Just William Books by Richmal Crompton

[Anita Bensoussane]

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[Moonraker]

Thanks, I typed "William" and "Just William..." came up in 9th place. Would have thought it would have been the first suggestion, but that's robots for you. At least it was on the first page.

[RDMorrell]

It's a good few years now since I read the story, "William and the Nasties", but I had a similar impression of it to Viv. To me, the story is not promoting or endorsing anti-Semitism, but using humour to show that it's a bad thing. I think it's rather a shame the story was omitted from later editions. It could have still been included, maybe with a note at the start to explain the context. In a way, I am reminded of how some people wanted to ban Fawlty Towers because there's a scene where Basil is making fun of Germans ("Don't mention the war" and all that - a bit ironic considering the story we're discussing!). But as John Cleese himself pointed out, the purpose of that scene is to mock bigotry by showing just how ridiculous it is. In order to send up bigotry though, you kind of have to show people acting bigoted. But you also have to do it in a way that makes it clear you're mocking the bigotry and not the target of the bigotry. (This is what people who want to "cancel" TV shows and books like this don't get.) Which I think that Fawlty Towers scene does very well, and I also believe that Richmal Crompton does it reasonably well in this story. Given that the Nazis are referred to as "Nasties", I think it's plain she wasn't on their side!