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Just William #1
Just William
Whether it's trying to arrange a marriage for his sister or taking a job as a boot boy as step one in his grand plan to run away, Just William manages to cause chaos wherever he goes.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1922
220 people are currently reading
2,992 people want to read
About the author
Richmal Crompton
420Ìýbooks169ÌýfollowersRichmal Crompton Lamburn was initially trained as a schoolmistress but later became a popular English writer, best known for her Just William series of books, humorous short stories, and to a lesser extent adult fiction books.
Crompton's fiction centres around family and social life, dwelling on the constraints that they place on individuals while also nurturing them. This is best seen in her depiction of children as puzzled onlookers of society's ways. Nevertheless, the children, particularly William and his Outlaws, almost always emerge triumphant.
Crompton's fiction centres around family and social life, dwelling on the constraints that they place on individuals while also nurturing them. This is best seen in her depiction of children as puzzled onlookers of society's ways. Nevertheless, the children, particularly William and his Outlaws, almost always emerge triumphant.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 282 reviews
November 16, 2021
I read and reread the Just William books as a child - some were my mother’s copies.
As a tomboy, who spent a lot of time on my grandparents� farm, I identified firmly with the Outlaws, including their attitude to Violet Elizabeth Bott. There were things I got up to that were quite dangerous, but my family never knew at the time. Walking across open topped grain silos, balancing on a narrow plank of wood, was the riskiest.
Image: It turns out "grain entrapment" is a thing. I had many lucky escapes! ()
Some aspects of the books are, of course, very dated, but there's plenty of charm, fun, good writing:
�William, goaded to desperation, burst into a flood of eloquence.� [Bored on a wet day]
I read some of these stories to my kid, but we also had Martin Jarvis reading on tapes and CDs for car journeys. Three generations of enjoyment.
�The sort of things I want to do they don’t want me to do an� the sort of things I don’t want to do they want me to do. Mother said to knit. Knit!�
Attempts were made to teach me to knit. They failed. But I can sew just enough for essentials (buttons and hems).
As a tomboy, who spent a lot of time on my grandparents� farm, I identified firmly with the Outlaws, including their attitude to Violet Elizabeth Bott. There were things I got up to that were quite dangerous, but my family never knew at the time. Walking across open topped grain silos, balancing on a narrow plank of wood, was the riskiest.
Image: It turns out "grain entrapment" is a thing. I had many lucky escapes! ()
Some aspects of the books are, of course, very dated, but there's plenty of charm, fun, good writing:
�William, goaded to desperation, burst into a flood of eloquence.� [Bored on a wet day]
I read some of these stories to my kid, but we also had Martin Jarvis reading on tapes and CDs for car journeys. Three generations of enjoyment.
�The sort of things I want to do they don’t want me to do an� the sort of things I don’t want to do they want me to do. Mother said to knit. Knit!�
Attempts were made to teach me to knit. They failed. But I can sew just enough for essentials (buttons and hems).
Read
July 3, 2019I thought this was remarkably ageless. Written in 1922, Crompton details the antics of a very curious, very original little boy who terrorizes his family while thinking he's helping. I picked up this book because said that it was the inspiration for on my podcast. I ended up enjoying it thoroughly and even reading it to my daughter. It was charming and fun.
June 24, 2014
There were some quite interesting things to do outside. In the road there were puddles, and the sensation of walking through a puddle, as every boy knows, is a very pleasant one. The hedges, when shaken, sent quite a shower bath down upon the shaker, which also is a pleasant sensation. The ditch was full and there was the thrill of seeing how often one could jump across it without going in. One went in more often than not. It was also fascinating to walk in mud, scraping it along with one's boots.
Ah, boys will be boys, but there's probably never been a boy like William. From playing cupid for his older sister to stealing flowers to give to his teacher, William's got a good heart. He means well. Usually. He just wants to do what he wants to do. What could be wrong with that?
Not much at all, if you enjoy laughing at the antics of clever, impish children doing what comes naturally. Join the fun as William charges admission to listen to his snoring aunt, uses blackmail to score two white rats, shows a baby the best day of his life and uses some of that crap they teach in school, otherwise known as grammar, to trick his father into allowing him to throw a party for 30 while his parents are away.
It's fairly harmless fun. Most everyone survives intact, though I imagine some home repairs were required. And, I would probably hesitate to read this aloud to children for fear of giving them ideas.
Ah, boys will be boys, but there's probably never been a boy like William. From playing cupid for his older sister to stealing flowers to give to his teacher, William's got a good heart. He means well. Usually. He just wants to do what he wants to do. What could be wrong with that?
Not much at all, if you enjoy laughing at the antics of clever, impish children doing what comes naturally. Join the fun as William charges admission to listen to his snoring aunt, uses blackmail to score two white rats, shows a baby the best day of his life and uses some of that crap they teach in school, otherwise known as grammar, to trick his father into allowing him to throw a party for 30 while his parents are away.
It's fairly harmless fun. Most everyone survives intact, though I imagine some home repairs were required. And, I would probably hesitate to read this aloud to children for fear of giving them ideas.
October 28, 2024
“It is a great gift to be able to lie so as to convince other people. It is a still greater gift to be able to lie so as to convince oneself. William was possessed of the latter gift.�
After the success of Stalky and Co I have begun reading to my dad another of his book favourites from his youth.
Whilst I have seen a few adaptations on tv of the exploits of William I had not read any of the books. William is 11 years old. Younger than Stalky and not at a private school. He is also less malicious. Things happen around William by chance. He has a group of friends like Stalky but there ends the similarity.
William is just a boy that gets into mischief. The collection of chapter stories are read easily. I will hopefully look forward to reading them to my grandsons when they are a bit older,
Violet Bott doesn’t feature in this book and I await her appearance. My favourite character has to be William’s father. A man who yearns for a quiet and happy life…but William is always around.
‘He’s mad! He’s mad, I tell you.� William’s father to his wife.
After the success of Stalky and Co I have begun reading to my dad another of his book favourites from his youth.
Whilst I have seen a few adaptations on tv of the exploits of William I had not read any of the books. William is 11 years old. Younger than Stalky and not at a private school. He is also less malicious. Things happen around William by chance. He has a group of friends like Stalky but there ends the similarity.
William is just a boy that gets into mischief. The collection of chapter stories are read easily. I will hopefully look forward to reading them to my grandsons when they are a bit older,
Violet Bott doesn’t feature in this book and I await her appearance. My favourite character has to be William’s father. A man who yearns for a quiet and happy life…but William is always around.
‘He’s mad! He’s mad, I tell you.� William’s father to his wife.
September 22, 2022
The first outing in book form for Richmal Crompton’s anti-hero, a collection of stories featuring the rambunctious schoolboy, William Brown. First published in 1922, they were originally serialised in the Ladies Home Magazine, billed as “the varied entanglements of the inimitable William.� One way of describing them is akin to Wodehouse but centred on children. Here is the usual mass of eccentric aunts, exasperating and exasperated relatives; the thwarted love affairs; and a whole raft of bizarre scenarios based on misunderstandings and mishaps. Eleven-year-old William lives in rural England, in a fictional village that incorporates aspects of Bromley where Crompton lived and worked at the time � she was a teacher in a local school � and the Lincolnshire village she loved to visit when she was growing up. William’s household contains his parents, his stay-at-home mother, his father who does something important in an office, and his long-suffering, older siblings Ethel and Robert. The household’s completed by Cook and a maid, not forgetting Jumble the dog. This collection also marks the appearance of William’s entourage, the intrepid Outlaws, chief among them Henry, Douglas and Ginger.
These are stories that work just as well for adults as for children, although for contemporary children they’re rife with content that’s crying out for a slew of trigger warnings. When these were republished in the 1990s, there was an outcry about the treatment of animals, as well as other content: mainly centred on an episode where William and the Outlaws set out to make money by cobbling together a makeshift zoo composed of domestic pets who’ve been dyed or otherwise outfitted to make them seem suitably exotic. Although Crompton does temper the children’s attitudes by giving the animals an unusual level of agency and a rich emotional life, an unconventional approach when it came to animals in the 1920s. It’s hard to reconcile Crompton’s reputation for being deeply conservative in her thinking with the antics of her anarchic protagonist, who causes chaos wherever he goes. There’s also more than a hint of a critique of English cultural values here, the snobbery, the class hierarchies, the outdated educational methods, and the lingering fear of social upheaval and revolution that was a hangover from recent events in Russia. For readers new to William probably not the best place to start, there are some hilarious passages but overall it’s not one of my favourites in the series, not as uniformly witty and amusing as many of the later collections. Illustrated by Thomas Henry Fisher.
These are stories that work just as well for adults as for children, although for contemporary children they’re rife with content that’s crying out for a slew of trigger warnings. When these were republished in the 1990s, there was an outcry about the treatment of animals, as well as other content: mainly centred on an episode where William and the Outlaws set out to make money by cobbling together a makeshift zoo composed of domestic pets who’ve been dyed or otherwise outfitted to make them seem suitably exotic. Although Crompton does temper the children’s attitudes by giving the animals an unusual level of agency and a rich emotional life, an unconventional approach when it came to animals in the 1920s. It’s hard to reconcile Crompton’s reputation for being deeply conservative in her thinking with the antics of her anarchic protagonist, who causes chaos wherever he goes. There’s also more than a hint of a critique of English cultural values here, the snobbery, the class hierarchies, the outdated educational methods, and the lingering fear of social upheaval and revolution that was a hangover from recent events in Russia. For readers new to William probably not the best place to start, there are some hilarious passages but overall it’s not one of my favourites in the series, not as uniformly witty and amusing as many of the later collections. Illustrated by Thomas Henry Fisher.
February 8, 2021
Very funny. But William got at the stories and put them a little out of order, didn't he? See what you think. Or just read it and enjoy.
October 8, 2023
Along with Enid Blyton, Richmal Crompton was one of my staples as a child. I always thought - and still think - that Blyton had the edge because her stories focus on adventure whereas Crompton's WILLIAM stories are all about the humour. But that doesn't make JUST WILLIAM any the less entertaining.
The stories are perfect for nostalgia purposes; bringing to life a bygone era of England, the early 20th century, when children could play in the woods and streams and engage in all kinds of dangerous pursuits without the intervention of adults. As a children who spent most of his playtime in the great outdoors, I could identify with this very much.
William is a masterful creation. He's a rogue through and through, yet humanised enough so that his character is never hateful or spiteful. I can see myself in him, although as a child I was very well behaved for the most part.
The supporting cast is also strong, especially the wrily-observed long-suffering brother Robert and the stern Father, who may be more understanding than is first apparent. Some of the more famous supporting faces don't appear in this initial volume - Hubert Lane and Violet Elizabeth Bott are missing, for instance - but the adventures fly by so quickly and so humorously (at times this reads like a children's version of SOME MOTHERS DO 'AVE EM) that they're not missed.
When I read these at an early age, I hadn't realised that the book was made up of short stories, an anthology opposed to a novel. My only complaint, reading as an adult, is the order of the stories here - Jumble the pet dog is introduced in the very last story, but appears earlier on in a couple of other entries. It doesn't matter much.
There are many highlights here - A QUESTION OF GRAMMAR and WILLIAM BELOW STAIRS are my two favourites, but all of the stories are good, funny and occasionally touching.
The stories are perfect for nostalgia purposes; bringing to life a bygone era of England, the early 20th century, when children could play in the woods and streams and engage in all kinds of dangerous pursuits without the intervention of adults. As a children who spent most of his playtime in the great outdoors, I could identify with this very much.
William is a masterful creation. He's a rogue through and through, yet humanised enough so that his character is never hateful or spiteful. I can see myself in him, although as a child I was very well behaved for the most part.
The supporting cast is also strong, especially the wrily-observed long-suffering brother Robert and the stern Father, who may be more understanding than is first apparent. Some of the more famous supporting faces don't appear in this initial volume - Hubert Lane and Violet Elizabeth Bott are missing, for instance - but the adventures fly by so quickly and so humorously (at times this reads like a children's version of SOME MOTHERS DO 'AVE EM) that they're not missed.
When I read these at an early age, I hadn't realised that the book was made up of short stories, an anthology opposed to a novel. My only complaint, reading as an adult, is the order of the stories here - Jumble the pet dog is introduced in the very last story, but appears earlier on in a couple of other entries. It doesn't matter much.
There are many highlights here - A QUESTION OF GRAMMAR and WILLIAM BELOW STAIRS are my two favourites, but all of the stories are good, funny and occasionally touching.
April 2, 2010
Not the Antichrist, though I suspect that Violet Elizabeth Bott has her doubts.
July 27, 2008
This is a stand-in for the whole Just William series by . As with , these books are not only really, really funny, but also offer an insight into aspects of the British class system - the subtle distinctions, prejudices and interactions between the different strata of the middle classes (frankly, the working class and aristocrats are virtually absent here.)
And all of this filtered through William's eyes, making perfectly normal social situations into mystifying, suspicious or simply hilarious experiences, with William also able to find the most improbable explanations for the most innocuous events.
And the introduction of Violet Elizabeth Bott also led to one of the great double-acts of English literature - Douglas, Ginger and Henry had to take a back-seat to this magnificent creation.
A glorious evocation of childhood, and subtle social commentary. Fantastic.
And all of this filtered through William's eyes, making perfectly normal social situations into mystifying, suspicious or simply hilarious experiences, with William also able to find the most improbable explanations for the most innocuous events.
And the introduction of Violet Elizabeth Bott also led to one of the great double-acts of English literature - Douglas, Ginger and Henry had to take a back-seat to this magnificent creation.
A glorious evocation of childhood, and subtle social commentary. Fantastic.
July 17, 2023
Classic, timeless tales of the incorrigible William. Read to my 8 and 10 year old, who loved it. Some very grown up language in these books (with regards to phrasing and vocabulary, not inappropriateness!), which is likely the main reason they are not still best sellers for 9-12 yo
July 7, 2011
Like all the best children's books, the William stories are just as enjoyable for adults, in fact sometimes more so. Take this, from The May King in More William: "William was frankly bored. School always bored him. He disliked facts, and he disliked being tied down to detail, and he disliked answering questions. As a politician a great future would have lain before him."
I don't remember if I read them as a child, but I bought some of the reissues recently after seeing the short TV series at Christmas and adored them. One of the books has an introduction by Martin Jarvis who reads them on the audio version (I must remember to look out for those) and he said that often, as he was reading them, he was hooting with laughter. I can well believe it. The perfect pick-me-up for all ages.
I don't remember if I read them as a child, but I bought some of the reissues recently after seeing the short TV series at Christmas and adored them. One of the books has an introduction by Martin Jarvis who reads them on the audio version (I must remember to look out for those) and he said that often, as he was reading them, he was hooting with laughter. I can well believe it. The perfect pick-me-up for all ages.
November 23, 2015
Timing is everything. Squirt just happens to be a lot like a 3 yr. old version of William. My favorite bits were William's father shouting to his wife - "He's mad! He's mad, I tell you!" I know that feeling so well. The inner logic of a boy - utterly incomprehensible to the rest of us. So funny. Loved this book. The more I laugh at parenting, the better I feel.
Thanks to Mumzie who pointed this book out to me. :)
Thanks to Mumzie who pointed this book out to me. :)
April 18, 2010
Quite possibly the funniest books in children's literature. William Brown is one of my favourite characters of all time. The Just William books are collections of short stories chronicling the adventures and misadventures of eleven-year-old William Brown, who in the first books in the series lives in the 1920s. William remains the same age as history progresses throughout the series, the embodiment of perpetual boyhood. With his friends Douglas, Henry and Ginger (who all together are 'The Outlaws'), William is the scourge of his parents and grown up siblings Robert and Ethel, and most adults he comes into contact with, come to that. Absolutely hilarious portrait of boyhood.
February 28, 2023
When I finish a 1001 Children's Book You Must Read that is as wonderful as this book, I am happy to think I still have 408 more to read. William is a devil of a little boy, a Dennis the Menace, a Leave It to Beaver, a Henry Huggins. He drives his mother and father and sister and brother and aunt and cousin...everybody, in short, crazy with his antics.
July 25, 2019
The basis for the main joke in Good Omens. I have been meaning to read it forever, but it isn't found much around and I didn't try until watching Good Omens.
To the good, William is a serious pain in the ass to his family and much of the village. He isn't cute or charming. But Jumble is established as already being his dog in the penultimate chapter and then the last chapter is William meeting Jumble, which is awkward.
I do get it now, and I am sorry there wasn't more of Adam being a chaotic torment to Tadfield in the show, although I understand why he isn't.
(edited to add)Whilst brushing my teeth I had a revelation. The family in the Paddington series has the last name Brown. William's family's last name is Brown. Not to make too much of this, because it is a cliche of common English surnames, but now I can't help wondering if that was deliberate. Because Paddington too is a chaotic force, just a cuter one.
Personal copy
To the good, William is a serious pain in the ass to his family and much of the village. He isn't cute or charming. But Jumble is established as already being his dog in the penultimate chapter and then the last chapter is William meeting Jumble, which is awkward.
I do get it now, and I am sorry there wasn't more of Adam being a chaotic torment to Tadfield in the show, although I understand why he isn't.
(edited to add)Whilst brushing my teeth I had a revelation. The family in the Paddington series has the last name Brown. William's family's last name is Brown. Not to make too much of this, because it is a cliche of common English surnames, but now I can't help wondering if that was deliberate. Because Paddington too is a chaotic force, just a cuter one.
Personal copy
February 16, 2023
A childhood favourite, but even funnier now!
December 30, 2015
Classic children's story with the irrepressible William Brown.
William is naughty, messy, dirty and the archetypal child from an age when children played outside from morning to night, and a trip to the sweet shop was the height of pleasure. William's middle class family and their domestic help are a bit dated now, but William's inability to follow rules and his constant stream of excuses are timeless, I enjoyed rereading this as much as I did the first time.
William is naughty, messy, dirty and the archetypal child from an age when children played outside from morning to night, and a trip to the sweet shop was the height of pleasure. William's middle class family and their domestic help are a bit dated now, but William's inability to follow rules and his constant stream of excuses are timeless, I enjoyed rereading this as much as I did the first time.
February 26, 2016
3.5*
This book about 11-year-old William is good but suffered from the fact that I had recently read Booth Tarkington's "Penrod" (also about an 11-year-old boy). Crompton's stories were just not quite as humorous or as charming. However, perhaps a Brit might feel the reverse to be true.
I also found it a bit odd that the final chapter was about finding Jumble when Jumble had played a significant role in the previous chapter and had been present in several of the earlier chapters as well.
This book about 11-year-old William is good but suffered from the fact that I had recently read Booth Tarkington's "Penrod" (also about an 11-year-old boy). Crompton's stories were just not quite as humorous or as charming. However, perhaps a Brit might feel the reverse to be true.
I also found it a bit odd that the final chapter was about finding Jumble when Jumble had played a significant role in the previous chapter and had been present in several of the earlier chapters as well.
November 2, 2016
Mightily amusing tales of the scrapes, trials, games, tribulations, and temptations of a young boy. Sometimes naughty, sometimes confused, sometimes thoughtless William is an endearing and frustrating little fellow. If he was real, he would be the most annoying child of anyone's acquaintance, but to read about him is good fun.
February 4, 2025
Just William by Richmal Crompton
10 out of 10
This is a perfect joy and a glorious book, with an enchanting hero, endearing even for one who is not crazy about children � indeed, if we talk about those who populate the gated community here, the ones who abuse, scream, vandalize, express ‘absolute freedoms� as encouraged by irresponsible, inglorious bastard parents who sent their offspring out on the streets to play with fire and fireworks, destroy, insult and generally do whatever they can think of, because this is ‘natural� and they feel entitled as nous nous � a term used elsewhere, including in Blacklist by Sara Paretsky � to be noted on tomorrow � as meaning nouveaux nouveaux riches then we are closer to hate than any other feeling.
William Brown, the eleven years old hero who sometimes, of most often plays the antihero, has the most generous intentions � only we know from Shakespeare that ‘hell is paved with good intentions� � and early on he tries to help his sister, Ethel, get closer to the young man he thinks she likes � in fact, the latter is trying to be the boyfriend of another � and in that effort, the brother pretends he hears his sibling shouting the name of the beloved in her sleep, very often, she does not eat, waiting by the window to see him passing and the final lie…she has a medallion around the neck with his photo in it, all of which is an invention�
The protagonist infuriates his elder brother, Robert, when he confiscates the attention of the girl that Robert is crazy about, with his ‘injun� games, the white man he cooks in a pot and the intention of taking her for a ‘squaw’…after this episode, the naughty boy finds the bicycle that is meant as a birthday gift and takes it for a ride, in spite of his total lack of knowledge of how to handle the bike, resulting in a serious of accidents that severely damage the gift and eventually, an apparently endless ride � for he does not have any idea of how to stop and in the heat and tension of the enterprise, he does not think of simply falling down � that takes him all the way to where the family is picnicking, until they see with horror that William is coming down perilously on the bicycle and he ends up in the river�
Seeing that his efforts to help his sister have failed and the family is infuriated with him, reading a book about a personage that makes a fortune by gold digging � which he would emulate, though he would not share in the munificence of the fictional figure and avoid giving his family any alms of his would be fortune � our boy decides to do the same, become a wealthy man and for that he starts on the road to the ‘gold mines�, stopping along the way at a mansion where he is asked if he is the ‘Boots� � since we will learn soon that the family had been expecting someone to join in service � and he decides to answer in the affirmative�
Needless to say, the hero has had no previous experience of doing anything, expect mischief and the occasional effort to help with negative consequences, and he is thus involved in more disasters, hilarious and exhilarating � though only for readers, if we think of those involved, their horror knows no limits � culminating in the scene which involves the balloon he had had with him � which he had used with calamitous effects on the teachers at his school � and the encounter of his…own father, who is visiting the ‘employer� of his son � though unbeknownst to any of them � and they are all aghast at the scene of yet another apocalypse provoked by the mischievous Willie � that is a name that the next victim uses and William hates.
Our friend is invited to join a group of other children, against his will and in spite of being called the insulting and preposterous ‘Willie�, by a woman who feels she is very much in control of the children who are made to repeat ‘we have to be respectful and reposeful, happy and boastful� or something similar, leaves the room to walk to the house of another boy she wants to conscript into her army of devotees, tells the crowd to play a game, encourage the shy newcomers and proves her total lack of understanding…she had thought William and the other new boys mild, subdued and willing to bend, whereas they had been waiting only for this opportunity and as soon as she is out the door, they start with their own game of ‘lions and tamers� shouting ‘kill him, get him� and engaging in a violent, fierce fight�
Another time, the main character is made to walk the perambulator with an infant, but he takes the child to his mates, proclaims this is ‘a kidnap�, something the pirates always do and they want to be pirates, talk about ransom, they engage in their usual games, while the boy takes the potatoes, paraffin oil and other food they had brought and spreads it all over himself…another time, before a wedding, William is made to wear a satin he loathes, made to play the page, while a girl is a maid, and there is a three old who also makes a mess of the food he had foraged, puts it on a chesterfield, where William and the girl decide to sit, to make their costumes unwearable, so that they are allowed to stay at home�
Every episode is absolutely joyous and the sweet shop is just one of them…the owner of the shop has been trying for the past ten years to get a woman to marry him and now that he is off to make his proposition again, his relative has not arrived yet and lets the hero in charge, for the little time left before the cousin arrives, only William takes advantage, assumes control and his dream comes true, allowing him to eat endless quantities of sugary candies � to the point where he would be sick and unable to eat anymore � show magnitude towards a girl he likes and who is allowed to take as much as she wants from the sweets and then he extends his generosity to some of his friends, who are also in awe at his fabulous fortune�
A sort of circus is organized � a note is in order here saying that the attitude towards animals is not perfect, on the contrary…with his bow and arrows he attacks a cat and is often willing to take the dog, rats that travel all over the house, horrifying his sister and father, then the congregation at the church, where one of the rats escapes, while the other one is at home, until he is mauled by the dog � and visiting children are invited to visit and pay for the show, which includes the ‘blue dog� � the poor animal had been painted in that color � and various other contraptions, but the highlight of the show is a vesting aunt, who snores and has false teeth on the side of the bed and constitutes the extreme attraction, gathering a multitude of paying guests, until she wakes up from her siesta and the resulting scene causes her departure and the glee of the father who even pays money to the son that has finally saved him a long nightmare…the woman could have stayed for months on end and she was the most annoying visitor�
10 out of 10
This is a perfect joy and a glorious book, with an enchanting hero, endearing even for one who is not crazy about children � indeed, if we talk about those who populate the gated community here, the ones who abuse, scream, vandalize, express ‘absolute freedoms� as encouraged by irresponsible, inglorious bastard parents who sent their offspring out on the streets to play with fire and fireworks, destroy, insult and generally do whatever they can think of, because this is ‘natural� and they feel entitled as nous nous � a term used elsewhere, including in Blacklist by Sara Paretsky � to be noted on tomorrow � as meaning nouveaux nouveaux riches then we are closer to hate than any other feeling.
William Brown, the eleven years old hero who sometimes, of most often plays the antihero, has the most generous intentions � only we know from Shakespeare that ‘hell is paved with good intentions� � and early on he tries to help his sister, Ethel, get closer to the young man he thinks she likes � in fact, the latter is trying to be the boyfriend of another � and in that effort, the brother pretends he hears his sibling shouting the name of the beloved in her sleep, very often, she does not eat, waiting by the window to see him passing and the final lie…she has a medallion around the neck with his photo in it, all of which is an invention�
The protagonist infuriates his elder brother, Robert, when he confiscates the attention of the girl that Robert is crazy about, with his ‘injun� games, the white man he cooks in a pot and the intention of taking her for a ‘squaw’…after this episode, the naughty boy finds the bicycle that is meant as a birthday gift and takes it for a ride, in spite of his total lack of knowledge of how to handle the bike, resulting in a serious of accidents that severely damage the gift and eventually, an apparently endless ride � for he does not have any idea of how to stop and in the heat and tension of the enterprise, he does not think of simply falling down � that takes him all the way to where the family is picnicking, until they see with horror that William is coming down perilously on the bicycle and he ends up in the river�
Seeing that his efforts to help his sister have failed and the family is infuriated with him, reading a book about a personage that makes a fortune by gold digging � which he would emulate, though he would not share in the munificence of the fictional figure and avoid giving his family any alms of his would be fortune � our boy decides to do the same, become a wealthy man and for that he starts on the road to the ‘gold mines�, stopping along the way at a mansion where he is asked if he is the ‘Boots� � since we will learn soon that the family had been expecting someone to join in service � and he decides to answer in the affirmative�
Needless to say, the hero has had no previous experience of doing anything, expect mischief and the occasional effort to help with negative consequences, and he is thus involved in more disasters, hilarious and exhilarating � though only for readers, if we think of those involved, their horror knows no limits � culminating in the scene which involves the balloon he had had with him � which he had used with calamitous effects on the teachers at his school � and the encounter of his…own father, who is visiting the ‘employer� of his son � though unbeknownst to any of them � and they are all aghast at the scene of yet another apocalypse provoked by the mischievous Willie � that is a name that the next victim uses and William hates.
Our friend is invited to join a group of other children, against his will and in spite of being called the insulting and preposterous ‘Willie�, by a woman who feels she is very much in control of the children who are made to repeat ‘we have to be respectful and reposeful, happy and boastful� or something similar, leaves the room to walk to the house of another boy she wants to conscript into her army of devotees, tells the crowd to play a game, encourage the shy newcomers and proves her total lack of understanding…she had thought William and the other new boys mild, subdued and willing to bend, whereas they had been waiting only for this opportunity and as soon as she is out the door, they start with their own game of ‘lions and tamers� shouting ‘kill him, get him� and engaging in a violent, fierce fight�
Another time, the main character is made to walk the perambulator with an infant, but he takes the child to his mates, proclaims this is ‘a kidnap�, something the pirates always do and they want to be pirates, talk about ransom, they engage in their usual games, while the boy takes the potatoes, paraffin oil and other food they had brought and spreads it all over himself…another time, before a wedding, William is made to wear a satin he loathes, made to play the page, while a girl is a maid, and there is a three old who also makes a mess of the food he had foraged, puts it on a chesterfield, where William and the girl decide to sit, to make their costumes unwearable, so that they are allowed to stay at home�
Every episode is absolutely joyous and the sweet shop is just one of them…the owner of the shop has been trying for the past ten years to get a woman to marry him and now that he is off to make his proposition again, his relative has not arrived yet and lets the hero in charge, for the little time left before the cousin arrives, only William takes advantage, assumes control and his dream comes true, allowing him to eat endless quantities of sugary candies � to the point where he would be sick and unable to eat anymore � show magnitude towards a girl he likes and who is allowed to take as much as she wants from the sweets and then he extends his generosity to some of his friends, who are also in awe at his fabulous fortune�
A sort of circus is organized � a note is in order here saying that the attitude towards animals is not perfect, on the contrary…with his bow and arrows he attacks a cat and is often willing to take the dog, rats that travel all over the house, horrifying his sister and father, then the congregation at the church, where one of the rats escapes, while the other one is at home, until he is mauled by the dog � and visiting children are invited to visit and pay for the show, which includes the ‘blue dog� � the poor animal had been painted in that color � and various other contraptions, but the highlight of the show is a vesting aunt, who snores and has false teeth on the side of the bed and constitutes the extreme attraction, gathering a multitude of paying guests, until she wakes up from her siesta and the resulting scene causes her departure and the glee of the father who even pays money to the son that has finally saved him a long nightmare…the woman could have stayed for months on end and she was the most annoying visitor�
May 12, 2018
First off in the version i read there seemed to be a chapter out of order, i would read the chapter titled 'Jumble' after 'The Show' for maximum making sense :) .
There's nothing new under the sun. In terms of old english characters while Billy Bunter is distinctly Eric Cartman, William Brown is very much Bart Simpson, (maybe a a tiny bit less evil though).
Its episodic fare nothing in the way of overarching story but the humour really doesn't age, its good stuff. Not much else to say really, a little bit more personality for his brother and sister might have been nice but otherwise just solid ageless annoying child tales.
There's nothing new under the sun. In terms of old english characters while Billy Bunter is distinctly Eric Cartman, William Brown is very much Bart Simpson, (maybe a a tiny bit less evil though).
Its episodic fare nothing in the way of overarching story but the humour really doesn't age, its good stuff. Not much else to say really, a little bit more personality for his brother and sister might have been nice but otherwise just solid ageless annoying child tales.
September 29, 2023
The first book of stories about the eleven-year-old William Brown, who causes mayhem wherever he goes. These were originally published in the Ladies' Home Journal in the 1920s, which must have been a fun read at the time. I enjoyed several books of William stories as a child.
I read a facsimile of the first edition of these stories. They are not well ordered - Jumble, William's dog, appears in several stories before William meets and adopts him in the last story - but taking that aside, William is cute and I loved the way he embarrassed his older brother and sister whenever they were trying to make an impression on a potential suitor.
I read a facsimile of the first edition of these stories. They are not well ordered - Jumble, William's dog, appears in several stories before William meets and adopts him in the last story - but taking that aside, William is cute and I loved the way he embarrassed his older brother and sister whenever they were trying to make an impression on a potential suitor.
March 28, 2018
Just William took me a while to get into; the language is quite old fashioned and that put me off the book for a long time, but when I got started the stories were so funny and clever I couldn't put them down.
When I first read the blurb I imagined these stories would be a lot like horrid Henry, but wow, (no offence horrid Henry) they are so much better! They are cleverly written and funny, and will leave you laughing out loud at the bravery of William. Recommended
When I first read the blurb I imagined these stories would be a lot like horrid Henry, but wow, (no offence horrid Henry) they are so much better! They are cleverly written and funny, and will leave you laughing out loud at the bravery of William. Recommended
February 14, 2024
“Oh, William,� said his mother, as she entered his room, “Mrs. Butler’s come with her baby to spend the afternoon, and we’d arranged to go out till tea-time with the baby, but she’s got such a headache, I’m insisting on her lying down for the afternoon in the drawing-room. I told Mrs. Butler I was sure you wouldn’t mind taking the baby out for a bit in the perambulator!�
William stared at her, speechless. The Medusa’s classic expression of horror was as nothing to William’s at that moment.
William stared at her, speechless. The Medusa’s classic expression of horror was as nothing to William’s at that moment.
December 25, 2021
Expand Your Horizons 2021: Read a Book Published in the 1920s
This volume contained 12 short stories that had me looking up words lost in my current vocabulary, retelling shenanigans to those around me who would listen, and roaring with laugher when reading my myself. Goodness, William is like the perfect mix of Leave It To Beaver × Dennis The Menace × Amelia Bedelia filled with the best of intentions but not outrunning his misgivings.
This volume contained 12 short stories that had me looking up words lost in my current vocabulary, retelling shenanigans to those around me who would listen, and roaring with laugher when reading my myself. Goodness, William is like the perfect mix of Leave It To Beaver × Dennis The Menace × Amelia Bedelia filled with the best of intentions but not outrunning his misgivings.
April 23, 2015
Well, I have no idea whatsoever why it has taken so long to get around to the joys that are the Just William stories. These are just fantastic. Slightly variable, which you might expect from a short story collection, but at their best these had me literally LOLing.
The writing is superb - while this might be a children's book, Crompton doesn't stint on the vocabulary (unctuous and laconically for example) and the author's tone is gloriously deadpan. I think this is one reason why the books don't adapt too well for TV - it's so hard to replicate the disjunction between William himself and his antics, which can be quite crude and inarticulate, and the descriptions and set up which are full of misdirection, bathos and sarcasm.
And then there's William himself - while doing naughty things, William isn't a naughty boy. He's not evil, or bad or vindictive: he lives by a strong moral compass and acts to do good for those around him .... it's just that others don't necessarily share that moral compass. Often his "bad deeds" are simply a boy wanting to do something good without thinking through the consequences (such as cutting every bloom from the family hot house in order to present his teacher with a bouquet).
I am really interested in reading more from Richmal Crompton now. Very highly recommended :)
(#15 in my Year of Reading Women)
The writing is superb - while this might be a children's book, Crompton doesn't stint on the vocabulary (unctuous and laconically for example) and the author's tone is gloriously deadpan. I think this is one reason why the books don't adapt too well for TV - it's so hard to replicate the disjunction between William himself and his antics, which can be quite crude and inarticulate, and the descriptions and set up which are full of misdirection, bathos and sarcasm.
And then there's William himself - while doing naughty things, William isn't a naughty boy. He's not evil, or bad or vindictive: he lives by a strong moral compass and acts to do good for those around him .... it's just that others don't necessarily share that moral compass. Often his "bad deeds" are simply a boy wanting to do something good without thinking through the consequences (such as cutting every bloom from the family hot house in order to present his teacher with a bouquet).
I am really interested in reading more from Richmal Crompton now. Very highly recommended :)
(#15 in my Year of Reading Women)
July 30, 2018
I didn't read Just William as a child because I thought they would be too boyish, but having read and adored several of Richmal Crompton's adult books, I was more than intrigued by the series. Just William is told almost in a series of short stories, all of which feature the mischievous eleven-year-old William Brown, along with various friends and family members. I wish I had read this when I was younger; it is terribly amusing, and difficult to put down. A couple of the stories were familiar to me, so perhaps I had read those in anthologies. Just William is an incredibly fun book, which feels fresh and not at all old-fashioned; it certainly still holds appeal. I'm very much looking forward to William's further adventures.
January 16, 2009
I've read just about all of the series, but this one can stand in for all of them. I read them when I was growing up (in the 60s) and they're utterly brilliant for kids and adults alike (I read one of the series 10 years ago). Maybe I liked it so much for two reasons - William was the mischevious kid I wanted to be, in charge of his own gang (The Outlaws); and I grew up in the countryside having similar adventures in brooks and streams and trees, although I was from a working class family and didn't have maids and so on. (Not that that matters). It got me into reading as well...
February 23, 2012
The first William collection is one of the funniest and the best. The incorrigibly uncouth but wildly imaginatively William interferes with his grownup sibling's love lives, has a brief but intense crush on a teacher, joins (against his will) the Band of Hope (because members of his class have such a refining effect on the village children), and manages to avoid attending a wedding dressed in white satin as a page.
May 23, 2019
This book is great, and VERY funny. It's about a boy called William Brown, also known as Just William, and all the funny mischief he and his friends get up to.😂😂 I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a good laugh.
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