Famous men cashing in on children's book market??

Williams is awful. As a person, comedian and author.

But my 8yr old loves baddiels books. Yes it’s not fair he got published but his books are good as judged by kids who have no idea who he is. And he is rich and male but he is also from a minority group.

Glad to hear The Wizard in my Shed is funny. I have it ready to read to my son. I love Simon Farnaby from Horrible Histories and am a big fan of Yonderland and Ghosts.

I have a million kids books of all eras and genre on my shelves and I am honestly baffled at why people find DW quite so markedly terrible, stereotypes aside (by the way many other authors do this). I don't think he ever expected to be on a Y7 reading list. Billionaire Boy, The Boy in a Dress, The Midnight Gang, Gangster Granny and Mr Stink are all nice stories, and fairly heart-warming, unless I have missed something. The Ratburger I could do without, same for Awful Auntie and the collations (that my kids love).

Feel like I may be accused of being DW's PR here so I'll accept that other people have different opinions and bow out. I do wonder what their kids think though!

Some of DW books I don't think have been all that bad (my DS loves them) but they do have a lot of samey lazy stereotypes in them.

Last year there was a day when 600 new titles were published after a backlog due to covid. I saw a news item on it and it was heralded as a great day for bookshops and publishing... and all I thought was ...imagine being an unknown with your first book out - it would be swamped by all the celeb and big name authors.

I heard Dr Hillary Jones recently on the radio, peddling a new book he has written and Craig Revel Horwood wrote one during lockdown

I don't blame anyone if they enjoy writing and are given the opportunity, you can see why they do it but I think it must be difficult as a new and unknown author to get noticed
On a related note me and DH were musing this lunch time about "older" (mainly male) popstars bringing out mainly crap new music. If it was an unknown artist you can bet the record company/radio station wouldn't give it the time of day!! (Ahem ...Elton John, Rod Stewart etc)

DD10 has read a David Baddiel book from the library and a Ben Miller book that she won in a competition.

She's no idea who either of them are but enjoyed both of the books.

She's now reading a Terry Pratchett book. It's definitely a bit more challenging but with some help from me explaining some of the references, she is enjoying that too.

To be honest I don't care who wrote what. If it's enjoyable to read then it's a good book.

About 7 or 8 years ago Ds was sent a plain covered pre-publication copy of David Baddiel’s first book to review. I think it was called The Parent Controller. He loved it. At that point he had no idea who Baddiel was.

I’m a big advocate in letting children read whatever they want to as long as the subject matter isn’t too adult for their age.

Walliams....fantastic writer...🤣🤣🤣

That's an incredibly low bar you have.

Walliams is the most awful writer; his work is wall to wall stereotypes and caricatures. When you consider the many excellent writers for children, it is so depressing the amount of space given to him.

I suppose in a way though if we get young people into reading more even if via “famous” people who have become authors in a way that then opens the door to others to become more popular by virtue of building on that love of reading.

Like I said earlier ds found a love of reading via David Walliams but now his favourite authors include the likes of Onjali Q. Raúf as his tastes have developed

I can see why those who are already well known would be more accepted by publishers - Let us hope that genuinely talented writers have a breakthrough moment ( e.g. JK Rowling)

DS was too old to get on to the David Williams etc books - never really got into Harry Potter though many did & I think she is apart from those authors. - If it helps anyone DS loved Mortal Engines

It’s interesting, I let my dc pick any books they like. They don’t have a clue who David Baddiel, Walliams or Ben Miller are yet they have picked out their books to read among many lesser known authors. I don’t have an issue with it because I want them to read a variety and develop their own tastes.

David Walliam’s books are horrible, mean and bullying. He has no credentials for writing kids books at all. Just thinks he can make a quick buck

The website booksfortopics.com is brilliant for suggestions of what to read based on age/genre etc.

It's not about them being men. It's about a massive amount of money and publicity going to a tiny percentage of authors which means the choice for children to read becomes more and more limited. Interesting article www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/12/famous-first-words-how-celebrities-made-their-way-on-to-childrens-bookshelves

I don't know, I think having children as the audience is about as close to a meritocracy as we can get.

Children don't give a damn about who was on TV or a pop star (especially not before they were born). If children don't like the books their parents won't buy the next one.

But I agree, these 'authors' would be making it hard for actual writers to get their foot in the door. For publishers, the marketing does itself for free when a celebrity dips their toe into anything.

I don't think for people such as Charlie Higson and Simon Farnaby who have a well established background in writing for film and TV that it's a particularly big stretch for them to write books too. We're reading the Wizard in my Shed at the moment and it's hilarious.

Jacqueline Wilson on the other hand which my DC seem to hoover up are dire in my humble opinion.

We’ve got loads of David Walliams books and every single one is a pile of shite, my ds absolutely loved them for a while so he was given them as birthday and Christmas presents by well meaning relatives.
Tom Fletchers books are really good, my 3 have all enjoyed them, he is a songwriter though so he does know how to write a story I suppose!

Emma Carroll's books are great for any kids who like historical fiction.

And we read Beswitched by Kate Saunders very recently which is a time slip boarding school tale. Really good fun with an unexpectedly moving ending.

@redfernstation it wasn't Because of You was it? Because that is one of the worst books I have ever read in my life!

If it gets David Walliams off our screens let him write. He totally gives me the creeps 🤢

I cannot stand David Williams books. I love Tom Fletcher, his books are great. My new favourite author is Rob Bidulph. He had my class transfixed for over an hour talking about how to write and draw. Real talent there!

Why do you need to be qualified to write a book?

David Walliams books are awful. Not funny just mean. The way he describes over weight people is disgusting.
His publishers are taking one of the characters out of all future editions of his Worlds Worst children books because it's racist.

Acht Katy price had a squillion pony books out a few years back.

To me anything that gets kids reading is good.

Why shouldn't men write children's books? What a very odd thing to get upset about.