Mr Stink is a children's book written by David Walliams and illustrated by Quentin Blake, first published in the United Kingdom in 2009 by HarperCollins. It was adapted into a 2011 stage musical and a 2012 television film broadcast by the BBC.
Plot
Chloe is a lonely 12-year-old girl who is bullied at school. Her mother, Caroline, prefers Chloe's academically successful and extra-curricularly ambitious younger sister, Annabelle, and is highly ambitious and running for parliament. Her father has lost his job but is afraid to tell his wife. Chloe meets a smelly tramp known as Mr Stink, befriends him and hides him and his filthy dog Duchess in the garden shed. When he is discovered, Caroline, who advocates clearing homeless people off the streets, falsely claims to have invited him to stay with the family. She and Mr Stink appear together on the TV show Question Time, where Mr Stink is a great success with the audience and embarrasses Caroline by revealing the truth about who gave him shelter. The TV appearance leads to an audience with the Prime Minister, who makes Mr Stink an offer to which Chloe says, "[S]tick it up your fat bum!". It is later revealed Mr Stink is a Lord who became a tramp after the death of his wife. Mr Stink declines to change his ways and resumes his travels.[1][2][3]
Publication and reception
Mr Stink was first published by HarperCollins in October 2009 in hardcover format. A list of notable formats is as follows:
Mr Stink was Walliams' second children's book, after The Boy in the Dress, also illustrated by Quentin Blake.[1][4] It was a best-seller[4] and generally well received; the reviewer in The Daily Express called it "a gentle book with plenty of jokes about bottoms ... and a message about the put upon coming out on top",[1] and in The Guardian a review of the stage musical called the book "a deliciously improbable romp"[5] while a children's book reviewer called it "a really, really hilarious book, probably one of the best I have read in my life".[2] However, the reviewer for Kirkus Reviews deemed most of the book "trite" and apparently a vehicle for the illustrations and for "a set of typecast characters".[3]
Adaptations
A musical adaptation of Mr Stink toured the UK in 2011.[5][6]
