The Boyhood Of Burglar Bill

Bol Partner

Allan Ahlberg's The Boyhood of Burglar Bill is a nostalgic, autobiographical story about football, schooldays and growing-up in the '50s. Allan Ahlberg is the internationally bestselling author of children's classics that include Peepo! and Each Peach, Pear Plum , illustrated by Janet Ahlberg. Archie was a wonder dog in all our eyes. Nearly a year ago he had got run over. They found his foot in the street but the rest of him ran off. Mr Purnell mourned for a while; Mrs Purnell offered to beat the motorcyclist up or at least wreck his bike. Then, lo and behold, a fortnight later back came Archie. Coronation year, 1953. The boys from the bottom pitch - a great soup of boys - play football. When the 'Coronation Cup' is proposed, they put their heads together, pool their pocket money and get a team up. There's no chance they'll win of course. They're just the odds and sods in Mr Cork's opinion. Besides, he'd go berserk if they did; menace them with his one good arm and pulverise their desks with his cricket stump. They'd be better off losing. The Boyhood of Burglar Bill is the second in a sequence of stories in which Allan Ahlberg explores his own childhood. My Brother's Ghost , shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, was the first. Allan Ahlberg has published books for children of all ages from the picture books Peepo! , Each Peach, Pear, Plum , The Jolly Postman and the Funnybones series - illustrated by Janet Ahlberg - to his books for older readers including Woof! and his books of verse: Please Mrs. Butler and Heard it in the Playground .

Bol

Coronation Year, 1953, and in Oldbury a Coronation football competition is organized. The boys from the bottom pitch get a team up, but there's no chance they'll win, of course. They're just the odds and sods - one of them is even a girl - but they're all football crazy and ready and eager to beat off the opposition. A funny and moving story of football and friendship in a world when the streets were full of kids and empty of cars. Not only for boys - and girls - of 9+, there's a real pull of nostalgia for adults as well. And, of course, for all lovers of football, whether on the pitch or in the park.