Grannysaurus by David Walliams. Illus. by Adam Stower

Walliams has put together the very essence of a child’s relationship with his Grandmother, wrapped in love and dinosaurs, with this hilarious look at what happens at night when the grandson goes to bed.

At a sleepover, Spike begs to stay up a little later, but Gran will not hear of it.

She sends him off with a dinosaur growl and he dashes upstairs to get into his pyjamas and his bed. But he hears some strange nosies and sees a dinosaur shape on the wall, so he creeps back downstairs to find a dinosaur party in full swing.

Williams uses every dinosaur word, real and imagined, in this rollickingly funny tale of every child’s favourite animal, the dinosaur. At the dino-disco downstairs he finds Grannysaurus at the dance; after all she is a spino-saurus and Spike joins the fun, dancing with a brontosaurus, while getting groove with a gigantosaurus. All the fun of learning more of these animals will thrill young readers as they recognise the names, saying them to themselves with pleasure, while laughing heartily at the ones Walliams conjures into his story.

But when Gran spots Spike, she orders him back to bed. He refuses to go and a pursuit ensues, but each room he enters he spies another dinosaur so he finally goes back to the living room, where they all tell him to go to bed. Refusing, Gran tells him of the imminent arrival of Rex whose stomp can be heard coming closer. Rex who is too big to fit into the house, also orders Spike to bed but instead the boy jumps onto Rex’s head and slides down his back to his tail. Rex swings his tail a little hard and Spike circles the moon, finally returning to his bed where he falls asleep, determined to always go to bed early in case he becomes involved in another Dino-disco.

He has leant a lesson about bedtime and doing what he is told, although reluctantly. Kids will laugh uproariously at the images of the dinosaurs in the rooms Spike enters, adding to the laughter already reverberating around as they see Spike disobeying his Gran.

Bright, colourful illustrations fill each page, giving readers the mammoth task of looking at all the detail and recognising some of the attributes of each animal pictured, laughing at the antics of each, spotting the additions to their costumes donned for the party. I love Rex with his bow tie and cane, Gran’s hoop earrings and pearl necklace, the plesiosaurus in the bath with a shower cap, while Spike’s stuffed toys and his cat are looking a little overwhelmed by all the activity. A lovely funny book begging to be read aloud and shared with other classes and friends, Gran’s irreverence and Spike’s refusal to go to bed will warm the hearts of all.

Themes: Dinosaurs, Bedtime, Sleep, Grandmas, Grandchildren, Sleepovers.

Fran Knight