Mr Gum:Ask Andy - Egmont UK

What is your favourite song? Mine is 'Born to run' by Bruce Springsteen - Tom O'Brien

I don’t think I could pick just one so here’s a few: ‘Visions of Johanna’ by Bob Dylan; ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite!’ by the Beatles; ‘Kiss’ by Prince; ‘Push th’ Little Daisies’ by Ween; ‘Me and Uncle Radish’ by Friday O’Leary; ‘Fever’ by Peggy Lee; ‘Once in a Lifetime’ by Talking Heads; about twenty thousand other songs by twenty thousand other people.

Have you ever been in a hot air balloon? - Lily

No, but I’ve been in a bungalow before. It was almost the same except that it didn’t fly and wasn’t at all exciting.

Hi Andy, can you read a Mr Gum book and eat at the same time? I can. - Cameron Iona Marie Townsley, Age 10

I can’t. I ended up eating the book and reading the pasta.

Did Billy William Go to College? - Hassan

No way, Hassan! In fact he hardly even went to school, he kept bunking off to hunt for pet flies. HEY KIDS, DON’T BE LIKE BILLY. GO TO SCHOOL. GO TO COLLEGE. CLEAN YOUR TEETH OCCASIONALLY.

Dear Andy, if u were a band-member of the arrogant worms, what would your nickname be? - Gabriella Celliers

My nickname would be ‘Esnid Trixitmarrif-Umbanto’. Obviously.

Dear Andy, I am a big fan of your books and I am bored and so now I'm at your site... this is a random question but I'm just wondering... if Mr Gum had a pet, what would it be? - Gabriella Celliers

You again, Gabriella? HEY, FOLKS! HOW COME GABRIELLA GETS TWO QUESTIONS INSTEAD OF ONE?! Never mind. If Mr Gum had a pet it would be horrible.

Hi! Love your books! Did the shoplifting panda ever get released from prison? What did the lucky pineapple do with his 50,000? What happened to Captain Brazil? Is Captain Brazil married? If so, what is his wife's name? Whew, I'm getting a bit puffed out from all this asking. What is Captain B’s first name? That's about it. Bye. P.S I love pigs!!! - Jess

No, he got a life sentence! Spent it on blowing up a pineapple juice factory! He’s still out there at sea! He’s married to the sea! ‘The sea’! His first name is Captain. P.S. I love them too, especially with ketchup.

To Andy, if you could ask yourself a question, what would it be? - The Department of Sheloopish

It would be: I wonder what ‘The Department of Sheloopish’ means.

Can you write a book called 'Mr Gum and the Monkey That Killed a Load of People'? - Thomas

Thomas, have you been spying at my next book, ‘What’s For Dinner, Mr Gum?’ Spooky.

Andy, What is going on in the crazy brain of yours? We want to know so we can make ours crazy too! - Room 13 children in New Zealand

All sorts of marvellous wacky thoughts!!! Like... um... er... like ‘I have to get my laundry done’ and… um… ‘I need to vacuum the carpet’ and... uh... ‘I must remember to post those letters.’ Hmm. Not so wacky after all. Well, you can’t win every time!

Why did the cow cross the road? - Yousuf

Because she was highly suggestible to chickens.

Do u like paperclips? I LOVE them - Billy Bob Joe

I like them but I don’t love them.

Do you like licking meat off a butchers counter? - Kerris Budd

I love it but I don’t like it.

andy andy andy......YOU’RE SO AWESOME and everybody loves you how are you so awesome? - Charlos

Hey, thanks Charlos! You know, being awesome is a lot like being born with two heads: some people are and some people ain’t. I am especially lucky because not only am I awesome, I also have two heads. One of them looks like me but the other one doesn’t.

ANDY! YOU ARE GREAT! I LOVE YOUR BOOKS! YOU ARE LIKE THE KING OF FUNTYLAND! By the way, if you could ever meet one of your characters and have lunch with him/her and Heron Attack Cafe', which one would it be? - Benji (NOT Benji the stuffed potato)

THANK YOU! I LOVE YOUR BOOKS TOO?!! Now, that’s a good question, Benji. Probably Polly, she’s the only one of the lot who talks any sense.

April 2009