What parents are saying after buying David Walliams’ books for their kids - The Independent

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Parents whose children have grown up reading David Walliams’ books have said they are planning on throwing away their copies – with some even writing to schools to have his stories removed from the curriculum.

Walliams was this week accused of grooming, sexual assault and a pattern of inappropriate behaviour towards women and girls as young as 15, in an investigation by The Guardian and ITV – having been denied an injunction against the allegations being published. Walliams is not facing criminal charges and he denies any wrongdoing.

The comedian, actor and writer, who was one of the best-selling children’s authors in the UK, was dropped by his publisher HarperCollins in 2025. The move came following an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour towards female employees, which Walliams denied.

Walliams was described as “golden goose” for HarperCollins; he had brought the publisher £100m in sales through dozens of books that have sold more than 60 million copies. He was also a mainstay at literary festivals across the country, and there were major stage and screen adaptations of his works, as well as a recently closed attraction called The World of Walliams at theme park Alton Towers.

His books are also widely used in schools, despite not being on the official national curriculum.

Before sexual misconduct allegations were brought against him, Walliams’ books repeatedly received criticism over the years for classism, fat-shaming and misogyny.

Yet despite their divisive content, his stories – from Gangsta Granny to Ratburger – have enchanted young readers for many years, with his fans often opting to dress up as his characters on World Book Day.

One parent contacted by The Independent, whose children are four and seven years old and are fans of Walliams’ stories, said: “I’ve told my kids that he’s a bad man and so we don’t want to read his books anymore. We won’t be giving his books to charity, we will be putting them in the recycling bin. I’ve seen some people use them in their wood burners. I may also do that…”

Another, who has a seven-year-old son, said: “I have addressed David Walliams’ issues with my son. I told him that David Walliams had been nasty and disrespectful to women and so we shouldn’t be supporting him anymore. That means not going on rides and not watching his programmes on TV and not reading the books.”

They added: “We only had Gangsta Granny and had only watched the same title, so not much of a loss really. But my son accepted it and agrees that if someone disrespects and is mean to others then they shouldn’t be supported.”

One parent, who is also a teacher at a primary school in London, said she had written a persuasive email to her school this morning to try to convince management to remove Walliams’ books.

She had always disapproved of the themes in Walliams’ stories, so she found it difficult when, last year, her daughter was given Demon Dentist as the guided reading book for her Year 3 class.

“I can’t just take her out of school,” she said. “So I guided her to other books.”

She added: “In David Williams’ books, there are so many stereotypes and so much humour that punches down. If as a parent I have to start explaining away a whole book, then it’s just something that you shouldn’t be reading.”

In an email to the school where she teaches, and which is also attended by her children, she argued that Walliams “is clearly, as an author, problematic… from the fatshaming to the stereotypical images of people from Asia”. She noted that “women are being used as very, very questionable plot points in his stories and misogyny is part of the plot”.

As an alternative, she suggested other “diverse, non-problematic authors and stories that similarly go into that very absurd humour”, such as works by Zanib Mian, Sharna Jackson, Serena Patel and Nathanael Lessore.

She said that many other parents have emailed her school to ask for Walliams’ books to be removed. On Reddit there are countless accounts from teachers who say that this week their own schools have asked them to stop using the stories. Also in recent days, retailer Waterstones said it will be returning the “small number of copies” it still has of Walliams’ books to HarperCollins.

Speaking about Walliams’ popularity in schools, another parent told The Independent: “I do think the plot of Mr Stink should have been a major red flag to all schools.” The book follows a lonely girl who makes friends with an unhoused man and hides him in her family’s shed.

They continued: “It really disturbs me that we aren’t more attuned to the power of narrative. No point teaching kids Pantosaurus [an NSPCC initiative to keep children safe] in one lesson, and then giving them a book about how young girls should befriend old men and keep secrets from their mothers in another.”

The Independent has contacted Walliams for comment.