A whole week for David Walliams!
Harry Potter gets one night a year.
William Shakespere, arguably England's greatest playwright gets one day a year (frankly that's not even given much in the way of promotion for children).
Roald Dahl, from whom Walliams draws the vast majority of his inspiration (let's not forget the sharing of brilliant illustrator Quentin Blake) gets one day a year.
The U.K's flamin patron saints get one day a year each!
So why does Walliams need an entire week?
In my opinion he doesn't but not because he's a terrible author: I happen to like a couple of his books. It is also well noted that the kids love him. His books are one of the top primary school lends up and down the country.
However, I've a firm belief that everyone deserves their moment in the sun, their fifteen minutes of fame, so it annoys me when one person loses out because another has to hog an hour and a half!
Latest statistics show that around 10, 000 children's books are published every year. Some of those works may never see the light of day, not because they're poorly written, just because they won't get any attention. Instead someone of celebrity standing (like Walliams) will have it all. Even now I'm contributing to it by giving the issue attention myself. After all, how many of you knew about this issue before I mentioned it in the blog? I know some will have known but others won't have.
Anyway, rant concluded I am going to now move on to the remainder of this week's review. I just happened by some weird coincidence to be reading books by celebrity authors this week. With me not really having read much celeb material previously, I picked up two books by people I quite like and have got a lot of time for.
The first one is this:
Neil Patrick Harris is an actor whose first major role was as fresh faced teenage, doctor Doogie Howser. For anyone born post 90's it's a show where a teenage genius was trying to cope with life and hormones whilst working in a busy hospital and practically out shining all of his more experienced peers.
After that he seemed to vanish (much like the characters in his book) before bursting back on to the showbiz scene. He is now at the helm of an excellent adaption of Lemony Snickett's 'Series of Unfortunate Events' (which is so worth the watch)!
His book 'The Magic Misfits' tells the story of an orphaned boy down on his luck after running away from his con man uncle.
Carter ( the young boy) ends up in a quiet, little, middle America town and ends up falling into a group of magicians and entertainers (all children with interesting backgrounds like his own). Together they must stop a sinister circus troope from stealing the town's every last cent.
The language is rich and the story moves along quickly and smoothly, there's a wonderfully unique element in the form of several magic tricks that you can learn as you go through the book. There's even secret messages hidden within the book in code!
The second book is this one:
Macenzie Crook is an English actor known for several roles, from the wooden eyed pirate in 'Pirates of the Caribbean' to the more recent Detectorist series on the BBC. His most notable role was in 'The Office'.
Once again we are blessed with rich language and a smooth pace although this time it's slower, subtler and altogether less garish in parts. Set in the 80's after the famous 'Fish hurricane that never was' it tells the story of one boys' discovery of sprites, real sprites that live on the moor just outside his home town.
His challenge comes when he has to prove they exist, something which the town's most notable scientist/madman failed to do 200 years prior.
I found both of these books fascinating as they seemed to be perfect echoes of the men who wrote them. Magical Misfits had all the flair and panache of a stylised American magic show. The Windvale Sprites had the soft, tender storytelling of someone quintessentially English. They also revealed their authors' hidden talents. Neil Patrick Harris had previously been heavily involved in magic, serving as president of a magical society no less. Whilst Mackenzie Crook illustrated his own book, proving that he is quite talented as an illustrator.
In fact at points I could actually hear their voices as I read the stories. The language and styles of writing fit them that well.
I would certainly read more books by both of them, though they wouldn't be the top of my priority reads. If I was recommended something by one of my own peers or the children in my life I would definitely pick it over a book written by celebrity.
These books written by a person who is not an author and are number 14 on my 52 book list. As for a certain Mr Walliams, I will NOT be celebrating an entire week of his work. I'll give him the one day just like anyone else because ten years of writing for children is something worth a day's mention.
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