Fing

We love the writing style. We loved the characters and the story line. Great metáfora for those kids that are a nightmare for parents. My son 9 loves David Walliams Books. “Mom, we are keeping this one!”

An enjoyable read, written in David Walliams incomparable style. Not as great as some of his other books, this one seemed a tad rushed. In fact it's the only one of his books we don't have a hard copy of.

Love these books! Love the author! Shipped fast & perfect.

It was for our 4 year old grandson, Really?

My 9 year old loved it!

Nice mix of vocabulary.

Read this aloud to my class of Year 5&6s (9-10 year olds). Lots of laughter and imaginative follow up activities.

Loved other books by D Walliams, not this one... very disturbing storyline

From the first, I had the feeling this was one of the WWC series, expanded. This was the first time my son has bought a Walliams' on day of publication, as he's such a fan of every other by the author (we've only missed out Awful Auntie). It's taken around 10 nights for me to read it to him, and he's enjoyed it.So this review is not from his perspective - an 8 year old will love this: bum/poo jokes, lots of noises and silly creatures, things being destroyed, lists. It's also half the length of most of Walliams' recent novels, but still with regular Tony Ross sketches, so does speed along. No, it's great for the target market.But as an experienced reader and librarian, it's pretty weak I'm afraid. This is the author's first novel with no hero/heroine. As Myrtle is a World's Worst Child in all but book title, she's actually also a minor character for most of the book. Spoiled by her librarian parents (oh what a terrible example they set for my profession!), she's a stereotype of an indulged brat with no personality anyway - nobody will be dressing up as her next World Book Day.And Mr and Mrs Meek themselves are spineless simpering cliches, calling each other 'Mother' and 'Father'. There's nothing to them and they don't grow or do anything of note throughout the entire book.***** SMALL SPOILER AHEAD *****The story itself is ridiculously simple: brat wants 'Fing' as pet. Parents acquiesce. Parents find said potentially destructive pet. (SPOILER!!) Destruction occurs. A World's Worst Children-like 'serves-you-right ending for spoilt brat' also occurs.***** END OF PLOT SPOILER *****While my son found this entertaining, and I did enjoy some moments (list of unusual creatures in the MONSTERPEDIA being one), it just didn't feel as though it had been created with much love or care as some of the author's others clearly were. Even Fing himself has no character - he's an eating/pooing being, no emotion besides a lot of 'grrrr'ing. So I didn't care for the girl, her parents, the pet - there's no 'enemy' or battle... it really is just a reject from World's Worst Children or one made longer.We spotted our beloved Raj twice (once as a graphic on a bus, and once Walliams shoehorns him in, even saying he's done it to place the much-esteemed newsagent in the story). Always a highlight, but certainly not enough to help raise this up from 'meh' rating to the bestselling status it will instantly earn without the merit of Walliams' previous heartfelt and genuinely funny inventions.For ages 7-11.

David Walliams is getting a bit lazy. This is an extension of a worlds worst children story.The good - My seven year old read the book herself in a couple of sittings. She enjoyed it and it was easier for her to read alone than some of the longer DW books. Good for reluctant readers. The basic storyline was quite amusing - it will resonate with parents of children who always seem to ask for more stuff (ie mine!).The bad - This felt like cheap, disposable literature. The children’s story equivalent of a Big Mac. Great for a quick hit, but doesn’t last long and leaves you with a lingering feeling of dissatisfaction. Absolutely no depth and the characters were unbelievably stereotyped. Even more so than DW’s other books. The book was padded out with illustrations and lists. A few lists are amusing, but DW went too far with the number of lists in Fing.I would recommend buying this for a 7/8/9 year old who is struggling to enjoy reading. However, if you are looking for a better example of DW’s work, opt for something with more substance like the Midnight Gang or Bad Dad.

This could be an extract from worlds worst children! Think David Williams is milking the cash cow with this piece of trite

Arrived in excellent condition, looks like a very good story to set off imaginations

Super fast delivery. My son was excited to receive the package only to find the front cover had a big rip down it. Shame but he's looking forward to reading the book.