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The William Books By Richmal Crompton

Updated on September 6, 2015
Picture taken from the new series  on BBC One. Yes, William has his own series folks. Here he is with his outlaws.
Picture taken from the new series on BBC One. Yes, William has his own series folks. Here he is with his outlaws.

When I look at the above title I think that William would not be pleased with it. He is a boy who loves drama and he looks at himself as severely misunderstood but a title like mine would strike him as, well.... boring !


I am speaking as though William were real, and indeed, when one reads the books, he seems to appear right before your eyes. William represents every cheeky, odd, adventurous, troublesome, frog-in -pocket, dirt- on -shoes boy one has ever met.




My First Encounter With William


When I first met William he was on one of the dusty shelves of my old aunt's library. Bored and with nothing to do, I dusted off the red, hard covered book, and cracked it open with curiosity. Moments later, I was rolling on the floor in peals of laughter at his and his outlaws' antics, and my aunt poked her head in the doorway to ask whatever was the matter with me. I showed her the book and saying she had no idea from whence it came, bestowed it upon me, and it has been one of my most treasured possessions ever since.

Just the name - William Brown and one gets an immediate picture of the sly rascal. It was ingenious of Richmal Crompton to so name him. One cannot forget a name as simple as that but it holds character and what a character William is!









How The William Books Started And William's Story



Born in the 1920's William started off as a serial for housewives to read. Soon though, it was realized that many other people enjoyed the stories of his adventures and he has an entire series that is well-loved by all.

The first book is entitled Just William and as it implies it shows just what sort of person William is. The fun of William is each chapter tells a separate story and so the book can be read in almost any order. The result is though a complete jumble as to which story belongs in which book - which William himself would think was genius because his dog's name was Jumble so there!

William lives in the English countryside with his mother, father, older brother Robert and older sister Ethel. Just an ordinary boy he sees himself as quite unfortunate when he is yelled at for whistling in his tuneless, high-pitched manner by his father. He responds sullenly "Forgot you didn' like musick." He is moved to inspiration when he sees a short film to write one of his own. He resolves to be the best behaved boy in the class by stealing flowers for his teacher and he successfully coerces his brother and sister's friends into dressing up as Indian braves. When family members come to visit, and he is warned to be on his best behavior, he tries his utmost best to be an angel but it always backfires and when he is at his quietest, is when his family is the most suspicious. Poor Mrs. Brown has the most amount of patience with out dear hero (he would love to hear himself referred to as that) while his father resorts to hiding out behind the newspaper, not daring to make any eye-contact. Ethel glares and resorts to being bossy so that William often thinks twice when crossing her. And Robert, last of all tries to stay out of his way as much as possible. Unfortunately, Robert is the one who benefits (here William smiles and Robert exclaims) from a lot of William's schemes. Poor Robert. But William just means well. He only wanted that girl to know you liked her. That is why he wrote the note to her from you. How was he to know you liked her friend? He did not mean to destroy your brand new bicycle. He just got on and it simply would not stop! He pedaled and pedaled through town and country until, what shock! He met you on a picnic with the girl he adored. Alas! Our poor hero could not stop even then, and plunged straight into the lake. It matters not that your bike was destroyed and your date ruined. What matters is that William was alright, the poor dear!

One of the best series written, in my opinion, William truly captures one's heart. If you are a fan of Enid Blyton's books or you like to read about any sort of comical adventure, then this is for you.


Some Titles in the Series

Just William
More William
William Again
William The Fourth
Still William
William The Conqueror
William The Outlaw
William In Trouble
William The Good
William
William The Bad
William's Happy Days

William's Crowded Hours

William The Detective
William The Pirate
William The Rebel

William The Gangster

Sweet William
William The Showman
William The Dictator
William And The Film Star
William Does His Bit
William and The Tramp
William and The Space Animal

William The Ancient Briton

William and The Pop Singers

©

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