Book Review: The World’s Worst Children

Title: The World’s Worst Children

Author: David Walliams

Publisher: Harper Collins Children’s Books

The World’s Worst Children is a collection of 10 stories, featuring 10 awfully dreadful children. Each story introduces us to a wicked & mischievous kid. The collection is illustrated by Tony Ross. 

About the Author

David Walliams is world’s number one bestselling author. He has written a number of bestselling children’s books, since 2008. His novels have been translated into several language & have earned wide critical acclaim.

David Walliams (Left) with Tony Ross (Right)

David Walliams has worked on several books along with Tony Ross. Tony went to art school in Liverpool. Tony alone, has written over 100 books & illustrated over 2000 books.

Lets meet the world’s worst children.

I’ll write in a bit detail about the stories that I loved reading, and then I’ll give a brief introduction about the other stories. Let us begin.

1. Dribbling Drew- This is a story about a boy who used to dribble all the time, be it his bedroom or his classroom or football ground. This lazy boy loved sleeping. It did not take him much time to create a ‘pool of drool’. What used to happen next was teachers slipping or things floating here & there in the pool. The story is about how one day a visit to some museum changes his life.

2. Bertha the Blubberer- In this story, we meet Bertha- a girl who used to cry a lot. The author  writes, “The little girl was only eight years old, but she must have spent seven of them blubbering.” She used to cry to get more attention than his little brother. But one day her real face is exposed and as a punishment she is refrained from eating all the delicious dishes. But how did it happen?

3. Nigel Nit-Boy– Well, this is my favorite story of the collection. This boy, who is named Nigel, treats Nits (Louses) as his pet & develops a cloud of nits around his head. Crazy! Isn’t he? He dresses up like a superhuman, flies around with the help of nits & orders the nits to attack on people he hates. He’s indeed a superhero. But Alas! his nits leave him one day while he was flying. But why did they leave their master?

4. Miss Petula Perpetual-Motion– Here we meet a girl who cannot be still for a moment. Her limbs keep on moving constantly and because of this, she creates a mess wherever she goes. Even her mother has given a note regarding the same to her school. At the end, tables are turned & the readers are surprised, but Miss Petula still keeps on moving.

5. Peter Picker- Peter is a boy who always has a finger in one of his nostrils. The trouble starts when he decides to make a world record by making the biggest snot ball. He goes on nourishing his little snot ball, until it grows into a huge sticky snot sphere. The author does not tell if he was able to create the record, but the results are disastrous.

Besides these, the collection features five more such annoying, mischievous and notorious Kids. We have the extremely dirty Grubby Gertrude, who loved living in dirt. There is Brian Wong, who was never ever wrong and a boy who has never ever smiled, Earnest Ernest. Also joining the race of world’s worst children is a girl known as Windy Mindy, whose tummy is always full of gas. Yes, this one is really hilarious. Last but not the least, we have Sofia Sofa who loves watching TV on sofa so much, that she herself has become a sofa.

My Verdict

Let me first admit that I’m not the right person to review this book. It’s meant for children and not for someone like me, whose teens are over.But a child of 8-10 years will rarely write a review. So, I’m writing one. In case you guys have been wondering why I got this book for myself, let me tell you that I got it as a prize for some contest on twitter.

Almost every story in the collection teaches us the same thing that bad habits can land us in danger, as each of the world’s worst children in the collection has to suffer at the end. The author wants his young readers not  to be like any of these children.

Tony Ross as an illustrator has done a fabulous job. The book too has been written in a delightful manner. 

I personally enjoyed reading some of the stories. But the real pleasure can be derived only by children. So I would recommend this book to every parent/ uncle/ aunt who is looking for some children’s book.

My Rating: ***** (5/5)

What do you think about the collection? Can you relate yourself or your own kids/ nephews/ nieces to any one of these kids? Do share yours thoughts.

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Available for purchase on Amazon. in and Infibeam.