3rd book in the David Walliams set that I have read, and again I was in love with this book from the moment I picked it up.
This book follows a boy Alfie and his dad, various characters from their school (including Alfie's not girlfriend girlfriend), Raj and the Demon Dentist Miss Root and her cat Fang.
Dad is ill and poor and relies heavily on Alfie who looks after them both. Having most of the utilities in their house cut off years ago, dinner is often a cup of tea and a biscuit. That is until Winnie the social worker makes a loud and colourful entrance into their life. Her first order of business is to get Alfie to the dentist to deal with his brown, yellow, badly looked after teeth. She has booked him in to see Miss Root who Alfie met in assembly the day before. Miss Root was not all she seemed, and Alfie has immediately taken a dislike to her. Throwing the toothpaste she gave him in the river, after it burnt a hole in the floor, which killed all the fish!!
Strange goings on have also been happening in the village, where teeth under pillows are being replaced with awful things, like eyeballs!! Instead of the usual money the children are expecting.
After Alfie has had all his teeth taken out, unwillingly of course, he begins to suspect Miss Root and her white cat Fang are more than what they seem. It turns out he was right - she's a witch!! A tooth witch to be precise, and they battle in the old mine Dad use to work in. Dad saves the day by helping them finally escape the witch, but not before he sacrifices himself so Alfie, Winnie and the girlfriend can get away safely. Leaving Alfie an orphan, who gets taken in by Winnie and her new husband Raj.
Again this was a children's book with very adult themes, and dealt with them in a gentle way. Before I read this book I thought it was risky having a 'demon dentist', as a lot of children fear the dentist, so to have a character in that line of work that is clearly evil was a big risk, and could have ended up putting children off their dentist in real life. However the notion that she was a witch, and employed magic to take the teeth of children somehow softened the blow, balancing it out at the end by introducing the nice lady dentist who fixed Alfie's teeth.
Also the death of Alfie's dad was a bit of a shock. In children's stories, normally characters miraculously get better and they live happily every after. While Alfie did live happily with Winnie and Raj, you can't forget that his dad did die, and in a fairly gruesome way - inhaling too much coal and then falling down a mine shaft. Yet it added to the narrative, and I don't feel was too much for children to handle. His death was noble, instead of the waste it might have been if he was allowed to die in his wheel chair at home.
Death of a loved one seems to be a recurring feature in Walliams books, and he deals with this tricky and grown up subject in a mature way. Judging by how popular these books are with children it obviously has not had an adverse effect on them, so perhaps these books are introducing children to the idea of death in a way they can process and deal with.
Again this was a children's book with very adult themes, and dealt with them in a gentle way. Before I read this book I thought it was risky having a 'demon dentist', as a lot of children fear the dentist, so to have a character in that line of work that is clearly evil was a big risk, and could have ended up putting children off their dentist in real life. However the notion that she was a witch, and employed magic to take the teeth of children somehow softened the blow, balancing it out at the end by introducing the nice lady dentist who fixed Alfie's teeth.
Also the death of Alfie's dad was a bit of a shock. In children's stories, normally characters miraculously get better and they live happily every after. While Alfie did live happily with Winnie and Raj, you can't forget that his dad did die, and in a fairly gruesome way - inhaling too much coal and then falling down a mine shaft. Yet it added to the narrative, and I don't feel was too much for children to handle. His death was noble, instead of the waste it might have been if he was allowed to die in his wheel chair at home.
Death of a loved one seems to be a recurring feature in Walliams books, and he deals with this tricky and grown up subject in a mature way. Judging by how popular these books are with children it obviously has not had an adverse effect on them, so perhaps these books are introducing children to the idea of death in a way they can process and deal with.
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