Gangsta Granny by
David Williams


Published in 2011

THE MAIN EVENTS OF THIS STORY ARE

• The relationship between Ben and his Granny.
• Ben finding out his Granny is an international jewel thief.
• Their plot to steal the Crown Jewels from The Tower of London.

The two main characters are Ben and his Granny.
Ben is an eleven year old boy, he was smaller than average and hated it. His dream is to grow up and be a plumber. His favourite magazine is " Plumbing Weekly" and it was the only thing he enjoyed reading.

Ben's Granny was your typical Granny, white hair, hearing aid, false teeth always had tissues up her sleeve and stank of cabbage. She was like everyone else's Granny except she had a big secret, she was an international jewel thief. She loved sitting at home reading books and playing scrabble with Ben and cooked all her dishes using cabbage. She also farted a lot.

DESCRIPTION OF SETTING.
Most of this story takes place in Ben's Granny's house. Granny's house was a small damp cold bungalow with bushes to the front where Ben once hid. Her house was full of books not just any old book they were all crime novels, books about gangsters, robbers and the mafia. They were piled everywhere, on shelves,lined up on windowsills and piled up in every corner available. The bathroom was a cold dark room with no window broken tiles and only one old worn towel.

My favourite part of the book is when Ben and his Granny attempt to steal the Crown Jewels. They began their attempt by jumping into the river Thames in London. They swam until they came to the sewage pipe from The Tower. It was partially under water so Ben and his Granny had to take a deep breath and go under water to get into the pipe. When they reached the old toilet they were covered in sticky black ancient poo. When they got to the jewel house where the Crown Jewels were kept Granny took a drill from her handbag and started drilling through all the locks. They eventually broke all the locks and made their way to the Jewels. The Jewels were beautiful. Just as they were about to break the glass on the box covering the Jewels they heard a voice saying "Who's there?" They couldn't believe their eyes when The Queen stepped out of the shadows.

Apparently she goes to the Tower to think, and Granny and Ben never thought she'd be there. When the queen asked Granny why she wanted to steal The Crown Jewels Granny explained to her that she once heard Ben on the phone saying to his parents how boring she was and how he disliked staying in her house. In order to make herself seem much cooler and for Ben to like her she made up all them stories about being a jewel thief. In fact all the told Ben was lies. Ben couldn't believe what he was hearing and when he asked his Granny about all the jewels he once found in her house she admitted that they were all fake and worthless that she found them in an ice cream tin she got from a charity shop. The Queen felt sorry for Granny and agreed not to call security and to let the two go with a pardon.

Gangsta Granny by David Walliams is a very funny very interesting book. I would highly recommend this book to people from ages 9-13. The book is good at descriptions of characters and places and it makes it easy to picture situations in your head. I would give this book 4.5 stars out of 5. The only reason I would knock half a star off is at the end of the book Ben's Granny dies of cancer and I think that's very sad. Apart from that part it's an excellent book and I think David Walliams is a very good author and I have a few of his books.

OTHER CHARACTERS

• Ben's Mum.
• Ben's Dad.
• Raj.
• Mr. Parker.

1. Ben's Mum.
Ben's mum worked at a nail salon called 'Gail's Nails'. She had a habit of applying her makeup while in the car which meant she usually ended up arriving to places looking like a clown. She has an obsession with a dancer from the television programme Strictly Stars Dancing called Flávio Flavioli. She even had the lime green thong once worn by him framed with a photo of him wearing it. She and Ben's Dad had hoped that Ben would grow up to be a dancer but Ben definitely wants to be plumber not a dancer.

2. Ben's Dad.
Ben's Dad is a security guard at a supermarket. He's too fat to run after thieves now but can easily block them from escaping. He has worked there for over 20 years and his highlight is stopping an old man who had tried to steal two tubs of margarine by putting them down his trousers. He too is obsessed with Strictly Stars Dancing and even plays the soundtrack to the show in his car constantly.

3. Raj.
Raj owns the shop that Ben goes to every week for his magazine 'Plumbing Weekly'. Although an adult Ben's considering Raj to be one of his best friends. Raj is very friendly towards Ben and often gives him advice. It was because of raj saying to Ben not to be too hard on his Granny that we'll all be old one day that made Ben think again about how he feels about his "boring" Granny.

4. Mr. Parker.
Mr. Parker was Granny's nosy neighbour. He was always spying on Granny because he was suspicious of her. He used the excuse that he runs the neighbourhood watch in Granny's street called Grey Close. He's a retired army Major and thinks its his job to spy on everyone. He's a big fat man with a big nose which Ben thinks makes him even more noisier and always wears a pork-pie hat. Granny does not like him at all.

That's my visual presentation