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  • Published: 14 April 2008
  • ISBN: 9780141913537
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 192

The Boyhood of Burglar Bill





Allan Ahlberg's funny and moving semi-autobiographical look back at a 1950s childhood is the second in a series which began with My Brother's Ghost.

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.

  • Published: 14 April 2008
  • ISBN: 9780141913537
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 192

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Praise for The Boyhood of Burglar Bill

An exceptional piece of writing . . . comic, poignant and true. Anyone will be enriched by reading it

Sunday Times

Affectionately downbeat . . . this artfully informal story has something for everyone

Nicholas Tucker, Independent

This is simply great writing, for boys or anyone else

Brandon Robshaw, Independent