Most Popular Books by Andy Stanton

Good evening. Do you like bears called Padlock? Course you do. Do you like hot-air balloons? Course you do. Do you like tall sailing ships with mad sea captains, and horrifying old villains, and words like "wab ," "tungler," and "kelp?" COURSE you do Well, guess what, THE TRUTH IS A LEMON MERINGUE.

AI is changing the world at frightening speed. A bestselling author decides to find out more… ‘Something profound and utterly brilliant is going on… hilarious.’ THE TIMES Is ChatGPT the end of creative industries as we know them? An ethical quagmire from which there is no return? A threat to all our jobs, as we keep hearing on the news? Bestselling children’s author Andy Stanton has made a career out of writing differently – from the unconventional ‘hero’ of his bestselling Mr Gum series to his penchant for absurdist plots, his children’s books are anything but formulaic. When a friend introduces him to ChatGPT, the new large language chatbot, Andy is as sceptical as he is curious. Can this jumble of algorithms really mimic the spontaneity of human thought? Could it one day replace human authors like him for good? And are we soon to be ruled over by despotic robot overlords? He decides there’s only one thing for it – he must test this bot’s capabilities. Eventually, he settles on a prompt that will push the algorithm to its creative limits: ‘tell me a story about a blue whale with a tiny penis.’ Chaos ensues. What follows is a surprising and illuminating battle between Andy and ChatGPT that maybe, just maybe, might help us all understand AI a little bit better. Join Andy and his beleaguered AI lackey on a rollicking metafictional journey through the art of storytelling. Presenting his prompts and the AI-generated narrative alongside extensive commentary, Stanton provides a startling paean to the art of a good story and boundless human creativity. Hopeful and hilarious, Benny the Blue Whale provides a joyfully anarchic meditation on AI, literature and why we write. *** A WATERSTONES AND NEW SCIENTIST BEST BOOK OF 2023 ‘There’s no book like it. Scholarly, childish, fascinating and hilarious – one of our funniest writers dissects what it takes to build a story and what that tells us about being human. It’ll really make you think, if you can stop laughing.’ Chris Addison, co-creator of BREEDERS ‘Entertaining and alarmingly relevant, provocative and philosophically satisfying, it’s ultimately a profoundly human text.’ OBSERVER ‘A magnificent experiment by a perfect fool – deep and shallow and stupid and clever – the perfect use of AI (Andy Intelligence).’ Robin Ince, author of THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING INTERESTED ‘Benny the Blue Whale is many things. It’s a fascinating discourse on the nature of language and storytelling. It’s a philosophical treatise on the possibilities of artificial intelligence. It’s a receptacle for obscenely hilarious jokes... A brilliant and beautiful cyborg: part human brain, part computational muscle. It’s a post-post-modern work of genius.’ Anthony McGowan, Carnegie Medal-winning author of LARK

Mr Gum is a truly nasty old man, who hates children, animals, fun and corn on the cob. But this audiobook is not just about him. There is also a girl called Polly, a stinky butcher, heroes and sweets and stuff, and Jake the dog.

Sterling Thaxton is in love with the new girl. Her hair is the color of magic. Her nose is as sweet as music. Problem is, she''s not interested. Luckily a small yellow canary turns up with some excellent advice.

Recovering Abundance invites readers to join a movement of renewal for small towns and rural communities. Andy Stanton-Henry explores twelve civic-spiritual practices, rooted in Jesus''s miracle among the multitude, demonstrating how it has been embodied in ordinary leaders and how it can be applied today.

An utterly hilarious Seussian picture book—with a surprise ending—about a mischievous little boy who gobbles up everything in the whole entire world, except for one very important thing. . . . When Danny McGee, much to his big sister Frannie''s surprise, drinks up the sea with a giant straw, it turns out he''s just getting started. Soon nothing is safe from getting swallowed whole by Danny McGee—not the mountains, not the trees, not even the weather girl on TV! He eats up America and all the people in the whole world (including the author, who is writing this book from inside Danny McGee!). Danny swallows the alphabet and all the numbers, until there is absolutely nothing left . . . except, of course, his big sister, Frannie McGee. Absurdist humor throughout, along with a delicious twist at the end, will have kids laughing uncontrollably at this one-of-a-kind picture book. Praise for the work of illustrator Neal Layton: "Layton''s playful mixed-media illustrations evoke Ludwig Bemelmans and John Burningham. They''re fresh and funny, providing plenty to pore over." —Kirkus Reviews "[This] whimsical tale is given ample comic dimension by Neal''s zany and inventive mixed-media illustrations." —Publishers Weekly

You''re a Bad Man, Mr. Gum was selected as a Tom Fletcher Book Club 2017 title. Shabba me whiskers! It’s that bestselling and award-winning first ever Mr Gum book by Andy Stanton. The Mr Gum books are only the craziest, funniest most best books for children in the whole wide world.

Well, that old roo-de-lally Mr Gum and the hideous Billy William the Third are once more mucking things up for everyone. They''re a-schemin'' and a-hatchin'' an'' making their bad plans up on Goblin Mountain. And why? Because they''re raising up an army of goblins to stink up the town of Lamonic Bibber once and for all Can the brave travelers (the wise old man Friday O''Leary and the small girl Polly) make it past the Three Impossible Challenges of Goblin Mountain and save the town from a fate worse than something very bad indeed? In an epic tale of courage, valor, and plain idiocy, only one thing is sure: the truth is a lemon meringue

Can it really be true that there''s an ancient curse on the town of Lamonic Bibber? And you guessed it, that old roo-de-lally Mr Gum and his trusty sidekick Billy William the Third have something to do with it. But . . . our favorite heroes Polly and Friday and the gingerbread biscuit Alan Taylor (only 15.24 cm tall) are determined to save the town (sigh of relief).

Okay, this book''s a bit hard to describe. There''s this gingerbread man with electric muscles, see? And he''s rich as a mushroom, right? And Mr Gum and Billy William are planning to get the cash, yeah? And it''s up to Polly to save the day. And there''s a funfair and hot dogs, and Friday O''Leary shouts out some crazy stuff, and... hey, that wasn''t so hard to describe after all!

In the eccentric town of Lamonic Bibber, evil Mr. Gum tries to steal the fortune of Alan Taylor, the gingerbread man, but is thwarted once again by the goodness of a local girl named Polly.

Can it really be true that there''s an ancient curse on the town of Lamonic Bibber? And you guessed it, that old roo-de-lally Mr Gum and his trusty sidekick Billy William the Third have something to do with it. But our favourite heroes Polly and Friday and the gingerbread biscuit Alan Taylor are determined to save the town.