"It's very good because it's funny and scary and I like the characters" was five year old Pippa's response to Demon Dentist. Pippa is delighted to be reading a book which is as popular with her nine year old brother as her peers.
David Walliams latest novel is proving a huge hit in our family and across the country. His new novel introduces us to 12-year-old Alfie whose mum has died and who lives with his wheelchair-using father. After a bad experience at the dentist when he was six, Alfie has never been back until a creepy new dentist Miss Roots comes to town, insisting the children call her Mummy.
Pippa lost her first tooth whilst reading this book but was not scared to put her tooth under her pillow despite the children in the story finding dead slugs or hundreds of earwigs crawling beneath their pillow. She loves the illustrations and going back to re-visit the cast of characters whom we are introduced to by name and picture at the start of the book as well as reading along to the made up, nonsense words and large text within the body of the book.
The short chapters and pacy action make it an inviting read. When combined with great characters, warmth and wit, it more than balances the sinister goings-on. I was undoubtedly more scared of the dentist than Pippa.
Demon Dentist is set to be on many a Christmas list and is a perfect gift for any book-loving youngster: your gift will be a satisfyingly weighty, high quality children's novel and they will love you for buying it. You can't ask for more than that.
PWT rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Published by HarperCollins, Demon Dentist