This is classic David Walliams: a big heart wrapped in fart jokes. The premise—a boy rescuing his beloved, dementia-stricken grandpa from a villainous nursing home—has real emotional potential, and the WWII Spitfire sequences add flair. Kids who love Diary of a Wimpy Kid or Captain Underpants will probably eat this up.
But here's the problem: dementia experts have been vocal that this book gets the condition wrong in ways that could actually be harmful. A Queen's University Belfast blog on dementia fiction called it 'badly written' and said it 'instils a false narrative.' That's a significant issue for a book tackling such a sensitive topic. The humor is also relentlessly low-brow—underwear gags, bathroom jokes, slapstick—which some kids adore and some parents find exhausting.
If you've got a reluctant reader who needs something fast and funny, this will do the job. But if you're hoping for a thoughtful, accurate exploration of aging and memory loss, look elsewhere. It's entertaining enough, but it's not going to win any awards for depth or sensitivity.






