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Awful Auntie (2014)

by David Walliams(Favorite Author)

4.16 of 5 Votes: 9

ISBN

0007453604 (ISBN13: 9780007453603)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

HarperCollinsChildren'sBooks

review 1: i think that it was a really nice book. It has a bit of sadness in it but its mostly funny and exciting. The book is about this girl who was in a car accident, her parents died in the accident and she lives with her evil aunt. The aunt wants to have the deeds for the house but the girl knows that she can never sign them so she tries to run away. The story makes you want to keep reading and is very good.
review 2: I'm glad that children love these books. David Walliams is helping keep libraries and bookshops busy with children requesting his titles, just as J. K. Rowling has done, this generation are enjoying their books and hopefully spring-boarding to other authors and titles that will fire their imaginations.But I'm not going to give any author unconditional ... morepraise if it's not due. But I was disappointed by lots of things in this latest Walliams offering.The good?A wonderfully wordy opening scene (expect KS2 teachers to use this in Literacy lessons on descriptive language), setting the snowy scene in Saxby Hall.A bright and brave female heroine in Stella, young heiress of a large country house, orphaned but determined not to let her evil aunt Alberta steal her house from her.A very amusing butler in the ancient Gibbon, muddling up everything nicely. Even though he is underused.A family tree, very nice to see in a children's book.Tony Ross's fantastically sharp and complementary illustrations.Quite liked the Owl (Wagner), Alberta's sidekick, but again, underused.More 'Dahl-like' moments - a Mr-Twit beard moment in describing Aunt Alberta, a feel of James and the Giant Peach in some of the sad Saxby family history, some Miss-Trunchbull-like pranks)The mystery element (though it does seem out of place in a children's book) is good - wills, deeds, blackened greenhouses, shifty policemen, secret chimney passages. Some good twists. Aunt Alberta - at times she's funny (her retellings of Fairy Tales for her niece), but she's also like the villains of Demon Dentist and Ratburger in that she's more stereotype than real, though she's better characterised than either of them. She seems to be based on Miss Trunchbull, even in the drawings, and does get some juicy moments.The 'Raj' epilogue is wonderful. From the moment I realised the time period I knew we wouldn't be seeing Raj. And he's my favourite (recurring) character.Alright. The not-so-good?Well... I'm sorry to say it, but I didn't often find it very funny. There is more humour in the first few chapters, then it quickly becomes exposition, story and action and barely a funny line or thing happens (exceptions for Gibbons every appearance and Stella's pranks on her aunt). It's the first Walliams book that doesn't feel like he's tried to make children laugh. The word play is gone, revolting foods (apart from the owl's), authorial interjections and footnotes, it actually had me puzzled.Soot. Yes, it's a name. A chimney sweep that Stella meets when imprisoned in her house by Aunt Alberta, he is Stella's sidekick and helper, but the Cockney rhyming slang and accent are a bit tiresome (that may be just me though!). The time period. For the first time, Walliams has set his book in the past. 1933. Though you'd barely know it from the book. I only realised from looking at the family tree dates, the book itself hardly mentions anything that sets it in a period. The old car and telephone are the only clues.Death! Torture! I was pretty surprised at the amount of this in the book. This book is intended for 7 year olds, and there's a car crash, poison, murder (death by fire), and a torture wrack. If I was reading this to my child, I'd be worried at their reaction as it's very sad and upsetting more than once. It's more contained than other Walliams books. By this I mean, his usual zany humour just doesn't make as many appearances as it has in the past. There's a lot of exposition to get through, and it does make the book more serious as a result. There are also fewer settings and characters (it all takes place, like a stage play) in Saxby Hall and the grounds, with very few characters (which I felt it missed - other children, other adults). It's almost a two-hander - little girl versus evil aunt. While it's definitely an improvement on Demon Dentist (which for me just went off the rails), and contained more emotion, it's simply not as laugh-out-loud funny as Gangsta Granny or as heartfelt as my favourites - Billionaire Boy and The Boy in the Dress. The dark aspects I'll be interested to ask our young library customers about. It may wash over them. But if your child was upset by the ending of Gangsta Granny, you might want to read this yourself first.This is the opinion of a mum, a library assistant and a keen reader. I am sure almost every child out there will disagree with me. And you know what? I'll still be happy to order it for customers because I know they'll be back for more. less

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