Burglar Bill

Product Information

Burglar Bill is the delightful story of a thief who lives off other people's fortunes, until two major events change his life forever. The book also illustrates that burglars will do ‘good’ if they give everything-they ever stole-back to their victims and will receive no retribution and even go on to get a job, get married and live happy lives. Burglar Bill is an entertaining picture book by the iconic British husband and wife picture book team Janet and Allan Ahlberg, creators of Peepo!

Bill and Betty exchange pleasantries and after a short while Bill describes his unusual find the other evening. The Ahlberg's delightful story has it all: adventure; romance; felonies galore; remorse; restitution and a happy ending. Allan Ahlberg has published over 100 children's books and with his late wife Janet, created many award-winning children's picture books, including Cops and Robbers, It was a Dark and Stormy Night, Each Peach Pear Plum and the Kate Greenaway Medal winning The Jolly Postman. It's interesting to note that a number of online reviews criticize the fact that Bill and Betty were never punished for their transgressions, leading me to wonder whether this issue has ever caused the book to be challenged, when it comes to inclusion in school and public library collections.

Janet Ahlberg (21 October 1944 – 13 November 1994), née Janet Hall, and Allan Ahlberg (born 5 June 1938) were a British married couple who created many children's books, including picture books that regularly appear at the top of "most popular" lists for public libraries.

Burglar Bill is an entertaining picture book by the iconic British husband and wife picture book team Janet and Allan Ahlberg, creators of Peepo! before you begin to read, get a "feel" for the book by looking at the cover, front and back and talking about it. The first is when he steals a box only to find it contains a baby, and the second is when he, too, is burgled, by Burglar Betty. Allan Ahlberg is one of the UK's most acclaimed and successful authors of children's books - including the best-selling Jolly Postman series.Anstey's 1888 Burglar Bill, and Other Pieces for the Use of the Young Reciter, might have been an inspiration for the Ahlbergs. The improbable union that follows offers a convenient moral that turns both thieves into honest folk who vow to keep on the straight and narrow. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve had to repeat “I’m a widow lady” in a squeaky falsetto and I’ve loved hearing their giggles over the years.

Being my school's librarian, I now get to sort through books we get and idly skim through them when I've got a moment. There is something of a straight-faced-but-purposely-ridiculous whimsy in a lot of British children's books, and this one really takes it to extremes.He confronts the burglar, who he discovers is Burglar Betty, and they talk to one another to find they have much in common. And of course to give up their burgling ways - clearly a story for children has to have a moral ending! The picture book which dares to show how prison policy can best be reformed by the introduction of dating agencies and matchmaking. The illustrations have a timeless charm, full of character and period detail, wonderfully rich and coloured in a style that's not that familiar these days.