William
Richmal Crompton
Macmillan Children's Books. First published in 1929.
Ten stories in which William detects a murder, organizes greyhound racing, substitutes himself for a wax statue of a little prince, sets up a waxwork show... I laughed out loud, or wanted to but had to control myself, at more than one place in the book. For example: The headmaster of William's school asks the pupils to help collect money for a new wing to be added to the school building. On the last day of the fund-raising drive the headmaster announces the sums collected by various boys. Crompton writes: 'The youngest boy in school - aged seven - alone and unaided collected ten shillings. He had gone round to his friends and relatives asking them all in good faith for money for new wings for the headmaster and so had met with a better response than he probably would have done had he had a clearer conception of the object of the fund'.
One of the stories is about a prize fat pig. Considering that the Empress of Blandings made her literary appearance at about the same time, perhaps there was a rash of fat pigs contest going on in England in those decades.
Great, but very light, reading!
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