William strikes again - a juvenile whirlwind strewing chaos in his wake with his usual mixture of over-enthusiasm, misunderstanding of the crazy adult world, single-minded desire for revenge and, let's face it, pure naughtiness. Were he around today he would be taken into care by social services or diagnosed with ADHD & doped to the gills with Ritalin. Instead in the 20's & 30's such behaviour seemed to strike people as being a nuisance but not hugely remarkable - people may not have been quite so sang froid in real life but I suspect that his adventures are not too far from reality - especially when I remember some of the things I got up to in the 1970's! These may be children's stories but it is more than just nostalgia that compels me to read them again, they are beautifully written and constructed, with an almost Wodehousian skill, and are still very, very funny