The World’s Best David Walliams

David Walliams came into the Christchurch Boys High auditorium through the crowd – a real rock star entrance.  And in kid books circles (and tv entertainment ones) he really is that level of famous. There were about 700 kids and 400 adults here to see Mr Walliams.

Rachael King, WORD Christchurch literary director asked him about the 20 million books he has sold – “All bought and burnt by Simon Cowell”, he said. David had the audience in the palm of his hand from the get go, with stories, heaps of audience participation, and his trademark naughty wit. Even the obligatory Australia diss – The World’s Worst Children?:

Well, I’ve just been in Australia and met a lot of the children …

He read us the tragic tale of Windy Mindy whose farting into wind instruments leads to a galactic end.

The kids in the audience served up stories about why their siblings are so bad. One answer had the crowd in stitches (beautifully conveyed in this tweet):

WALLIAMS
(working the crowd)
Now, who's got a Worst Kid in the World in *their* family?

KID
*mumbles*

WALLIAMS
Just yell it out!

KID
(yelling)
MY BROTHER WAS BORN AND TOOK ALL THE ATTENTION.

Welcome to Christchurch @davidwalliams we be goth af

— Sunday Morning Gothic (@SundayGothic) December 10, 2017

Bad Dad is his latest bestseller, and tells the story of Frank, whose Dad is a banger driver who ends up in jail after being a getaway driver. David read for us a rather splendid excerpt about how one might get the dreadful medical condition Bottom Freeze (including cryogenically freezing your bottom for posterity). 

David’s favourite of his own books is Gangsta Granny (my kid’s fave too), and it came from listening to his own Gran’s stories about the Blitz:

Every old person has a story to tell.

He read Gangsta Granny’s famous naked yoga scene (and see Tony Ross’s brilliant illustration came up on the big screen). David gave a big shoutout to his illustrators Tony Ross and Quentin Blake – both in their 80s.

Walliams explained a bit about why he loves a villain:

Without Voldemort, Harry Potter would just be having a lovely day at school.

Burt, the Ratburger villain, was inspired by a contestant in Britain’s got talent who ate cockroaches. Ergh. Miss Trunchbull (from Roald Dahl’s Matilda) is one of his fave villains. It’s that combo of funny and evil,  and who wouldn’t want to be a villain (for a day).

We got to see sneak preview clips of Ratburger (Walliams himself is unrecognisable as the grotty villain), and Grandpa’s Great Escape (Jennifer Saunders is the Matron in that, and veteran actor Tom Courtenay is Grandpa.) He is that rarest of beasts – an author who gets to see his creations come to life first hand, because he stars in the adaptations.

David admits he was a reluctant reader. He went to the library with his family every couple of weeks, and would pick books on the solar system, space travel, and dinosaurs. And then he discovered Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It got him into reading, and to writing.

Roald Dahl is his “gold standard”. When he visited Dahl’s Gypsy Cottage and met his widow, she said kids still ring the doorbell and ask to meet the author. David has visited the Roald Dahl Story Museum and looked at the handwritten manuscripts. He clearly loved the writing set up of Roald Dahl – sitting in armchair, a picture of his much-missed daughter nearby, with a big ball of rolled up choccie wrappers to add to, and a telephone (to put a sly bet on the gee gees).

And David loves his fan mail, and who wouldn’t when kids are so honest:

Little Britain fans – he thinks the funniest thing he’s ever written is this:

10 lucky kids got to ask a question, and got a fab box set of Walliams’ books. A ripper of a prize I reckon. Thanks to David Walliams, WORD Christchurch, HarperCollins New Zealand, Merivale Paper Plus, and the crew involved in the event – and to everyone who came along, you rocked and made it a fun whānau night. It was especially awesome to get to get your book signed and a picture taken. Ka rawe!

90 minutes in and David Walliams still signing like a trooper. Every kid he meets is the most important person in the room. Magic. @davidwalliams @harpercollinsnz pic.twitter.com/tbYB1alzVQ

— WORDChristchurch (@WORDChCh) December 10, 2017

• Review: Why David Walliams’ world is wonderful Jo Gilbert, The Press, 10 December 2017.
• Find books by David Walliams in our collection.

The Midnight Gang – David Walliams’ latest literary romp

Aaaarrrggghhhh!!!!  Squeak!  Bang!  Owww!  Thud!  Ping!  Bong!  Click!  Zzzzzzz!  Clank!  Klong!  Squelch!  Smash!  Whizz!  Whoosh!  Splat!  Rattle!  Wallop!  Crunch!  Thud!  Squawk!  Brrrr… Busted!  New-naw Nee-naw!  Hooray!

For a story with a lot of loud sound effects, David Walliams latest literary romp The Midnight Gang seems to have quietly tiptoed into publication, with this children’s chapter book sneaking up just in time for Christmas.

The World of David Walliams. Flickr 2015-05-14-IMG_7260

Shhhh! Here we are on the 44^th floor of the Lord Funt Hospital in the Children’s Ward. Be quiet, it’s bedtime. This is not so much a home for peculiar children as it is for physically-impaired children. There’s a big cast of characters to get to know…some actually in casts! Meet 13-year old… Tommy? Tommy! (even he wasn’t sure of his own name after a bad knock on the head from a cricket ball), who finds himself stuck in the ward with his new and equally recovering friends like young Sally (bald from her ‘treatment’), wheelchair-bound Amber, tonsil-free George and temporarily blind Robin. They are overseen by a matron who despite running a children’s ward hates children, a young doctor who can’t stand the sight of blood and support staff that includes an unsightly Porter, Mr. Dead Squirrel on his Head, Mrs. Google-Eyes and Professor Comb-over, all delightfully illustrated by the illustrious Tony Ross.

But surely hospital has to be better than the boarding school his absent parents practically abandoned him at? It wasn’t less miserable for long! The hospital matron and his school headmaster are soulmates it seems. Lunch was awful offal… and boiled eel, roasted badger, pigeon soup, boiled cabbage and toads on toast – hilariously pictured. And in what might be a reference to Walliams’ own The Boy in the Dress, Tommy suffers his worse humiliation ever when the matron makes him wear a Pink-Frilly-Nightdress to bed. Midnight is the time when all children are meant to be fast asleep, except for the secret Midnight Gang! That is the time when their adventures are just beginning… Cue 12 chimes and we all know what happens in children’s stories at the stroke of midnight – magical and dangerous things of course.

Scrawly graffiti in the hospital basement announces:  The Midnight gang woz ere

“…the Midnight Gang is nothing more than an idea really,” mused Robin. “One that’s passed on from child to child.”
“Like nits?” asked George unhelpfully.
“Yes, exactly like nits, George!”

Their ‘idea’ and secret aim is to bring children’s dreams to life. So it’s a shame Tommy can’t think of a dream he might have that’s worthy of coming true. And with their collective impediments, how can they possibly achieve their dreams? And who is the real leader of this gang anyway? George’s dream to fly goes awry in the gang’s biggest adventure and challenge thus far. First they have to work out how many balloons it takes to lift an elephant (97,282 apparently). And can you imagine a naked 99 year-old flying over the rooftops of London? You don’t have to, that’s in here too.

Walliams is the Dr. of Fun and even his fonts are having a good time – the louder it gets, the bigger the type. There’s plenty of indirect messages broadcast here too: Don’t judge someone by their looks, life is precious and oh, it’s no big deal that girls can marry girls. When Sally’s condition takes a turn for the worse her dream “to live a big, beautiful life” inspires them all, leading Tommy to finally find himself by caring about others.

Walliams, of Little Britain fame, turned his comedic talents to children’s novels including Mr. Stink, Awful Auntie, Grandpa’s Great Escape, Gangsta Granny, Demon Dentist, Billionaire Boy, The Boy in The Dress, Ratburger … whew, I’m exhausted just listing them – how does he do it? And there’s The World’s Worst Children also released this year. His stellar output is nearly annoying when my son tries to bring all his favourite books into bed with him. The Midnight Gang (perfect for ages 8 to 12) may be his biggest book yet – 416 pages.

Walliams has been compared to the irreverent Roald Dahl, one of his own favourite authors when he was growing up. A new generation of young children (like mine) are now growing up with both authors amongst their favourites. And now that he has a young child of his own, Walliams has branched out into picture books with his third one There’s a snake in my school recently published and reviewed on our site.

The World of David Walliams. Flickr 2015-05-14-IMG_7100

According to Walliams, New Zealand is one of the countries with the highest readership of his books. We were lucky to see Walliams when he visited Christchurch in 2015 at a WORD Christchurch event and he spoke to a sold-out audience of 700. There he gave advice on how to write a good story (have a good villain, write what you love…) and talked about the inspiration for some of his characters based on real people, such as Raj his neighbourhood dairy owner and his ramshackle shop. So the burning question is: Is Raj in this new book? Nobody likes a spoiler. All I can say is: Poppadoms anyone?

• Find more works by David Walliams in our collection.
• Read about David Walliams in New Zealand
• Visit The World of David Walliams website

 

There’s a snake in my school

David Walliams, whom I had the pleasure of seeing in action in front of a very receptive audience of Christchurch schoolchildren last year, has been at it again, penning another offbeat children’s tale, this time a picture book.

It’s bring your pet to school day and Miranda, a girl who marches to the beat of her own drum, brings along her pet python, Penelope. Of course.

Even with a python on the loose There’s a snake in my school is not quite “Snakes on a plane”. For one thing there is no Samuel L. Jackson – though I’m happy to report that the school in the book does have a diverse ethnic mix of pupils, which makes a nice change from most of the picture books I read as a child.

Also, the snake in question is well behaved and non-menacing… mostly. Because there’s always a bit of darkness woven into Walliams’ stories.

Fans of legendary illustrator Tony Ross will enjoy the bright, energetic artwork full of animal-related mayhem and fans of “doing silly voices when reading picture books” will enjoy the pompous headmistress Miss Bloat, who, as interpreted by me, is a mix of Margaret Thatcher and Hyacinth Bucket.

I read this to my nearly 3 year old, and even though There’s a snake in my school is longer and more wordy than most picture books we read together, it kept his attention until the end. Still, I think this would be better suited to school age children, if for no other reason than the school setting will make more sense to them.

There’s a snake in my school
by David Walliams, illustrated by Tony Ross
Published by HarperCollins New Zealand
ISBN: 9780008172701

 

Festival made accessible

About now you may be wondering what happened to your good intentions of reading all those interesting books by those fascinating authors you heard about at WORD Christchurch or missed out on hearing at Auckland Writers Festival. Never fear, a solution is near!

Listen to your festival favourites

You may have not enough hours in the day to sit by the fire and read your fill of festival authors but help is at hand. You need not miss out on this year’s Auckland festival headliner Haruki Murakami. Try listening to his work in an audiobook. We have him available in downloadable audiobook from Overdrive and on CD.

Fill in your spare moments on the bus or in the car, or while you vacuum the house, rake the leaves or paint the fence, or while exercising the dog or yourself by listening to an audiobook. If you have had a particularly tiring day and find you’re too tired to read, rather than turning on the television, snuggle up in a chair with an audiobook and soon you will be relaxed. Having trouble sleeping? My mother swears by lulling English voices as a sure-fire cure for insomnia.

Often audiobooks and large print titles have no reserve list so while others are waiting for a print edition, get ahead of the crowd. Better still, even if there is a wait list downloadable audiobooks on Overdrive do not have a reserve charge.

Overdrive is one of our suppliers of audiobooks and ebooks. You can find all their titles in our catalogue.

As well as Murakami, you might also try Booker Prize-winning novelist Ben Okri whose novel The Age of Magic has been newly released and is available on CD. Sometimes the CD format can be limiting as it requires you to be stationary. Happily we have Helen MacDonald’s H is for Hawk as an ISIS audiobook that is a clever format which you can download to your laptop and transfer to your MP3 player, freeing you up to listen to it anywhere.

A standout from Word Christchurch was the charming David Mitchell. Your ears can ring with the sounds and atmosphere of old Japan listening to his exotic enthralling tale The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet on CD.

 

 

Large print – easy to read!

If reading is difficult at night when the light is bad, or because you struggle with print at the end of a tiring day spent staring at a computer screen, large print may be the answer! Why not try David Mitchell’s Black Swan Green or The Thousand Autumn’s of Joseph de Zoet or Xinran’s touching Miss Chopsticks.

Walliams in audio and large print formats

Nothing like a bedtime story so why not borrow one of our children’s titles by the hit author David Walliams in an audiobook format to lull your darlings to sleep? We have audiobooks on CD, preloaded mp3 players, and downloadable audiobooks for your enjoyment.

If you have a child who is yet to find their stride with reading a wonderful way to introduce the love of books is by reading along to an audiobook so why not borrow the book and the audiobook together? We have Demon Dentist as a Playaway, a preloaded audiobook in its own wee player. All you or your child has to do is press play and you can carry it around with you. Ideal for children who are always on the move.

If small print is an obstacle try these David Walliams titles in large print.

More festival goodies

• Want to catch up on the action from previous years of the festival? Listen to or view recorded sessions.
• Our page on literary festivals and events.
• WORD Christchurch Autumn Season 12 to 17 May 2015
• Images from the WORD Christchurch Writers and Readers Festival, and events.
• [View the story “WORD Christchurch Autumn Season” on Storify]
• Auckland Writers Festival 2015

Kids’ writing heroes at the Auckland Writers Festival

Did you ever wish to meet your favourite author when you were little? Did you get a chance? What did you say or ask? When I was a keen young reader, all my favourite authors were already dead. Except one.

I was lucky enough to meet her once. She was talking to the teachers in the foyer after the school visit, drinking coffee and smoking her cigarette. I was hiding behind the corner, gathering my courage and waiting for the best moment to come. All I could find at that moment was a small piece of paper. I decided it will do. Finally, I approached the table and asked her for an autograph. Her cold eyes pierced through the smoke between us and straight through me. A torrent of telling-off followed from her mouth. It must have been wrong question or wrong timing. According to her, it was the size of the paper. Only later on I learned she was writing children’s books but did not like children. It took me ten years to re-establish this fractured reader-writer relationship.

I am pretty sure none of the young visitors to Auckland Writers Festival had an experience like that! Children and their parents had a chance to listen and see some of the best authors in the world. Besides some big-name-sessions on Saturday and a family-focused day on Sunday, the school programme featured some great names during the week, including great American YA author Laurie Halse Anderson, a former comedian Natalie Haynes, performing poet Grace Taylor, New Zealand YA author Bernard Beckett, sci-fi YA debut writer Rachael Craw, singer and songwriter Hollie Fullbrook and cartoonist and creator of graphic novels, Ant Sang.

I could not believe my eyes when I stepped into the ASB Theatre on Saturday morning, before the David Walliams session. The place was like an anthill – little excited readers wriggling everywhere! When it was time for questions, their hands shut up in the air and I was afraid a couple of them might jump off the balcony, on which we were seated. After the show the excitement followed in the queue. I have never ever seen so many patient children in my life – some of them were queuing for more than two hours to get their books signed by David. No arguments, no rows, just very excited faces.

An afternoon session with Morris Gleitzman, Australia’s most celebrated writer for children and young adults, followed. On Sunday, after Captain Underpants/Dav Pilkey revealed a few of his drawing tricks, I walked into the foyer of Herald Theatre, where the family Sunday sessions were taking place, and caught an illustrator Raymond McGrath surrounded by a group of children. They were deeply focused on their work, illustrating and drawing monsters. Donovan Bixley, an illustrator and graphic novels author, was signing his books on the other side of the room. I mingled in the crowd to find a few keen young readers, who shared their impressions of the festival and their ideas about books.

Donovan Bixley, top, and Raymond McGrath, bottom, working their magic with the little ones at Auckland Writers Festival.

First, I talked to a very young lady, Ava, who at the age of six already knows a true value of poetry as she came to listen to Jenny Palmer present her A Little ABC book. Jenny’s session was not the only one Ava attended. Donovan Bixley was pretty entertaining, talking about Young Jimmy, the hero of his comic hit Monkey Boy, and Zak Waipara presented his work on Maori myths. Ava was not shy about sharing what she is reading to her mummy at the moment: The brave kitten (Holly Webb) and How to train your dragon (Cressida Cowell). She usually gets books from her favourite Waiheke Library, which I visited next day and decided with no doubt it’s my favourite as well.

Sitting in the corner and reading a graphic novel was Kea. He is a quiet one, but there is something smart about his face. He tells me his favourite books are – I should have guessed – graphic novels, because “they’re cool” – I should have guessed that as well! He has seen quite a few authors during the festival, but his favourite is – you have probably guessed – Donovan Bixley. I wonder what he would be writing about, if he would be a famous author. With no hesitation, he answers: “Action stories, with lots of heroes!”

I catch Cooper and Ruby just before they whiz back in the theatre to see Trish Gribben and Judy Millar present their pop-up book Swell. After seeing David Walliams, Dav Pilkey, Morris Gleitzman, Jenny Palmer, Zak Waipara and Donovan Bixley, they both agree that David Walliams was the funniest and Dav Pilkey was exciting because he draw pictures and talked about his early childhood. Cooper found Zak’s session very interesting because it was all about Māori myths. If he was a famous author, Cooper’s stories would be full of action, ghosts and pirates. Ruby would write funny stories, like Roald Dahl or David Walliams.

Our time is up and I let children return to the next session. While I’m leaving the foyer, I ponder who of them would be my favourite writer. I decide it would probably be Ruby. And I am absolutely sure, she would not tell me off, if I asked her for an autograph.

• Read about David Walliams, Morris Gleitzman and Dav Pilkey sessions.
• Read our other Auckland Writers Festival 2015 posts.

The Weird and Wacky World of David Walliams

I’ve been a huge fan of David Walliams since he introduced the world to Little Britain. His weird sense of humour was right up my alley and I was excited when he decided to turn his humour to books for kids. Though a little sceptical at first (another celebrity trying their hand at writing children’s books) David Walliams soon showed that this wasn’t a phase he was going through. He is an absolutely wonderful writer for children, introducing children and adults alike to the weird and wacky characters that live inside his head.

It was clear by the massive audience that came to meet him at the Auckland Writers Festival this morning that he has a huge fan base of children of all ages in New Zealand.

David Walliams started his session by telling us that he writes for the love of writing and that his ideas coming from his ‘dark and troubled mind.’ Evil characters are always his favourite characters to create and he clearly has a lot of fun doing so. The inspiration for the villain in his book, Rat Burger, came from a contestant on the show Britain’s Got Talent, a strange man whose act was eating live cockroaches.

The best way to start a Saturday – in a room full of excited kids and adults listening to David Walliams at #awf15 pic.twitter.com/Z6ASYLLjrQ

— ChChCityLibraries (@ChristchurchLib) May 15, 2015

David tries to think back to what books he would have liked to read when he was a kid and write those sorts of books. He believes that it is really important for kids to find books that they really want to read. This is how he discovered Roald Dahl, a favourite from his childhood. Illustrations are a huge part of his books as he thinks they’re important to grab readers, especially those children who aren’t readers.

It was watching comedians like John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson and the Monty Python crew that made David want to be a comedian who wrote his own material. While writing for his show, Little Britain, he realised that writing was his passion. He thought it would be great to do something like Little Britain – but suitable for kids. After writing his first few children’s books, he found that he enjoyed writing for children so much that he kept on going. He has now written 7 novels and 2 picture books, with plenty more ideas to come. His picture books, although he admits are harder to write, are a great way for younger family members to get in to his books. They have the same great humour and are incredibly wacky.

Several of David’s books have been made in to movies, including Mr Stink and Gangsta Granny. David often thinks of actors when he’s writing his books and has both written the screenplay and starred in each of the movies of his books. The character that he has most enjoyed playing was the Prime Minister in Mr Stink, although children often get confused and think he is the Prime Minister in real life. When asked if he would like Sir Peter Jackson to make a movie of one of his books he laughed and said ‘if he made it it would be a 9 hour epic!’

David Walliams: "You feel like a magician when you write." at #awf15 pic.twitter.com/QZbFUHwFNn

— ChChCityLibraries (@ChristchurchLib) May 16, 2015

My favourite part of the session was when David Walliams read parts of his books. He reads them so well and does lots of great voices for his characters. David told us that outside of the UK, he is most popular here in New Zealand so hopefully we’ll get to see him again some time soon.

• Read books by David Walliams for children
• Watch David Walliams TV shows and movies
• Read David Walliams autobiography
• Our post about David Walliams in Christchurch.

Christchurch City Libraries connects you with the Auckland Writers Festival on from 13 to 17 May at the Aotea Centre. You can follow the action by reading our Festival posts.

The World of David Walliams

We learnt a lot about David Walliams last night thanks a soldout WORD Christchurch event:

As a kid

• He used to pretend to be Wonder Woman (he demonstrated this with a nice twirl).
• He dressed up in a silk dressing gown and put a “David Walliams Private Detective” sign on his door.
• David was decked out in a mauve bridesmaid’s dress by his sister.

Tips for budding writers

• Have a very evil villain.
• Write a story that you’d like to read.
• Read as many books as you can.

His favourite books as a kid

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• The Lion, The witch and the wardrobe
• Stig of the dump (approving noises from my other half for that announcement)

He remembers lying with his head on his Dad’s chest, as he read him Green eggs and ham.

David in action

David did a couple of readings, from Gangsta Granny and Awful Auntie.

We saw that he has the power to get kids to jump and down with fizzing excitement. And then sign books for them for aaaages. What a star.

Coming up from David Walliams – a picture book called The Bear who went boo, and the tale of a little boy who busts his grandad out of a maximum security twilight resthome.

• Read our posts on WORD Christchurch events, and view our photos.
• David is also appearing at Auckland Writers Festival this weekend.
• Search our catalogue for books by David Walliams.

Gangsta Mum, Dad, & Kid go David Walliams

Me and my whanau are very excited about seeing David Walliams at his WORD Christchurch event tonight. I’d tell you to buy tickets – but he blooming well sold out in 24 hours.

That’s not surprising. I’ve been reading Gangsta Granny to my six-year-old. When Ben discovers his granny’s biscuit tin filled with jewels, my daughter’s eyes went round. I didn’t think that actually happened in real life, but David Walliams did it.

Plus we watched Mr Stink in the weekend. Twice.

• Find out about the David Walliams WORD Christchurch event
• David Walliams at the Auckland Writers Festival
• Search our catalogue for David Walliams
• Photos from the WORD Christchurch Autumn Season
• Our page on the WORD Christchurch Autumn Season
• Our page on the Auckland Writers Festival

Horowitz and Gleitzman and Walliams, oh my!

Some of the biggest names in the children’s literature world are descending on Auckland next week for the Auckland Writers Festival.  I’m lucky enough to be going to the festival and I’m incredibly excited about meeting my literary idols.

There is a brilliant line up of children’s authors coming to the festival this year and some really big draw cards – Alex Rider author Anthony Horowitz, the hilarious David Walliams, Australian author Morris Gleitzman and the creator of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey. All of these authors have a huge number of young fans all over the world and I’m sure their sessions will be sell-outs.

I’m especially looking forward to David Walliams session. I loved his TV series, Little Britain, and was sceptical when he started writing for children, but his stories are hilarious. His style of story is very similar to Roald Dahl, with lots of laughs and characters that make you squirm. If your children haven’t tried his books yet they are well worth a read. They are especially great for reading aloud and will have you and your children laughing out loud.

I love having the chance to hear authors talk about their books and it’s fantastic that the Auckland Writers Festival have managed to get such big names over here in little old NZ.