Anyone noticed how many of the David Walliams stories involve death of a parent ?

[pumpkinpie01]

My ds7 got quite a few David Walliams books given to him and we were working our way through them. Every story seems to involve an absent mother normally through death , Ratburger , Demon Dentist, Billionaire Boy all the main characters mums have died. Bad Dad and Boy In the Dress both mums just left their sons. Awful Auntie the parents were murdered. Yes they are well written I don't dispute that and death is a sad fact of life but does he really need to have death in every story ? anyone else noticed this ?

I am not at all a fan of David Walliams. But all of children’s literature is full of orphans - it makes plots work if you remove a parent as children are less supervised.

Have you read much Roald Dahl OP? Very similar, just better written.

But all of children’s literature is full of orphans - it makes plots work if you remove a parent as children are less supervised.

This. If parents haven't died, they're working overseas or on a lecture tour or something that means they can't be there.

Most kids books are the same.

@BikeRunSki yes we have worked our way through most of Roald Dahl much prefer those. I see peoples points regarding an absent parent ,after reading one where the mum had died then starting the second my son was saying ' oh no another little boy without a mum ' . Awful Auntie was basically the auntie trying to murder the girl !

@EBearhug wish he would have the mothers on a long term overseas contract !

Many, many children's stories have done away with the parents by some means or other

It's actually quite hard to think if one where the parents are present. You have to get rid of them so that the children can have independent adventures.

I agree that Awful Auntie is a horrible story!!

Every Disney story too I find!

Yes they are well written I don't dispute that

Are you sure?!

They're appallingly written. Grammatical errors, lazy characterisations, reliance on lists to name a few issues. They're very bad indeed but well marketed.

The dead parent motif sits nicely alongside his obsession with people being fat and some terribly misogyny and racism.

Most classic fairy stories have a similar plot.

Bambi?
Children’s fairytales are usually pretty gruesome reading.

Most fairy tales are about orphans, Enid Blyton and similar stories have parents who are absent if not dead. It's a device to ensure children have to make their own decisions and act independently.

I get the point about no parents being a theme of children's fiction, but I also think that mothers present a problem to DW as then he might have to create a human rounded female character who showed a caring side. So he bumps them off, and can then include trophy younger wives / girlfriends instead who he can criticise for being the shallow creatures he's written them as.

@BikeRunSki

Have you read much Roald Dahl OP? Very similar, just better written.

David Walliams basically copies Roald Dahl but he is absolutely not a better writer!

As an aside Disney is obsessed with parental trauma too...notable recent exception was Moana. I was surprised both her parents were intact through the whole film!

They are NOT well written!

@Butterymuffin

I get the point about no parents being a theme of children's fiction, but I also think that mothers present a problem to DW as then he might have to create a human rounded female character who showed a caring side. So he bumps them off, and can then include trophy younger wives / girlfriends instead who he can criticise for being the shallow creatures he's written them as.

Like Snow White then. Fairy tales are full of wicked step mothers.

Frozen, Bambi. Thank goodness Dumbo's mother didn't come to some sticky end.

I wonder about DW's relationship with his mother. All the mothers in his book are awful.

Try Kita Mitchell or Pamela Butchart. They manage to have the parental influence remote without being a pile of derivative dross.

He isn't the best writer that's for sure, but I did like the one about the grandpa with Alzheimer's. I thought it was quite a sweet way to explain the progression of the disease to very young children.

I often think he's sold to the wrong audience and he should be read to much younger children. He is a bit simplistic for 8 year olds really. But obviously he would have to scrub some of the dodgy bits out and I agree there are things in his books that are distasteful.

He seems very focused on appearance to mock and ridicule others and there are lots of abusive relationships. I do wonder what his childhood was like really, perhaps he's trying to sort it all out through his writing.

Not at all a fan of DW but looking at a random selection of children's books on my shelf:
A Little Princess - mother dead before book starts, dad dies in course of book
Secret Garden - mother and father die of cholera in first chapter
And Then There Were Five - mother dead from before book starts
Treasure Seekers - mum dead from before start of book
Railway Children - mum not dead but dad in prison
Ballet Shoes - no mum or dad for all 3 Fossils
I could go on and on

@Butterymuffin

I get the point about no parents being a theme of children's fiction, but I also think that mothers present a problem to DW as then he might have to create a human rounded female character who showed a caring side. So he bumps them off, and can then include trophy younger wives / girlfriends instead who he can criticise for being the shallow creatures he's written them as.

This. David Williams as a person seems to have a problem with women, and that comes across in his books.

I think that is why you are picking up on it in his books OP, and not in Roald Dahl or Disney. It feels different.

Yes he definitely does seem to have an issue with women. When I said they were well written I think I meant the storyline as opposed to the writing style , ( I wrote my post in a rush whilst at work) my son loves the continuity of Raj and the unrealistic escapades. We're on Gangsta Granny at the moment and I'm actually going to ad-lib the last few chapters , we read at night and as the Grandma dies at the end I would rather my son went to sleep feeling happy not sad.

Try the Mark Lowery books instead @pumpkinpie01. My DS loved the escapades in those (Chicken Nugget Ambush is one title) without the unpleasantness of David Walliams, and there's a whole series.