Code Name Bananas: The hilarious and epic children’s book from multi-million bestselling author David Walliams

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My eldest (nearly 10) hasn't read this yet but I'll be very interested in his opinion. Don't listen to drained little me, this is just the opinion of a very-much-not-the-target-audience mum and librarian. Zoals gebruikelijk post ik hier ook wat over wat ik gelezen heb. Wederom een nieuwe fantastische titel van David Walliams (ik zal hem altijd voor mij zien als zijn Little Britain karakters of het feit herinneren dat hij het kanaal gezwommen heeft van de ene naar de andere kant maar dat terzijde). More than two million homes were destroyed across the UK during the Blitz. To stay safe, many families spent the night sleeping in air raid ‘shelters’

Orphaned by the war, Eric has few friends but Gertrude, a gorilla at London Zoo, and her keeper, his uncle Sid. The German bombs end up causing Gertrude to escape her cage, which in turns means the owner of the zoo determines to have her put down (yep, it's a bit forced), so the three of them decide the best course of action is to run away. Cue a big country-wide chase, and lots of female clothing. And a final act involving two not-at-all suspicious old ladies in a dilapidated seaside boarding house. Together with his Uncle Sid, a keeper at the zoo, the three go on the run. But while hiding out at the seaside they uncover a top-secret Nazi plot…’ I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the other David Walliams books I’ve read. I’m not really sure why because it was a good story but I think the pace was quite slow, felt a little bit of a slog at times. I think the toilet humours got a bit old now as well cause there tends to be some kind of poo joke in his books, which I’m sure kids love but I’m at little over it haha 😂 They've felt phoned-in and rushed-out for a while now. I was pleased to see another period piece here (after The Ice Monster), especially as my eldest is studying World War II at school. And there are some great war details included, so that was a positive. Alhoewel humor ‘n kardinale rol in al Walliams se werk speel, sypel daar tog deernis en empatie deur wanneer hy Eric se gevoelens aangaande die verlies van sy ouers beskryf: ‘Dit het gevoel asof hy in ‘n droom is, of eerder ‘n nagmerrie, waarin hy onder water vasgekeer is en niemand hom sou hoor as hy gil nie.’ (64) Verskeie tegnieke om trae lesers te prikkel, word aangewend: nagtonele is wit op swart in plaas van swart op wit gedruk; geluide word in groter lettertipes aangedui en skep bykans die indruk van ‘n klankbaan wanneer woorde soos pah, woesjjj, hôôôh, grrr, krrr, doink, klonk, auuu, whuhh, ratataa en oef gelees word; die skrywer spreek die leser direk aan deur middel van voetnotas, en die illustrasies deur Tony Ross is so gedetailleerd en gepas dat dit bykans die effek van ‘n grafiese roman skep.

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Die Telegraph verwys na Walliams as ‘n waardige opvolger vir Dahl en sy wonderlike verhale kan ook nou in Afrikaans geniet word. Die oorspronklike titel was ‘Code name Banana’ en die Afrikaanse vertaling is deur Kobus Geldenhuys. PDF / EPUB File Name: Code_Name_Bananas_-_David_Walliams.pdf, Code_Name_Bananas_-_David_Walliams.epub I think I just miss the heart of Walliams' earliest novels. The ones that felt personal and could actually bring a tear to your eye. And the amount of celebrity authors now following in his footsteps jades me as well.

Eleven-year-old Eric spends his days at the place that makes him most happy: London Zoo. And there’s one animal in particular he loves: Gertrude the gorilla. It was the story though, the usual over-the-top stereotypes, the zany and overdone last act, and as an audiobook listener, some annoying voices that grated. Een goed volgbaar verhaal in grote letters, met geluiden in grotere en speelse lettertypes tussendoor. Hier en daar staan illustraties en de hoofdstukken zijn ingedeeld als ware ze onderdeel van een geheim dossier. Fijn is dat er achterin een stukje staat met wat niet-fictieve feitjes over de 2de Wereldoorlog. Vrij simpel verhaal dat veel kinderen zal aanspreken, en verfrissend omdat de focus echt ligt op de avonturen met de gorilla ipv een realistischer oorlogsbeeld wat in de meeste oorlogsboeken geschetst wordt. Onthoud dus dat dit vooral een fantasie is over dieren, maar dan gezet in een historische setting. Londen, 1940. Brittanje is in oorlog met Nazi-Duitsland gewikkel. Die 11-jarige Eric woon by sy ouma nadat hy beide ouers in die oorlog verloor het; sy pa het gesterf toe ‘n torpedo die skip, HMS Grafton, getref het, en sy ma toe ‘n bom haar werksplek verwoes het. Ouma is streng en effe doof en maak gebruik van ‘n gehoortrompet, maar Eric, ‘n kort seuntjie met bakore en ‘n gekraakte bril, is nietemin baie lief vir haar. Sy gunsteling plek is egter die dieretuin waar sy grootoom, Sid, die opsigter is. Oom Sid het in die Eerste Wêreldoorlog albei bene verloor en moet nou oor die weg kom met ‘n geroeste paar blikbene wat aardige geluide maak. Hy en Eric deel ‘n groot liefde vir diere, veral vir Gertrude, die gorilla. Wanneer haar lewe in gevaar is, huiwer hulle dus vir geen oomblik om haar te probeer red nie. Hulle avonture met Gertrude van Londen tot by ‘n verlate kusdorpie, agtervolg deur polisie en gekonfronteer deur Nazi-spioene, al die pad tot by Downingstraat 10, word op ‘n skreeusnaakse wyse in hierdie heerlike dik boek (amper 500 bladsye) vir lesers van ses jaar en ouer vertel. Madcap. Zany. Quirky. Hmm. It didn't hit the spot for me at all. The woman voicing Eric didn't help, yet another grating stereotype that didn't fit. An actual child's voice would have been nice.Sometimes, though, people felt safer sleeping on the platforms of London’s underground (Tube) train stations – it’s thought there were about 180,000 ‘Tubites’ in the capital each night. Gorillas are the largest of the great apes, but sadly they are critically endangered because of habitat loss and poaching. As usual David Walliams has done a fantastic job with creating characters to love root for as well as creating funny, evil characters that you enjoy getting to see fail at the end of the story. Britain is at war with Germany. As bombs rain down on the city, orphan boy Eric forms an extraordinary friendship with a remarkable gorilla: Gertrude. Eric spends his days at the place that makes him most happy: London Zoo. But when the zoo is no longer safe Eric must go on an epic adventure to rescue Gertrude. Together with his Uncle Sid, a keeper at the zoo, the three go on the run. But while hiding out at the seaside they uncover a top-secret plot . . . escape the clutches of evil villains . . . and in the end they save the day!