Andy Stanton has once again been shortlisted for the Blue Peter Book Award under the category Most Fun Stories with Pictures for his book Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree! The shortlist was announced on the Tuesday 7th December show. The Award shows will be broadcast on BBC1 between February and March 2011.

A dark, bold literary novel about two estranged brothers brought back into each other’s lives by their father’s disappearance – and the emotional, moral and physical reckoning that follows.

Two estranged brothers emerge from long periods of isolation when their father goes missing. Alike in appearance but sharply divided by experience, the brothers are forced into proximity as they search for the elderly man across Gran Canaria.

Nick is a priest, a man shaped by a violent criminal past and sincere religious conversion, while Gary is a former basketball player whose heightened energy and volatility signal a manic episode brought on by bipolar disorder.

As they navigate seedy bars, churches, beaches and volcanic landscapes, the search becomes something deeper: a confrontation with memory, masculinity, faith and care. Their father’s dementia haunts every step of the journey, destabilising the idea of authority and leaving the brothers to negotiate responsibility between them.
What emerges is a deeply humane novel about male bonds – messy, funny and tender – and about what it means to love someone when certainty has disappeared.