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

As books they’re not that great to be honest in my opinion...
I’m not a massive fan myself.

I don't like DW's books, I'm not even a fan of the TV adaptations. But it doesn't matter. Our children will find their own gate to the written word, be it David Walliams, Judy Blume, The Beano, Oscar Wilde or Dr. Seuss.

Why shouldn’t celebrities write children's books if they want to? Publishers are in the business of selling books and will always sign up authors with name recognition who will shift units. Nobody is forced to buy them.

It doesn't matter if we find them "terrible" because we aren't the target audience.

Run a bookshop. David Williams to a certain age.
Julia Donaldson very young readers. Michael purogho contast.Diary of a wimpy kid comes and goes also dogman. Roadhl dahl constant. Some still love Enid Bylton. Always let them choose themselves.

Totally agree. Came across a great local author Jen Carney recently and her books are so much better written but of course she doesn’t get the publicity that the big guns get.

Tom Fletcher has actually written some pretty good books!
I didn’t actually realise it was the same person till the other week!

I was surprised that Paul O'Grady has written a children's book. Although he is a published author and I have read his biographies that I found interesting.

Thought this the other day when Tom Fletcher was called an "author" on Strictly, it's just ridiculous. What on earth makes them qualified to be able to write books?

Yep, it’s embarrassing how easily celebs get a children’s books contract. People think it is easy to write for kids, when it is anything but….

The shark Caller by Zillah Bethell is a fabulous read for chidren in years 5-8. Set in Papua new Guinea.

I agree. Maybe we should all share non-sleb decent authors?

Laura Ellen Anderson and Harriet Muncaster have my 5 year old captured at the moment.

Slebs sell mostly badly written books. But I don't care. They still sell books. My niece(11) loves David Walliams. She is working on an online dictionary of words he's invented. Along with many some DW inspired words of her own.🤣🤣🤣

DS1(14) started loving of books because of Julia Donaldson and his love of reading, from the Moon Boy books. DS2(3) loves Dr. Seuss. As long as it gets them interested in books, I don't care🤷‍♀️

I hate David Walliams books. Has anyone noticed he bumps up the word count with endless long lists? They're crap.

Its no different from the celebs who used to do those ridiculous exercise videos. Anything for a dollar and a bit of fame. Pathetic.

some fuckwit called Ben Fogle, who is apparently a "beloved broadcaster."

posh blonde bloke who travels to far flung places whilst being blonde and posh.

Reading The Danger Gang to my DS at the mo and I like it. I have never found David Baddiel's that appealing.

Is Fergie channelling Jilly Cooper now...?

Ds started off with David Walliams, they where the first books he was really passionate to read.

He is currently loving books by Onjali Q. Raúf and Michael Murpurgo and many similar type books so I don’t think his early enjoyment of David Walliams has done any harm when it comes to the “quality” of his reading material.

one of the worst in the world*

So outraged I am dropping whole sentence fragments.

This country has to be one of the world for giving publishing contracts for shitty books to really illiterate slebs.

My child was given a terrible book through the school by some fuckwit called Ben Fogle, who is apparently a "beloved broadcaster."

It’s everywhere isn’t it - Charlie Higson, Simon Farnaby, Greg James as well. Some but not all are talented and at least had a background in writing. It’s very lazy of the publishing companies and must be so frustrating for genuinely talented but unknown authors trying to not only get published but get any publicity or room in displays for all the celebs.

David Williams is awful in my opinion. A local theatre company did a production of The First Hippo on the Moon a few years back and I bought a copy for my son beforehand, it was unreadable. Just awkward prose and rubbish storytelling. I’ve flicked through my niece’s copies of his books for older children and don’t see the appeal.

On the other hand my son absolutely loves The Creakers and The Danger Gang by Tom Fletcher. I read them to him and can understand the appeal.

I agree with the person mentioning how touchy David Baddiel is on this topic I commented on a Twitter thread where he was just absolutely not having that his celebrity may have been helpful in getting his books published or getting them front and centre in Tesco/Waterstones etc.

I hid the one David Walliams book my kids got given because the message and theme of the story was so awful. I was astounded it got published. I think he’s utterly awful.