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.