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Just William Books in Order

Part ofRichmal Crompton Books in Order

See all the Just William books in order by Richmal Crompton, with short summaries, series background, and help choosing the best place to start.

Last updated: July 1, 2026

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41 books

1

Just William

by Richmal Crompton

1922

The first William book introduces eleven-year-old William Brown at home, at school, and in full revolt against adult order. It is the starting point for one of children's fiction's great troublemakers.

2

More William

by Richmal Crompton

1922

This early collection sends William through Christmas disasters, household battles, and fresh attempts to do things his own way. The result is funny, brisk, and unmistakably William.

3

William Again

by Richmal Crompton

1923

William returns with another fast, funny batch of schemes and misunderstandings. When he turns playwright and organizer, the trouble only grows.

4

William the Fourth

by Richmal Crompton

1924

William's school, family, and village all feel the force of his latest plans. He tackles each new problem with certainty and leaves a trail of confusion behind him.

5

Still William

by Richmal Crompton

1925

William is still up to mischief, and the arrival of Violet Elizabeth Bott only makes life harder. Good intentions, blackmail, and chaos sit side by side here.

6

William the Conqueror

by Richmal Crompton

1926

Victory is what William wants, whether the battleground is school, home, or the village green. He leads the Outlaws with complete assurance and mixed results.

7

William in Trouble

by Richmal Crompton

1927

William's attempts to help, reform, and prosper place him in exactly the sort of trouble he never expects. The fun lies in how hard he charges ahead anyway.

8

William the Outlaw

by Richmal Crompton

1927

William sees himself as a fearless right-doer outside ordinary rules. That outlaw spirit makes perfect sense to him and none at all to the adults.

9

William the Good

by Richmal Crompton

1928

William tries being good, which turns out to be more alarming than his usual bad behavior. His virtuous phase causes comic damage on every side.

10

William

by Richmal Crompton

1929

Another strong collection of William Brown stories, this book sends him after fun, justice, and profit in equal measure. Each plan ends in fresh disorder.

11

William the Bad

by Richmal Crompton

1930

William's honest wish to improve people and situations goes wrong in all the classic ways. The more certain he is of doing good, the worse things become.

12

William's Happy Days

by Richmal Crompton

1930

Holidays, hobbies, and family life all become raw material for William's schemes. His idea of a happy day is rarely peaceful for anyone else.

13

William's Crowded Hours

by Richmal Crompton

1931

William packs his days with clubs, feuds, rescue attempts, and new money-making ideas. It is a busy, funny collection that barely gives the adults time to recover.

14

William the Pirate

by Richmal Crompton

1932

William turns pirate in spirit if not in seaworthiness, raiding everyday life for adventure and loot. The result is a lively collection of bold plans and comic wreckage.

15

William The Rebel

by Richmal Crompton

1933

Authority has never appealed to William, and here he resists it with special enthusiasm. His rebellion feels righteous to him and exhausting to everyone else.

16

William the Gangster

by Richmal Crompton

1934

William borrows the language and swagger of crime for his latest games and adventures. The Outlaws are delighted, while the grown-ups are anything but.

17

William the Detective

by Richmal Crompton

1935

Mysteries are never safe when William Brown decides to solve them. He suspects plots everywhere and investigates with alarming energy.

18

Sweet William

by Richmal Crompton

1936

William tries kindness, reform, and matchmaking, only to prove that sweetness can be dangerous. His helpful impulses create some of the series' funniest tangles.

19

William The Showman

by Richmal Crompton

1937

William heads for the stage and the spotlight with complete assurance in his own talent. Performances, publicity, and self-importance combine beautifully badly.

20

William the Dictator

by Richmal Crompton

1938

William decides that firm leadership is what everyone around him needs. His efforts to organize people his own way lead to rebellion, outrage, and laughter.

21

William and Air Raid Precautions

by Richmal Crompton

1939

Blackouts, rules, and wartime duty give William a whole new field for interference. He is eager to help, which is exactly why trouble follows.

22

William and the Evacuees

by Richmal Crompton

1940

The arrival of evacuees changes the balance of William's world at once. New rivals, new allies, and wartime confusion give him plenty to work with.

23

William Does His Bit

by Richmal Crompton

1941

Determined to help the war effort, William throws himself into useful service. His patriotism is genuine, but his methods create problems nobody asked for.

24

William Carries On

by Richmal Crompton

1942

Wartime does not slow William down. He keeps inventing plans, causing rows, and somehow turning patriotic enthusiasm into comic havoc.

25

William And The Brains Trust

by Richmal Crompton

1945

William takes on experts, quizzes, and clever people with complete faith in his own ideas. The result is a spirited clash between child confidence and adult certainty.

26

Just William's Luck

by Richmal Crompton

1948

In the only full-length William novel, William and the Outlaws try to get their older brothers married so they can claim the wedding presents. The scheme pulls them into a much bigger adventure.

27

William the Bold

by Richmal Crompton

1950

William's confidence has never been in short supply, and here it drives him into bold new schemes. The Outlaws follow, and common sense is left some way behind.

28

William and the Tramp

by Richmal Crompton

1952

William's sympathy for an outsider leads him into one of his messiest rescue efforts. Helping the tramp seems simple at first, until the adults get involved.

29

William and the Moon Rocket

by Richmal Crompton

1954

Moon-mad headlines inspire William's next campaign, and he treats space travel like an Outlaws project. His grand plans launch plenty of trouble before anything else lifts off.

30

William and the Space Animal

by Richmal Crompton

1956

William seizes on the excitement of the space age and spins it into a new adventure. Science, rumor, and mischief collide as the Outlaws charge in.

31

William's Television Show

by Richmal Crompton

1958

Television looks like the perfect stage for William's talents and opinions. His attempts to put on a show bring performance, publicity, and chaos together.

32

William—the Explorer

by Richmal Crompton

1960

William sets out to discover and master the world around him, treating local ground like unknown territory. His explorations turn simple days into energetic disorder.

33

William's Treasure Trove

by Richmal Crompton

1962

A hint of hidden treasure sends William and the Outlaws chasing profit, adventure, and glory. As always, their search causes far more upheaval than anyone expected.

34

William and the Witch

by Richmal Crompton

1964

Rumors of witchcraft and village superstition are irresistible to William Brown. Once he decides to investigate and help, ordinary gossip turns into full-scale confusion.

35

William And The Pop Singers

by Richmal Crompton

1965

Pop music and sudden fame sweep into William's world, giving him fresh opportunities to interfere. His modern enthusiasms create as much trouble as his older-fashioned schemes.

36

William And The Masked Ranger

by Richmal Crompton

1966

William brings cowboy swagger and secret-hero theatrics into everyday English life. The Outlaws follow his lead, and the usual village routines do not stand a chance.

37

William the Superman

by Richmal Crompton

1968

William decides ordinary standards are too small for him and launches into a new heroic phase. His latest attempts to improve the world leave family, friends, and neighbors reeling.

38

William the Lawless

by Richmal Crompton

1970

The final William collection finds William Brown still meddling, helping, and derailing adult plans with the Outlaws. Even in his last outing, his good intentions lead straight to comic chaos.

39

What's Wrong with Civilizashun and Other Important Ritings by Just William

by Richmal Crompton

1990

This comic collection gathers William's own writings and opinions, complete with wild spelling and total certainty. It lets readers hear his worldview in his own gloriously skewed voice.

40

Just William at Christmas

by Richmal Crompton

2015

Festive William stories turn presents, visitors, winter plans, and family traditions into prime material for mischief. Christmas only makes his good intentions more dangerous.

41

William at War

by Richmal Crompton

2016

These wartime stories drop William Brown into blackouts, rationing, and patriotic campaigns. The setting is serious, but William remains gloriously incapable of keeping calm or staying out of trouble.

Series background & context

At the center of the Just William books is William Brown, an eleven-year-old boy with endless confidence, strong opinions, and almost no respect for the tidy rules of the adult world. He leads a small band of friends called the Outlaws, usually Ginger, Douglas, and Henry, and with them he turns ordinary afternoons into campaigns, businesses, rescues, feuds, and disasters. William means well far more often than adults give him credit for. That is usually the problem.

The setting is a recognizably English world of houses, gardens, lanes, school routines, tea tables, and village gossip. Crompton uses that small-scale setting brilliantly. Because William is always pushing against manners, money worries, class snobbery, romance, and grown-up respectability, the books are never just children's pranks. They are also comic studies of the strange rules adults live by, seen from a boy's stubborn ground-level view.

That is where the series gets its bite.

Most of the books, beginning with Just William, are collections of short stories, which makes them easy to dip into one at a time. The main exception is Just William's Luck, a full-length novel. Across nearly fifty years of publication, the world around William changes from the 1920s into the postwar decades, but William himself stays gloriously the same age. That means later books can bring in blackouts, evacuees, television, pop singers, and even moon rockets, while keeping the same comic engine: William gets an idea, the Outlaws follow him, and grown-up life takes the hit.

The recurring characters give the stories their special rhythm. William's family expects the worst and is still somehow never prepared. Violet Elizabeth Bott crashes in with noise, demands, and menace whenever the Outlaws least want her. William's dog Jumble adds another layer of disorder. Even when a story starts with something simple, earning a little money, helping a lonely person, staging a performance, solving a mystery, it usually expands into total confusion before the dust settles.

These books are funny, but they are not sugary. Crompton writes children as energetic, selfish, loyal, imaginative, and very alive. She writes adults as loving, pompous, foolish, kind, unfair, and often just as unreasonable. That balance is why the stories still feel fresh. William can be exasperating, but he is rarely dull, and the adult world he unsettles always seems slightly in need of unsettling.

William never really reforms.

That is the secret of the series. Readers do not come here for a long story arc or a final lesson learned. They come for voice, pace, comic timing, and the pleasure of watching one determined boy charge into a civilized world and leave it wobbling. The books have inspired film, radio, television, and stage versions, but the page is where the joke works best: William sees a wrong, or a chance, or a grand idea, and off he goes.

Edited by

Richard Reis

Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.

Anurag Ramdasan

Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.

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