David Walliams in the bin

[carlitaclarita]

To throw all our David Walliams books out? I can’t even bear to take them to charity shops and I’m annoyed I even own them and annoyed they were so heavily pushed in schools.

I think the other thing is the market has moved on. Walliams is no longer the go to 'get you kids reading anything' book. That's moved to the likes of Jamie Smart.

What's notable is I got gifted a lot of books from three friends with older kids who all read. They kept the books they really loved. Walliams wasn't amongst them.

So even though they read them they didn't have that affection. I can't see DS wanting to get rid of his Bunny v Monkey.

Peoples houses aren't a court of law, people are entitled to make their own judgements, we're not duty bound to support famous men.

I think it's important that we're clear about what the complaint is, and what the reasonable response is.

If you have just discovered some off-colour comedy from DW that you think is inappropriate, this may cloud your view of him. That would be reasonable (although in this specific case I think we should remember that a lot of DW's early work was hugely popular despite ageing very badly eg Little Britain). But I think the OP was referring to the recent allegations of inappropriate behaviour. These are unproven and denied. Therefore they are different to his dodgy comedy and, if you believe in the principle of innocent until proven guilty, you must regard DW as innocent.

In either case though, I think you should only remove books from your house if you find those books themselves offensive or of low quality. The character of their author, his previous work etc has nothing to do with it.

The thing is nobody wants them. Everyone in the country will bombard the charities with them. They're desperately trying to sell the huge amount they have probably before the scandals about him get worse.

But it's the books themselves that have fallen out of favour, due to their pithy stereotyped characters. And casual ableism, sizeism, classism etc

. . . recent allegations of inappropriate behaviour. These are unproven and denied. Therefore they are different to his dodgy comedy

I think most people nowadays realise that allegations from a variety of sources, backed up by the proof we can all see of his everyday public 'behaviours', are a very strong indicator that this man is a sex pest.

I am am pretty upfront with teaching my children the red flags of a clearly toxic adult - Walliams is one of them. The books are toast.

I think just give them to a charity shop. Someone else might well appreciate them and get into reading via them even if you don’t want them.

I would absolutely not buy his work for my kids or as gifts for other kids . I don’t like the stories sold under his name. That said my daughter has about a dozen of them picked up from charity shops that she has bought in last few years with her pocket money. They are books she was introduced to by friends at school, that are easy to read and that she likes. Ultimately I’m pleased she’s reading every night, that she finds it fun and that she’s happy to spend her own money on books. That’s a huge win and if the downside is she reads some super mediocre books with toilet humour and some stereotyping I can live with it. She reads some fantastic books too and I’ll continue to buy more of those and trust that long term she will decide herself they are a better use of her time.

In a similar vein I think the reports of sexual assault against Neil Gaiman are horrendous but I haven’t taken away the kids copy of suddenly the milk or stopped the oldest reading Good Omens. If Good Omens gets trashed from multiple reads I’d even buy another copy as it is one of my favourites and in the end I’m dubious that the majority of writers are great people and the ones convicted or accused of crimes or just horrible behaviour are outliers, particularly if they are very well known and have made a lot of money.

May I have a crumb of context?

I thought I'd give a couple of examples out of many now I am back from the school run. Remember these books are targeted at children 7+

'He began going on dates with an endless parade of page 3 girls'.

'What's it to you, slag?'

'On the lunch menu; Thursday: Indian Day Soup of the day - Turban'

'In truth Denis knew exactly why his Dad was looking under his mattress. Dad owned a copy of a rude magazine like the ones on the top shelf at Raj's shop'

I've detested him since I had the misfortune to meet him, BUT if he writes books that children like, why would you throw them out?

You can love the art, but despise the artist

Leonardo da Vinci had very questionable relationships with young boys, does that make the Mona Lisa any less astounding?

My children in their early twenties were talking about Williams books just the other day, mainly Mr Stink and the Demon Dentist. As young kids they absolutely devoured them and thought they were hilarious, they wanted to read more and more as did most of the kids in their class at primary school.

Children do not want to read great literature, pre-approved by adults. They are drawn to books that are funny and mischievous. I’m not a fan of throwing books away and some kid might pick one up in a charity shop and really enjoy reading a book outside of school.

I’m not a Walliams apologist, I can’t stand the man but I’m passionate about children learning to love reading, it’s so important.

My children have not grown up and become fat phobic, racist or sexist after reading Walliams books.

Why would we burn J K Rowling?

@HappyFace2025i personally wouldn’t but a lot of people are offended by her anti trans rhetoric

@dayswithaYyes!!! Say it louder!!

There is so much kid lit that is deemed ‘amazing’ but the majority of children find it rather dull! We need to get kids interested in reading and books and get away from screens!

Was so disappointed by the Go All In reading campaign that has just been launched. It will literally mean nothing to those it is trying to target - I never understand what literacy charities and trusts always seem to miss the mark. The only one that gets it right is World Book Day - fun, inclusive, not snobby! It’s brilliant!

Which anti-trans rhetoric is this?

There's a huge country for anyone who can highlight the comments she's made that have been anti-trans.

Perhaps you would like to try and quote it.

What she's actually said has been about recognising the needs of women. That's all.

But some people on the internet said she's bad and no one bothered to actually look up and check what she's actually said and instead just believe that she's a bad and terrible person cos their mate things so and some dickhead on the internet has literacy problems.

I do tire of this nonsense.

It's a classic case of a lie travelling around the world before the truth has chance to get up and be even noticed.

I think his stories are excellent. He has denied allegations of sexual assault right? But this is the guilty until proven innocent era so no man is safe anymore. Especially rich successful ones.Btw i love little Britain and come fly with me they are sooo funny.

Let's just torch all the libraries.

We have one book and i have always detested it

Hi David 👍

@RedToothBrushrelax! If you actually read my comments I’m basically saying that all authors can be offensive (different people get offended by different things) I’m anti throwing or burning any books! I’m not anti JK!

Have just googled his books as they hadn't been written when my children were younger.

Depending on which web site you look at they have varying age ranges. Billionaire Boy on one site says suitable from age 12, another book from age 9, some from age 8 and some from age 7.

I think the best thing a parent can do is read a child's book before giving it to them as they will then know whether it is suitable for their age.

My daughter used to love Jacqueline Wilson books. I hated them.

My DC already own and continue to read several DW books… I’m not going to throw them out.
When Michael Jackson songs come on the radio, I don’t turn it off and sometimes DC sing along if they know the words.

Agree with pp about Great Glass Elevator, there was something a bit crap / dragging about it. I loved Roald Dahl books as a kid but found GGE hard to get through and never had the urge to go back and read it. I did read Danny Champion of the World and The Witches repeatedly though as my absolute favourites. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, and The Twits were also up there

I wouldn’t have a problem binning David Walliams books, not so much due to what he has or hasn’t done but mostly because they are UTTER drivel. My heart used to sink when my kids would ask for a story from Worlds Worst Pets until I had the bright idea of binning it…it felt wrong but also oh so right

I'm not keen on banning books, but learning from them.

Just reading Peter Pan to the kids, it's not how I remember.

I think the difference with Walliams for me to books written years ago is that he knew the themes written about were inappropriate at the time he wrote them. He wasn't using the themes to raise awareness, he used them in humour. His intention was to introduce children to these themes.