Charming, funny, poignant and engaging are the four words that I would use to describe David Walliam’s books in general. I enjoy reading them along with the children and there is a feint echo of Roald Dahl in the stories and the characters. The boys are huge fans of his books already and so the Demon Dentist was very well received when it arrived here a couple of weeks ago.
I have talked before about L and his reluctance to read. If something grabs him, he will want to read or be read to as much as possible, but if a book or a story doesn’t grab him, he quickly loses interest. Well Demon Dentist grabbed him and he has been desperate to get to the end.
Walliams introduces us to the character of Alfie in this book. Alfie is twelve and a half years old and lives with his dad. They are very poor and Alfie’s dad is very ill and confined to a wheel chair, but that doesn’t stop them enjoying amazing and fantastical stories together until Alfie finds himself in the middle of his own fantastical story.
After a bad experience as a very young boy, Alfie has been avoiding the dentist for many years and his teeth have suffered as a result. So, when a new dentist arrives in town, Alfie is immediately apprehensive and the strange and mysterious Miss Root; who insists that the children call her Mummy only serves to make him more nervous.
When children begin to discover that their teeth have been replaced with horrible things instead of a nice shiny coin, Alfie and his friend Gabz start to suspect that there is more to Miss Root than meets the eye.
Demon Dentist takes you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. One minute you will be laughing out loud, the next you will be in tears and there are moments when you will be on the edge of your seat. We have absolutely loved Demon Dentist and L has made me reread a few moments, particularly the moments involving Alfie’s social worker; Winnie, who is larger than life and will quite literally take her scooter anywhere and Miss Root’s description of Father Christmas towards the end of the book, really is a classic moment for younger readers and will make you all laugh out loud.
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Whether or not you have read any of David Walliams books before, I would so recommend this book and I would also recommend that you read it to your children as you will enjoy it as much as they do.
We were sent a copy of this book for this review. All opinions are our own.
I really want to read this myself. I’ve seen its been number one for ages. I might actually get it for the plane 😀