Mr. Bean's Definitive and Extremely Marvelous Guide to France

Book excerpt: England is wet, and Mr. Bean is fed up. He dashes off a note to the queen to let her know he won't be available to chat for a few days, indulges in a few fantasy drawings of himself as a tanned man in swimwear, and sets off for the south of France. Mr. Bean has a new video camera (although he had intended to buy a kettle) and records every detail of his journey, culminating in his trip to the Cannes Film Festival, where the results of his home video will be screened. This is the story recounted in the hilarious Mr. Bean's Holiday, which releases September 28. But all the while Mr. Bean kept a diary of his creative peregrinations, and this book is the definitive and marvelous result. Here he turns his hand to travel writings and extreme scrapbooking, and has even developed his own rating system (a range of Post-it notes saying everything from "excellent" and "as good as fish and chips" to "a pile of poo"). Also included are souvenirs, menus, sugar wrappers, postcards, and photographs that he collected en route. The first Bean movie, Bean, grossed $255 million worldwide and was an instant surprise hit in America. Much more than a straight tie-in, Mr. Bean's Definitive and Extremely Marvelous Guide to France is a hilarious stand-alone book that will appeal to anyone who loves Mr. Bean, no matter how young or old.