The Fart that Changed the World

The Fart that... #1

by Stephen Mangan, Anita Mangan (Illustrator)

 

A high-energy, laugh-out-loud, fully illustrated adventure story by much-loved actor Stephen Mangan and talented artist Anita Mangan.  "Laugh-out-loud stuff" Ray D’Arcy

It's the most important day of the year for King Fabian as he is hosting all the neighbouring rulers. Everything simply must go perfectly.

King Fabian wakes up, stretches, and...

farts. His wife's fury is so huge that he panics and blames the butler, who is carted off to the dungeons. Leaving behind a big Fabian isn't really the brains behind the it is the butler... how will dithery Fabian manage to pull off this high-pressure event alone? His small and smelly fart looks like it will kick off a crisis...

Frank - a kitchen boy with a big imagination - is drafted in as an emergency butler. As the banquet descends into a food fight and processions catapult out of control, Frank finds himself in an all-out farty farce. Can he save the day?

Wildly funny and endlessly surprising, this is delightfully imaginative, surreal storytelling with a message that small events can trigger big change, and children can be heroes! Packed with pictures by Stephen Mangan's sister Anita Mangan. Escape the Rooms is one of the most loved and bestselling children's debuts of 2021.  

Stephen and Anita Mangan are comic dynamite.

 

Praise for Stephen and Anita's

Escape the

"A brilliant, clever, kind of genius book" Graham Norton, Virgin Radio

'Richly imagined and deeply heartfelt' Hadley Freeman, Guardian

'Manages to feel both classic and modern at the same time' Good Housekeeping

'A beautiful and exciting adventure that ignites the imagination' Edith Bowman

 

ABOUT THE MANGANS

Stephen Mangan is an author, script-writer and actor with huge range across TV, radio, film and theatre. From classic comedy such as Green Wing, Episodes and I'm Alan Partridge and acclaimed drama such as The Split, Stephen also presents Portrait and Landscape Artist of the Year and regularly appears on stage, most recently as a highly praised Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. Stephen also voiced the title role in Postman The Movie. He has been a member of the judging panels for the Costa Book of the Year prize and The Laugh-Out-Loud Awards (The Lollies). His children's books are the bestselling Escape the Rooms and The Fart that Changed the World.

Genres: Childrens

247 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 26, 2022

Reviews

[Abbiy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn’t as funny as I thought and the blurb wasn’t clear and the story didn’t really match the blurb.


MAY 2 2026

I am now 11 and I still love this book it really is an imaginative story.

[Tae · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's hard for me to leave an objective review because I believe I am not the target audience for this book. I was a bit disappointed with the book, I didn't read much about the book, I just dived in, expecting a bigger and just different plot that the one it turned out to be. Had a few chuckles, but it wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. But I believe the kids for whom the book is meant for will find the premise of the book amusing.

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this with my 9yo. We were both expecting lots of laughs from this (especially me) as it's another kids book written by a comedian.

I will say it was funny and as you can tell by the title there was a lot of toilet humour. I enjoyed some of the illustrations more than the story though!

The point of the storyline was something for children to think about. If you tell a lie, it can have a negative effect going forward! Maybe not change the course of history like King Fabian did, but well... let's just say Mangan wrote accurately about leaders of countries! 😂

One of my main negatives about the story is the language used by the author. Even I didn't know what some of the words meant so I'm not sure how younger children would! And I couldn't even figure out from the rest of the text.

I have to say in this case, I think my child enjoyed it more than I did!

[Susan Liliales · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not funny

We where looking for a funny book but didn’t laugh once when reading the sample. So we won’t bother to read more.
It came across like very boring. Characters where introduced and that didn’t help. There was no feeling of a story line to evolve.
Kids get a lot of humor but there wasn’t any to find. The word “fart” might bring a giggle to some kids, but if that’s all you got you need to up your game - a lot.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was our bedtime reading book this last month - my 10 yr old liked it; I was less enthused. It's fine and starts of with some absurd humour but rapidly loses the laughs, settling for occasional smirks and chuckles. The story was a little obvious to me (though not to my son) and I personally didn't like the illustrations though he felt they suited the characters. So, a mixed bag.

[Peter Millett · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. I'm a massive fan of Stephen's TV comedy, and he's a legend as 'Dan' on Alan Partridge. The concept is funny, but it's hard to extend it throughout the book. It was enjoyable enough, though.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated by son: Funny but silly.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining romp with a moral to the tale - aimed at 8 to 10 year olds.

[Cheryl Lang · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overly wordy and not as funny as first book but cute illustration and fun n idea and world

[Kayleigh T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not overly funny
Hard language and names used
Lots of toilet humour