Just William’s New Year’s Day

Just William's New Year's Day by Richmal Crompton is one short story for 8 year olds in which an eleven year old is left in sole charge of a sweet shop.

What happens

It starts with William trying to talk Mr Moss out of two ounces of sweets on credit. Mr Moss does not do credit, but he does hand over a few fruit drops as a New Year's gift.

Then he asks William what his New Year's resolution is going to be.

William has not got one. Doing his schoolwork properly is ruled out immediately. So is keeping his clothes tidy, and so is giving up shouting and whistling.

He settles on being polite.

The next morning he comes down to breakfast and unleashes it on his family. His father is so startled he apologises. His brother Robert gets told that if you'll scuse me contradicting of you, the milkman says it is going to be fine. Robert tells him to stop being cheeky.

His mother asks whether he has a headache.

Then comes the part your reader will actually be waiting for. Mr Moss has a train to catch, because he proposes to the same woman every New Year's Day and has done for ten years. His nephew is meant to be minding the shop and has not arrived.

So he leaves William in charge for two shakes, and tells him he can weigh out a quarter of the new pink ones.

William walks round the shop three times. By the end of the third lap he has quietly decided that he owns it.

You can see it coming and it is still very funny. Nothing here ends tidily or with a lesson. William finishes the morning pale, unsteady and absolutely certain he does not want any lunch.

The narrator leans out of the story to talk to you, which children usually love.

The age of it shows in two places. The story was first published in 1922 and one exchange near the start has William and Mr Moss saying honest Injun to each other, twice. It is a dated expression that this edition has left in, and it arrives in the first couple of pages, so it is worth being ready for rather than caught out by.

The spelling is also old-fashioned on purpose. William says p'lite and wun't and scuse, because that is how he talks. A confident reader will have it sorted in a page. A wobbly one will do much better if you read the opening aloud with them.

And do check what you are picking up. This is one story on its own, not a full-length book, which is a good way to find out whether William suits your household.

What to read next

More William is the collection to go to next. It opens on Christmas morning with an aunt hanging a card over his bed reading A Busy Day is a Happy Day, which William reads with deep suspicion before setting out to be extremely busy indeed.