WONDERFUL WALLIAMS WEEK // why my kids are obsessed with this author

There’s something really magical about finding YOUR book – the one that frees your imagination and allows it to come alive, exploring and soaring without limits.

For me, it was The Magic Faraway Tree series, by Enid Blyton. To this day I think of Moonface and Silkie the Fairy and The Saucepan Man with such fondness – as if they were old friends, rather than fictional characters. Next, it was the Famous Five, then the Secret Seven, then anything and everything by Roald Dahl.

For Big Sis and Lil Sis, it was the series of David Walliams books. I’d been encouraging them to read since they could hold a book, but neither had truly found that passion until they came across his delightfully bonkers tales. The kooky characters with their absurd personalities and madcap plots instantly had them hooked.

Rather than begrudgingly picking up a book, they were now racing to get to bed to read another chapter.

This World Book Day both girls chose to dress up as characters from some of David Walliams books; Big Sis opted for Awful Auntie, while Lil Sis went for Gangsta Granny.

Unfortunately, their plans were dented by the untimely snowmaggedon which sent us all straight back home again, but it wasn’t all bad as Lil Sis managed to get the seal of approval from David Walliams himself (see above Tweet) AND was able to revive her costume when her infant school rescheduled for the following week. Win/win!

David’s very first novel, The Boy in the Dress, came out way back in 2008, meaning this summer is his 10-year anniversary. To celebrate, Harper Collins has declared this ‘Walliams Week’.

Of course, we couldn’t let WALLIAMS WEEK pass us by without marking the occasion; so THANK YOU David Walliams for creating a magical literary world and helping my girls fall in love with reading.