Billionaire Boy

Billionaire Boy is a 2010 children’s chapter book by popular British children’s author David Walliams. The protagonist, 12-year-old Joe Spud, is the son of a toilet paper tycoon and the wealthiest child in the country. Joe feels socially isolated: He’s bullied for his weight, and he doesn’t want his classmates to know he’s the “billionaire boy.” Raised to value possessions over relationships, Joe soon learns that he can’t buy the one thing he needs most: friendship. The book is a satire that uses over-the-top humor and cartoon-like illustrations to show how consumerism can lead to social isolation.

Walliams is best known as a comedian, actor, and television personality. In the 2000s, he hosted Britain’s Got Talent and starred in the sketch comedy show Little Britain. Walliams began writing children's literature in 2008 and has since authored over 20 novels, short story collections, and picture books. Billionaire Boy addresses themes such as The Irreplaceable Value of Genuine Friendship, Material Riches Versus Social Wealth, and Confronting Social Inequality With Humor.

This guide refers to the HarperCollins paperback edition of this book.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of bullying, racism, illness, and death. In particular, the text includes instances of fatphobia.

Plot Summary

Twelve-year-old Joe Spud lives with his father in a huge mansion. He comes from a working-class family, but when Joe was eight, his father became instantly rich when he invented a toilet paper called Freshbum. Now, Joe has every luxury a kid could want but does not have a single friend. Mostly, he is bullied for his weight at his expensive private school.

Joe asks his father if he can switch schools, and Mr. Spud reluctantly agrees to let Joe attend a normal public school, where he will hide his identity as the “billionaire boy.” At his new school, Joe meets Bob, another overweight kid who is also bullied. The two quickly bond, as Joe pays Bob to come in last in the cross-country race, saving him from humiliation. Later, Bob returns Joe’s money out of guilt, and he and Joe become better friends. They share a bit about their lives, and Joe pretends his dad still works at the toilet paper factory. Bob reveals that his dad died of cancer, and his mom works two jobs to provide for them. Joe decides to buy some chocolate and share it with Bob.

The two boys visit Raj’s corner store to buy some sweets. Raj recognizes Joe as the billionaire boy he read about in the paper, and Joe is dismayed that his secret is out. Bob assures him he likes him for who he is, and the two walk back to school sharing their chocolate.

Later, the two boys encounter the bullying twins, Dave and Sue Grubb. They taunt Bob and throw him in a garbage can while Joe watches helplessly. Joe wonders how he can stop their bullying and become even better friends with Bob.

One day, Bob and Joe are walking to school together when the Grubb twins begin chasing them. The boys run into the school cafeteria, where they eat Mrs. Trafe’s awful cooking in peace. When the Grubb twins come in and corner Joe, he has an idea—but he keeps it to himself. Later, the boys endure Miss Spite’s history lesson. When she learns that Joe has forgotten his homework, she gives him 15 minutes to get it before he is assigned to litter duty.

The boys are sharing another chocolate on the playground when Mr. Spud descends in his personal helicopter with Joe’s homework. Joe is embarrassed by this public display while his classmates are amazed and excited. Joe rushes to deliver his homework, but Miss Spite claims it is seconds late, and Joe is tasked with litter duty anyway.

Once Joe is discovered, his classmates hound him into the cafeteria, begging for money and treats from him. He finds a sympathetic ear in Mrs. Trafe, but soon she, too, asks for money.

Later, Bob and Joe are playing when they are interrupted by the Grubbs, who invite Bob on a camping holiday. Bob is suspicious and figures out that Joe has paid them to be kind to him. Furious at being pitied, Bob gets angry at Joe, who also becomes upset, and the two boys storm off.

Meanwhile, Joe is unimpressed with Mr. Spud’s new girlfriend, Sapphire, when she comes over for dinner. Despite Mr. Spud’s many gifts, Sapphire asks for more, leading Joe to accuse her of dating Mr. Spud for his money. Joe has his own crush when he takes an immediate liking to a new girl in his class named Lauren. Pretty and kind, Lauren makes Joe feel shy, but he works up the courage to ask her on a date and is amazed when she says yes.

Joe and Lauren walk to Raj’s shop and get sweets together. As they chat, the Grubb twins arrive, asking Joe for money and taunting them both. Lauren karate chops them, and they run away, leaving Joe even more impressed with her.

Joe and Lauren try to have lunch in the cafeteria, but Joe is upset when he notices that Mrs. Trafe has gotten an extensive makeover with the money he gave her instead of having the hip surgery she said she needed. Joe tells Lauren the secret about his fortune, and Lauren assures him she likes him for who his is, not his money.

Joe’s classmates are happy to learn that their mean history teacher, Miss Spite, has been fired and replaced with a new teacher, Peter Bread. Mr. Bread has a lot to handle as the kids quickly nickname him “Pita Bread.” One day, Bob finds Joe in the washroom and tells him there is a rumor that Lauren is an actress and not even really interested in being friends with Joe. Joe angrily calls Bob a liar and ends their friendship.

Joe kindly starts a petition for the school to rehire Miss Spite, but only Lauren signs it. When he tries to deliver it to his principal, Mr. Dust, Joe notices that he has a new and very expensive motorcycle. Later, Joe visits Raj and shares his suspicions about Miss Spite’s sudden firing and the principal’s new motorcycle. Raj has news of his own: The latest Freshbum toilet paper has left his buttocks purple. Joe is unconvinced his dad’s latest invention could really be such a disaster.

Joe and Lauren arrive at Joe’s house, where a huge party is underway. Joe is dismayed to learn that his dad has hired party guests to celebrate his surprise engagement to Sapphire. Joe confronts his dad for his behavior, and he learns that his dad was behind all the suspicious developments at school: He bribed Mr. Dust to fire Miss Spite, and paid Lauren to pretend to be Joe’s friend. Furious, Joe argues with Lauren and vows to run away from his awful dad.

Joe escapes through his window with a plastic bag of belongings and runs to the town center. When his dad chases him in his helicopter, Joe has to sneak away through the alleys to Raj’s shop. Later, Raj finds Joe asleep in the dumpster the next morning. He invites him in and hears all about Joe’s problems with his dad. Raj wisely observes that Joe acted like his dad in his friendship with Bob, and that Joe has not been very understanding of his dad’s intentions. Joe agrees he should make up with Bob and then go home.

Raj uses his tricycle to give Joe a ride to Bob’s, where Joe apologizes to his friend. Bob is angry but accepts Joe’s apology, and the two share a chocolate. While there, Joe is stunned to see his dad on television, tearfully admitting that he has lost his fortune and his child. Bob’s mom explains that there are so many lawsuits about the latest Bumfresh toilet paper that Mr. Spud has lost his money and house.

Raj gives Joe a ride home, which is now surrounded by journalists documenting Mr. Spud’s spectacular downfall. Joe finds his dad in tears in his empty house, which has been packed up by bailiffs. Joe comforts his dad, telling him that the money made their life worse, not better. He finds his most precious possession, a handmade toilet roll rocket his dad once made for him, and the two happily leave their mansion behind.

In the Postscript the author explains that Mr. Spud and Bob’s mother fall in love and get married, making Joe and Bob stepbrothers, and that many people still have purple bottoms from the Freshbum scandal.