BooksforTopics Reading for Pleasure Recommendations
Book Title: The World’s Worst Teachers (available here)
Author: David Walliams
Illustrator: Tony Ross
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: June 2019
Most Suitable For: KS2
Reviewed by: Kathryn Gilbert, Deputy Headteacher
David Walliams has created another great book for both children and adults alike.
The book is divided into 10 different stories, all of which are easy to read and engaging for children who love funny stories. There is plenty of irreverent humour about poo and other disgusting delights, which many children will find hilarious. This is the type of book that you can pick and choose to read, selecting your favourite ‘Worst Teacher’ or reading the book from front to back.
Walliams introduces children to a range of different types of teachers through a series of outlandish tales. The books begins with the introduction of Mr Pent, the maths-obsessed teacher with a hatred of balls. He then goes on to describe Mr and Mrs Lovey-Dovey, before detailing the ‘Trike of Terror’ driven by Miss Spick. Other teachers include Miss Conceit, who loves herself even more than she loves art, Miss Palaver, a very dramatic drama teacher and Mr Phobe, a headteacher scared of children. A personal favourite of mine is Mr Bulk, the school PE teacher who boasts of sporting achievements that everyone knows are not true.
The book includes a range of tricky vocabulary – like ‘cataclysmically’ – but Walliams writes in such a way to explain all the difficult language and put it into context. There is also lots of subject-specific language, including the mention of various artists and maths topics like trigonometry.
The layout of each text is appealing to children and the illustrations by Tony Ross are excellent, bringing the stories to life and adding so much value to the process of reading the book. This really is a great read for children who like to laugh their way through a text!
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You can order The World’s Worst Teachers online or from your local bookshop or library.
Many thanks to the publisher for sending us a review copy of this book and to Review Panel member Kathryn for reviewing it.
