This is another entertaining William book.

For Christmas William gets a book called “Portraits of our Kings and Queens”, which he understandably casts aside, and one entitled “Things a Boy can do” which he finds extremely promising.

This unfortunate book suggests and gives precise instructions as to how to take a clock apart and, hopefully, reassemble it. There are also instructions for examining the insides of a mincing machine, which William finds one of in the kitchen, He doesn´t stop to consider that Cook may need it in order to make the Christmas dinner.

Regrettably, they miss the church service because the library clock fails to strike ten, which would have been the signal that it was time to depart. On investigating, the family finds William and his little cousin Jimmy in the library with the inner bits of the clock spread out on the floor.

Someone has put up a sign in William´s room conveying the message “A Busy Day is a Happy Day”. Jimmy had collected numerous snails to use as presents, but they had escaped leaving slimy trails all over the house. William and Jimmy decide to make a busy day of it by thoroughly washing and scrubbing the snail trails away. This leads to a thoroughly enjoyable water fight, however, which results in a flooded hall.

In a further chapter William engages in various exploits together with his Outlaw gang, which includes Ginger, Henry and Douglas. William is the head of the Outlaws, of course.

He is also friendly with Joan, a little girl who lives next door, who quite admires him. At the instigation of Mrs de Vere Carter, they both take part in a play about Red Riding Hood; William has a star part as the Wolf, and does justice to the role.

The William books are not just about a mischievous boy but also in part a parody of the times. The author is particularly partial to making fun of snobbish, pretentious, gushing females such as Mrs de Vere Carter.

One of the passages in the book that made me laugh out loud was this one about the Society of Ancient Souls, whose female President moves in next door to the Browns. Here Richman Crompton does not hold back:

“The Society of Ancient Souls was a society of people who remembered their previous existence. The memory usually came in a flash. For instance, you might remember in a flash when you were looking at a box of matches that you had been Guy Fawkes. Or you might look at a cow and remember in a flash that you had been Nebuchadnezzar. Then you joined the Society of Ancient Souls, and paid a large subscription and attended meetings at the house of its President in costume.”

In short, this is another hilarious book in the author´s rich style, and I look forward to reading or re-reading many more of these books. ( )

William was deeply interested. The point was all innocently driven in
later by the Sunday-school mistress. William's family had no real
faith in the Sunday-school as a corrective to William's inherent
wickedness, but they knew that no Sabbath peace or calm was humanly
possible while William was in the house. So they brushed and cleaned
and tidied him at 2.45 and sent him, pained and protesting, down the
road every Sunday afternoon. Their only regret was that Sunday-school
did not begin earlier and end later.

In the follow-up to "Just William", William Brown gets into lots of trouble, but shows a soft spot for little girls who hero-worship him (especially Joan, the little girl next door) and for a neighbour who surprisingly doesn't object to William playing in his garden. ( )

Front pictorial cover has been bound in

I. A Busy Day 11

II. Rice-Mould 31

III. William's Burglar 49

IV. The Knight at Arms 67

V. William's Hobby 78

VI. The Rivals 89

VII. The Ghost 110

VIII. The May King 125

IX. The Revenge 144

X. The Helper 157

XI. William and the Smuggler 174

XII. The Reform of William 197

XIII. William and the Ancient Souls 213

XIV. William's Christmas Eve 228 ( )