Demon dentist by David Walliams

Ill. by Tony Ross. Harper Collins, 2013. ISBN 978000745357.
Well recommended for upper primary students.This author has a funny twist on a subject most children and adults like to avoid. The dentist. Strange happenings occur and children who put their tooth under their pillow for the tooth fairy to leave them money find really horrible things such as a dead slug. The author has been compared to a modern Roald Dahl with a twisted sense of humour. Certainly no young child would want to visit the dentist after either reading or having this read to them, but the underlying humour is strong and very amusing. The cover says it all, with the demon female dentist attacking her patient. It's a very colourful and enticing cover even though the subject is not! Alfie lives with his Dad who is wheel chair bound but they have magical trips in the world of make-believe. But at twelve nearly thirteen his life changes. Miss Root, with the flawless white teeth, asked the school children to call her 'Mummy'. Alfie had never been to the dentist and when Winnie the Social Worker enters their lives all changes. Gabz, (Alfie's only friend at school) and Alfie discover that Miss Root has a degree in Dentistry and Witchery and the ending is exciting and well deserved especially against Miss Root. It's a fast moving cleverly contrived plot, not for the faint hearted or those just beginning their journeys to the dentist, but funny and humorous.
Sue Nosworthy