Will William conquer the modern age?

William Brown is back. The scruffy, anarchic schoolboy with the skew-whiff cap was born 80 years ago, and like any other self-respecting octogenarian is marking the occasion with a party.

Not everyone is happy about this, not least the RSPCA - which is still hopping mad about the time William painted a dog blue.

The anti-bullying people are not at all sanguine either about the day he threw mud at a younger boy. But, well, that's William for you.

The first William story, Just William, was written 80 years ago by a woman whose name sounded as if it belonged to a man. This is doubly so when you discover that Richmal Crompton's middle name was Samuel; her last name, by the way, was in fact Lamburn and not Crompton at all.

The publisher Macmillan is celebrating William's anniversary with the release of 20 books in facsimile jackets. This return is not going smoothly, as the young lad has run up against modern morals and the objections of those who don't like to see incorrectly coloured dogs or bullying.

And no, of course I don't think that bullying can be dismissed lightly, but the Just William stories were begun during the inter-war years, a period so long ago that few reference points remain the same - except for the enduring appeal of a perpetually mischievous boy.

To complain about William's antics is to miss the point of the books, which were amusing in their way. If the re-born William can win boys over to reading, then he is to be welcomed, complete with his naughtiness, for without that there wouldn't be much at all. Just a muddy puddle.

For all that, I am not inclined to go too far out of my way to defend the inter-war scruff. For the world has moved on since William's day, and so too has children's literature.

There are very many good children's books available today, and many are much more interesting than Just William or other books I read as a child. True, I loved Enid Blyton at the time, though it seems strange so say so now.

Arthur Ransome was another favourite, though his boating tales have little resonance today. The modern child is far more likely to be reading the Harry Potter books by JK Rowling, and a good thing too.

These are marvellous books. I read the first Potter book, Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, out of curiosity because my ten-year-old son had enjoyed it so much, reading so late that in the morning he had baggy eyes.

He stayed awake even later for the second book, Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone. Harry Potter is a young wizard, away at wizard boarding school, caught up in all sorts of scrapes and drawn into darkly magical quests.

Like all good children's characters, he is set apart from the adult world, not least because he is an orphan under the grumpy guardianship of an appalling aunt and uncle.

A third book, Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, is due out on July 8, at which point there will be fisticuffs in the Cole household (my wife will join in, as she's read the first two as well).

Despite the rise of computer games, with their pinging music and addictive, tunnelling tasks, reading is growing in popularity with children, so much so that in the first 12 weeks of this year 5.5 million children's books were sold as against 7.5 million adult novels.

Reading is so important and so rewarding. To be a child and to discover the magical sensation of being totally absorbed in a story is something that can stay with you for life.

If dirty-kneed William Brown can help in this important task, so much to the good. But he'd better watch out. Harry Potter will put up a good fight. And he's got magic on his side.

05/05/99

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.