Clara’s Verdict
David Walliams is a reliable quantity in children’s fiction: warmly comic, never condescending, and with a particular gift for the kind of eccentric adventure that eight-to-twelve-year-olds find irresistible. Code Name Bananas is one of his better efforts – a wartime caper with a genuine heart, built around the friendship between a boy, his zoo-keeper uncle, and a gorilla called Gertrude. It sounds daft, and it is, but it also manages to say something true about loyalty and courage without ever getting po-faced about it.
Peter Serafinowicz is a superb narrator for this kind of material: theatrical, committed, and very funny. Rated 4.8 from twenty Audible UK listeners, this is a solid choice for family listening.
About the Audiobook
It is 1940. Britain is at war. Eleven-year-old Eric spends his happiest hours at London Zoo, where his Uncle Sid works as a keeper and where his greatest friend is Gertrude the gorilla. When the Blitz begins and bombs start falling on London, Eric is determined to rescue Gertrude from the zoo before she comes to harm. Together with Uncle Sid, the three of them go on the run – ending up at the seaside, where they stumble across a top-secret Nazi plot.
Walliams handles the wartime setting with appropriate seriousness without ever frightening younger listeners; the danger feels real without being traumatic. The bond between Eric and Gertrude is drawn with genuine affection, and Uncle Sid is one of Walliams’s more fully realised adult characters – bumbling but brave, loyal to a fault. Published by HarperCollins Children’s Books in November 2020, running six hours and twelve minutes.
The Narration
Peter Serafinowicz is one of those narrators who appears to enjoy himself thoroughly, and that enjoyment is contagious. He brings a full repertoire of voices to the cast – Eric’s earnestness, Uncle Sid’s blustering good humour, the various comic villains – without tipping into caricature. The energy level is perfectly calibrated for younger listeners: engaging enough to hold attention, but never so frantic that it becomes exhausting. At just over six hours, this is an ideal length for a family road trip.
What Readers Say
Rated 4.8 from twenty Audible UK listeners, with the response overwhelmingly enthusiastic. One reader describes it as “a great book for kids” with an “interesting plot.” Another notes that it arrived as a gift with “funny illustrations.” The overall response suggests this is exactly what it appears to be: a well-made children’s audiobook that delivers on its promises without pretension.
Who Should Listen?
Ideal for children aged eight to twelve, and particularly for those already fond of other Walliams titles – Gangsta Granny, Billionaire Boy, Ratburger. The wartime setting makes it a natural complement to school history topics on the Second World War, though it is primarily an adventure story rather than a history lesson. Works very well as a family audiobook for car journeys. Find Code Name Bananas on Audible UK.
