William And The Masked Ranger

Just William #36

by Richmal Crompton, Henry Ford (Illustrator), Thomas Henry (Illustrator)

In this collection of William's exploits, the Outlaws have to find a donkey for a little girl in exchange for some essential plans, help Archie Mannister become an art critic and prevent one of their number, Douglas, from spending more time with a girl than with them.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction

176 pages, Paperback

Published March 26, 1993

About the author

Richmal 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.

Reviews

[Martyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are only six chapters in this volume so it's one of the shorter books in the series. They are all fairly typical William stories, and in spite of being published forty-four years after Just William, the contemporary cultural references are relatively minimal and unobtrusive. No drastic steps have been taken to keep William up to date in order to try to make him appeal more to a new generation, which is a great relief. It's certainly not a best collection of stories but it's not a disappointment either.