I don\u2019t make a habit of criticising other author\u2019s work. I know how difficult it is to write a novel. I know that the beauty of a book is often in the eye of the beholder and everyone has different tastes. What gives me the right to make a value judgment about a novel? However, every so often, a book comes along which leaves me so riled up I\u2019m afraid I can\u2019t keep from being critical. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve never read any of David Walliam\u2019s kids\u2019 books before. I knew they were incredibly popular \u2013 NUMBER ONE bestsellers, according to the cover- and I also knew many of my friends and colleagues in the kids\u2019 book world had reservations about both Walliam\u2019s work and also the increasing popularity of children\u2019s books written by celebrity authors. I\u2019m not going to wade into that argument, but I do think they are voicing legitimate concerns and, if Grandpa\u2019s Great Escape<\/em> is similar to the rest of Walliams\u2019 work I\u2019d have to say I have huge issues with his lazy and borderline misogynistic portrayal of women, his lazy, cliched, offensive depictions of BAME characters and the slightly snide and sneery way he writes about working class people. Putting these reservations aside for the moment, however, I will attempt to focus on Walliams\u2019 exploration of dementia in this novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dementia is not mentioned by name in Grandpa\u2019s Great Escape<\/em> but as the novel begins with the line \u201cone day Grandpa began to forget things,\u201d and Walliams goes on to outline how he\u2019s taken to wandering off at night, confusing the past with the present and does not recognise close family members, it\u2019s fair to say Grandpa has developed dementia. The novel\u2019s plot outlines his adventures with his grandson Jack. Swept up in an extended delusion that he\u2019s still living in the days of WW2 when he served his country as a fighter pilot, Grandpa runs away from home, hides out in a spitfire in the Imperial War Museum, is incarcerated in an old people\u2019s home which he mistakes for a Prisoner of War camp, leads a mass break out from the home and eventually steals a spitfire from the Imperial War Museum which he flies away in. The plot is quite frankly absurd, but it is a children\u2019s book and I\u2019m all for wild flights of fancy in literature aimed at both children and adults. The problem here is the tone. Most of the outlandish events are written with such flippancy that the suspension of disbelief disintegrates instantly. Walliams has often been accused of being diet-Dahl but he lacks Dahl\u2019s ability to believe his own magic. The made up stuff feels made up and I doubt it would make it past the discerning imagination of most eight year olds. It is badly written nonsense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d be annoyed if this was all Walliams was offering his readers, but I think Grandpa\u2019s Great Escape<\/em> is so much worse than a poorly written piece of children\u2019s literature. It\u2019s attempting to address an important issue; presenting a character with dementia to countless young readers who might well have a grandparent or loved one living with the illness. As such, it\u2019s unforgivable. Grandpa\u2019s dementia is like no dementia I\u2019ve ever encountered in almost fifteen years of working in this area. He can\u2019t remember his family, confuses times and dates, forgets things and yet manages to mastermind elaborate escape plans, fly a spitfire plane, enter into complicated conversations and at all times remain fastidiously and neatly dressed in full army regalia. It\u2019s quite clear from this portrayal that Walliams has done no research at all into how dementia would actually impact an elderly man or what effect the condition might have on his young grandson. Furthermore, the depiction of the residential care facility Grandpa\u2019s moved into is terrifying. He\u2019s drugged, physically abused by carers and isolated from his family. If I were reading this novel, as a young person whose grandpa had dementia, I\u2019d be both terrified by the possibility he might be incarcerated in a Colditz-style care home and also full of the false hope that he might make a miraculous recovery from his illness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At best this book is badly written. At worst it\u2019s downright harmful and instils a false narrative about dementia. I wish all those children, (or perhaps parents), who\u2019ve made it a NUMBER ONE bestseller had instead picked up one of the amazing books for kids I\u2019ve previously highlighted on the blog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grandpa\u2019s Great Escape was published by Harper Collins in 2015 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don\u2019t make a habit of criticising other author\u2019s work. I know how difficult it is to write a novel. I know that the beauty of a book is often in the eye of the beholder and everyone has different tastes. What gives me the right to make a value judgment about a novel? 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