Books Jack Reads

Set in Victorian-era London in 1899, David's latest novel centres on a 10 year-old orphan named Elsie, who, after escaping from her cruel orphanage, hears about an amazing new discovery coming to the Natural History Museum: a 10,000 year-old woolly mammoth!

 

When Elsie sneaks in to visit the creature, she soon forms a bond with the mammoth (who Elsie names 'Woolly'), and finds out that Woolly misses her family in the North Pole.

 

Will Elsie and her new friends Dotty (a daft museum cleaning lady) and Private 'Titch' Thomas (Dotty's boyfriend and a retired soldier) be able to return Woolly back to where she belongs? Or will the greedy Professor and the murderous big-game hunter Lady Buckshot make it extinct?

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If your kids have read any of David's other adventure stories (Gangsta Granny, Bad Dad, etc), then they'll enjoy this one.

 

There are lots of exciting and funny action sequences (including a comedic showdown with the police outside the museum and an exciting sea battle) as well as plenty of silly humour from David in between (my favourite part is when Woolly eats too much jam and has a bottom explosion!).

 

Not only that, but there is also a bonus section at the end of the book, featuring facts about both woolly mammoths and the Victorian time period where the story is set.

 

And of course, it wouldn't be a David Walliams story without the absent-minded corner-store owner Raj but, since the book is set in Victorian times, it's actually one of his ancestors, Raj the First, who runs a sweets stall at the local market.

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Overall, this is another funny, heartfelt story from a master storyteller, with an important message at its core: that heroes can come in all shapes and sizes.