Gangsta Granny

David Walliams's Gangsta Granny is a very funny story for 9 year olds about a boy who's sure his granny is the most boring person on the planet.

What happens

Every Friday night, Ben's mum and dad drop him at Granny's bungalow so they can go out. They're obsessed with a ballroom dancing show on TV. Ben's obsessed with plumbing (yes, really). Nobody seems very interested in Granny.

And to be fair to Ben, a night at Granny's isn't a party. There's cabbage soup, then cabbage pie. There's Scrabble. There's bed at eight o'clock. Ben even has a list of the ten things he can't stand about her, and quite a few of them involve her bottom (it quacks like a duck when she walks).

Then Ben goes looking for Granny's secret stash of chocolate biscuits. The old tin is far too heavy. Inside, there are diamonds. LOTS of diamonds.

Of course he has to find out more. So he ends up hiding in a bush, then following a small figure dressed all in black on a mobility scooter (top speed four miles an hour). What Granny tells him next turns a dull Friday into the biggest secret Ben's ever been trusted with.

A lot of the fun is how much Walliams talks to you. He stops the story to make you sit and count to sixty. He shares a handy guide to pretending to brush your teeth, as long as you don't tell your parents. And there's Raj at the newsagent's, whose special offers get sillier every time Ben goes in. Who wouldn't want twenty-four out-of-date Cornettos in November?

There's a gentler side too. Ben's parents are pretty unkind about Granny, and Ben's no angel either. One night he phones home begging to be picked up because she's so boring, and he's not sure she didn't hear. The next morning she seems a little broken, and Ben feels awful.

So it's worth knowing it isn't all trumps and bogeys (though there are plenty of those). It also asks your reader to think about how we treat older people, and some of that lands quite hard.

If you've got a reader who likes a big laugh with a bit of heart underneath, this is a great pick.

What to read next

For another Walliams story about a boy and his grandparent, try Grandpa's Great Escape. Jack's grandpa has started forgetting things, and now believes he's still flying a Spitfire in the war.