Richmal Crompton (1890–1969)

It's impressive for a children's book published in 1922 to hold out so well, but there's a timeless quality to the Just William stories. They are about the joy of boyhood, about how impossible it is to conciliate it with the adult way of thinking. William Brown is a surprisingly modern young hero. One would expect such a series of books from that past time to try to teach something to their young readers, to give them some moral lesson. Not so with Just William. As a boy, I immediately detected that these books were not trying to sell me anything, that William was genuine. He was rude, untidy and utterly impossible in the adults' eyes, but as a boy I understood him very well. To borrow some words from The Prince of Tides, he is "brave, defiant, not for sale". Stuck forever in his literary universe at the age of eleven, he is like a Peter Pan immune to the attempts of the adults in his life to civilize him.

Like some of the best children's fiction, it still works well when reading it as an adult. Richmal Crompton's humor still works a century later. You appreciate the fond parody of the adult world more, while still being able to appreciate William's boyish spirit. I hope these books will not be forgotten, because they deserve a place among the classics of children literature.… (more)

I think that this seventh book was particularly inspired. At least I enjoyed it more than the previous ones, although the themes are of course similar. However, the confusion and chaos caused by William and his friends, sometimes unwittingly and sometimes on purpose, was particularly funny here. William, of course, is a force of nature, always impervious to any attempt to civilize him and make him conform. He is not bad, he just follows his own logic and ethics, which make perfect sense to him but are incomprehensible for his long-suffering family and other adults.… (more)