

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Original poster

Mr gum

26 replies

Wobblypig · 26/02/2013 20:50

Yr1 Ds has been struggling a bit with the comprehension of words, turns of phrase etc in some books such as paddington bear. The school have suggested we bring in reading books from home so Ds chose mr GUm from the bookshop today. Would this be acceptable to the school or would it be frowned upon?

OP posts:
frazzledbutcalm · 26/02/2013 22:59

Is your son reading Mr Gum? ... Ours read this in year 3. Tbh though, I think the Mr Gum series is awful!! Dd loves it, but I just find it stupid, nonsense, and gramatically wrong!

Iwillorderthefood · 26/02/2013 23:03

DD reading it in Y2 she loves it, she has it as her book from school. I can't wait for her to finish it.

PepeLePew · 26/02/2013 23:17

We love Mr Gum, and the dcs do read them independently but I think they are best read aloud. The language is tricky and a lot of it is "wrong" or uses made up words. I think they are brilliantly inventive and very funny but I would hate to listen to it read aloud by a 6 year old and they wouldn't be great for a child struggling with comprehension, I don't think.

seeker · 26/02/2013 23:17

Mr Gum is the funniest thing ever. However, because the use of words is quite ...unusual...it may not be vey helpful as a reading book, although as a non school type book or a read aloud it would be perfect. Have you tried Beast Quest?

Cremolafoam · 26/02/2013 23:24

We live Mr Gum - my sisters goldfish is Alan Taylor in homage to the gingerbread man.
Brilliant books!

CointreauVersial · 26/02/2013 23:32

DD2 was a huge Mr Gum fan, great books.

steppemum · 26/02/2013 23:41

my dcs love them, but they work much better read out loud with funny voices, as some of the sentence structures are a bit odd, and odd words.

Y1 may be a bit young for the humour , mine read them Y2 and beyond.

They have them at school so that aspect wasn't a problem.

steppemum · 26/02/2013 23:42

sorry Pepe x posts I was typing slowly!

Cremolafoam · 26/02/2013 23:51

YY to funny voices.
Mrs Lovely has a Scottish accent in oor hoouse

Original poster
Wobblypig · 27/02/2013 20:11

Thanks, Ds loves it and reads it well and easily I was more concerned about whether or not it was going to be considered to light hearted or a bit rude

OP posts:
stealthsquiggle · 27/02/2013 20:17

School will be fine - DS took one into school in Y3 and they ended up reading it as their class book - teacher said she had never seen them all laugh so much Grin

determinedma · 27/02/2013 21:10

Mr Gum book is brilliant. We went to hear Andy Stanton at Edinburgh Book Festival and Ds was too shy to talk to him. After I wrote about it on a book site, Andy Stanton tracked us down via email and sent Ds a signed copy of his new book and a lovely hand written letter. Really nice man and very very funny books

Arithmeticulous · 27/02/2013 21:15

THE TRUTH IS A LEMON MERINGUE

Virgil · 27/02/2013 21:19

Mr gum is a big hit in our house and Andy Stanton was the recommended author for this term at DS1s school (year 3 ) BUT.... If your DS is struggling with comprehension of words and turn of phrase then Mr Gum could cause more problems than it solves since half the words are made up and the phrasing is often unusual.

Ruprekt · 27/02/2013 21:26

Omg! We are on the 3rd mr gum and i hate it!!ConfusedConfusedConfused

My boys of 10 & 8 howl with laughter and think it is the funniest thing ever!

I have to come up with tunes to the crazy songs and the boys do sound effects. It is lovely that the boys want me to read but the books are so random!!

PepeLePew · 27/02/2013 22:08

Catchphrase in our house when someone is behaving badly: "he's been driven wild by the cold winter wind and too much sugar". That's one of my favourite lines ever from a book.

Original poster
Wobblypig · 27/02/2013 22:29

Funnily enough Ds found paddington bear much harder work than MR Gum, although the words are made up. Recent books at school have been quite boring so he rattles through this. The main problems he has had is with the American phrases in books like flat Stanley and diary of a wimpy kid which were recommended by friends. He was fine with ROald DAhl which is obviously better written than many

OP posts:
seeker · 27/02/2013 22:41

Paddington is actually quite difficult. Older books often are, simply because the vocabulary and context are unfamiliar.

frazzledbutcalm · 28/02/2013 14:22

I think I am definitely lacking in something .... I just cannot bear Mr Gum books! Reading this thread I seem to be the only one!! Blush

My dcs love Mr Gum though, so that's all that matters I guess.

determinedma · 28/02/2013 20:50

My teens love Mr Gum too. Ds thinks Old Granny is just like his Grandma and the way Spirit of the Rainbow keeps getting called in for dinner makes me laugh.

DuchessofMalfi · 01/03/2013 13:49

We've yet to try Mr Gum, but have been enjoying Roald Dahl. I still choose DD's books for her a lot of the time, otherwise it would be Jacqueline Wilson most of the time :o

One we're reading, and enjoying (although it is a bit stomach-churningly gross at times) is Alien in my Belly Button by Jimmy Mars. It says suitable for age 6 upwards on the back. DD's enjoying the gross-out bits which are making her giggle and that's a good thing to motivate her to read something different.

The back of the book says if you love Captain Underpants you'll love this.

jamaisjedors · 20/03/2013 22:49

Paddington is quite tough, I agree.

We have an audio CD of it, and my two DS struggle a lot with some of the old-fashioned language (they are bilingual so maybe not quite up to scratch in English).

JiltedJohnsJulie · 21/03/2013 10:32

If the school frowned upon Mr Gum I'd be tempted to swap schools! If he's reading Mr Gum in Yr 1 I'd hope the school would be really, really pleased with his progress. My dd is in yr1 and enjoys it read to her but wouldn't be capable of reading it herself, even DS who is very good at reading had it read to him at that age.

seeker · 21/03/2013 10:33

Why on earth would a school frown on Mr Gum?

Oh, and if your year 1 is reading Mr Gum he is most definitely not struggling......

seeker · 21/03/2013 10:35

Oh, and Paddington is really difficult because it's old fashioned, and has a a very wide vocabulary. Great for reading aloud though.