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. I am a massive fan of David Walliams’ book, so I was excited to get my hands on this book. I am happy to say that this book was just as awesome as I had hoped it would be. David Walliams' Code Name Bananas is a heartwarming and comical adventure about a young boy who befriends a gentle gorilla and helps to rescue her from war-torn London. However, what follows is a tale of suspense and thrill, involving the prime minster of the time, Winston Churchill! Gorillas are the largest of the great apes, but sadly they are critically endangered because of habitat loss and poaching. This book was good and definitely one of David Walliams better ones. I recommend it because it will make you laugh.

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. I loved that this book was set during World War 2. This setting added a great opportunity for a little bit of history to be sprinkled into the story. The history that was featured in this story was interesting and made for some truly funny scenes.

Get to know us

It’s 1940. And Britain is at war with Germany. Eeven-year-old Eric loves nothing more than spending his days at London Zoo, especially with his very favourite animal, Gertrude the gorilla. But with bombs falling all over London, Eric realises he must rescue Gertrude. 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). 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. Of je daarom alle boeken kan aanraden van zijn hand? Het is op gevoel handelen als bibliothecaresse want zijn boeken voelen vaak hit & miss aan. Dat betekent niet dat de miss echt mis is. Het betekent dat zijn stijlen en onderwerpen per boek kunnen wisselen. Zo vond ik Oma Boef prachtig maar gruwelde van de Tandarts (Die kon ik echt niet uitlezen eeks!). Knap. Maar een ouder klaagde dat Oma Boef te ver ging omdat het criminaliteit zou bejubellen. Tsja... Net als dat sommige werken nogal grof taalgebruik bevatten.

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. Bonus materiaal sluit in: ‘n dramatis personae; feitelike notas oor Brittanje in die oorlogtyd; kaarte, en fiktiewe gidse tot dierebollie en grade van stink – met kool onderaan die lys en bobbejaanboude heel bo. Die formaat verseker ook addisionele vermaak: die roman word aan die leser deurgegee as ‘n gedeklassifiseerde geheime oorlogsdokument: ‘Hierdie storie sal vir tagtig jaar in die Britse Intelligensiediens se kluis bly, soos baie nasionale geheime, en dan, eers dan, sal die lêer uiteindelik openbaar gemaak word.’ (456) en ‘Die lêer is nou pas openbaar gemaak en…dit is die boek wat jy nou net gelees het.’ (475) Een favoriete auteur in de schappen in de bieb, want zijn stijl doet vaak denken aan Roald Dahl. Hij weet karakters als typetjes neer te zetten die voor de kinderen zeer herkenbaar zijn en zich zo in de beleveniswereld van de kinderen te begeven. Knap, en fijn. 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’David Walliams said, "This book is an epic comedy adventure set in World War II with an animal at the centre of the story. I hope children will fall in love with Gertrude the gorilla. There is plenty of humour, action and excitement to delight even the most reluctant reader." Working in a library this morning, I was talking about Walliams with a 9-year-old customer. He was surprised when I told him I hadn't really enjoyed the latest from the author, as he'd loved it. And maybe I'm doing the books a disservice, because, yes, his target audience DOES tend to love them. But that doesn't mean I need to gush and heap praise on them when I don't think it's deserved. Does it? 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.

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. Code Name Bananas is a funny book and it takes place in the second world war and the Natzi are bombing London. Eric is the main character that lost both parents in war, so now lives with his grandma. he gets bullied a lot at school so after he has a secret spot, the London Zoo! where he meets his best friend Gertrude the Gorilla! Code Name Bananas is ondanks de setting in Wereld Oorlog II vrij onschuldig qua taalgebruik en qua aard. En toch spannend. Eric is nog vrij recent een wees geworden - allemaal door de oorlog die gaande is. Hij woont nu bij zijn oma en bezoekt graag zijn oom in de dierentuin van Londen. Dat doet hij overigens stiekem - zijn oom werkt daar en zo besparen ze geld. Hij helpt zijn oom met de dieren en heeft een speciale band gekregen met Gorilla Gertrude. Wanneer er bombardementen gehouden worden, vindt Eric dat het tijd is voor actie. Wat er volgt is een spannend avontuur om Gertrude te redden en veilig te houden in oorlogstijd. 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…’

MOST POPULAR

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. 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. There is a unit plan included with the novel broken down into 17 lessons, with activities relevant to each lesson/chapters. There are 31 activities included to align with the chapters, with extension and fast finishers activities available also. Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are included for each lesson and align with curriculum. The activities are designed for students to build skills in responding to texts - such as building vocabulary, predicting, recount, chronological recount, different perspectives and making connections.