BOOKS FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN

The first six books, four of them fantasies, are very highly recommended. The review includes a number of good animal picturestory books, but few particularly impressive magical stories or retellings of folk material. The quality of illustration is generally much superior to the quality of text, demonstrating once more, if demonstration is needed, the difficulties of this particular form: the need for conscious but not self-conscious simplification of thought and language, and the need for rapid characterisation and swift action.

The Wishing Balloons Maryke Reesink Illustrated by Adrie Hospes (Bodley Head £1.05) It is carnival day: anything can happen. Marika is dressed as a balloon seller, and each time she wishes, her wish is granted and one of her balloons breaks. She and her brother Jan find themselves far from school and involved in a timeless journey, on behalf of the King of the Sea, in search of the green-haired troll maiden singing on the cliffs of Norway. The pictures are brilliant — breathtaking impressionistic swirls and swarms of colour, always firmly controlled, worlds in which whale and great conch grow naturally out of water and trolls out of rock cleft. They are faithful to the text and faithful to themselves. This is the best picture-story book I have seen this year.

The Bird Fancier Helen Cresswell illustrated by Renate Meyer (Benn E1.25) Tom barges in a bird-fancier who has two carrier-bags of bird food, one of which enables whosoever scatters it to see strange esoteric birds, birds out of the blue, firework birds, red fires of feathers. In the town's creeping dusk, the strange fancier's pitches ' (the humdrum square, park and station) become charged for Tom with a fleeting glory as he scatters the seed, a brilliance which must necessarily be lost and yet which may possibly be recaptured. Renate Meyer's pictures, some whirling, some shadowy, admirably catch the story's combination of the strange and the everyday.

Meal One Ivor Cutler pictures by Helen Oxenbury (Heinemann E1.10) A short, very sharp comic text and extremely imaginative pictures tell of a full-blooded comradeship between a mighty mother and her young son. They play tricks on each other, they play football together, they fight, and they plant a plum stone under the floorboards . . . which leads to a fright, and a flight into extravagant fantasy. All is well: the mother has the knack of turning the clock back. An innocent and spirited book. Long may this partnership prosper.

Mother Goose Lost Nursery rhymes collected by Nicholas Tucker. Pictures by Trevor Stubley (Hamish Hamilton £1.25) Sammy Smith would drink and eat From morning until night; He filled his mouth so full of meat, It was a horrid sight.

Indeed he ate and drank so fast, And used to stiff and cram, The name they called him by at last

Was Greedy, Greedy Sam.

The book consists of thirty-one little known nursery rhymes; Some of these rhymes were not included in the earliest popular selections, and so never found their way into the later anthologies which usually imitated them so slavishly.' If none are as good as the best, most are too good to be forgotten, and they are set off here by admirably carefree, zestful illustrations which bring to life a new gallery of characters for the nursery.

The Hat Tomi Ungerer (Bodley Head £1.25) With two leaps (Zeraida's Ogre last year and now The Hat) Tomi Ungerer has

unquestionably established himself amongst the small company capable of producing text and illustration worthy of one another. The hat, a black top hat with a ribbon of magenta silk, blows off one man's head and lands on the head of a poor veteran soldier; it changes his fortunes drastically and, when he can want nothing more, blows off his head . . . The story is robust, often amusing, and full of side-jokes that will endear it to adults without diminishing it for children. The virile pictures are uncluttered, and yet their detail repays careful attention; and, as one might expect from this well-known cartoonist, the characterisation is superb.

ABC of Things Helen Oxenbury (Heinemann E1.00) P is for pelican, pier, pig . . So the pelican and the pig stand on the pier ,one with its beak jampacked with fish, the other dangling a fishing rod and looking as luckless as ever a pig did. The unexpected and amusing juxtapositions (hare and hippopotamus unhappy in hospital, dog and duck dazed by deskwork) make this something of a storybook as well as an ABC; and the sheer quality of the illustrations — beautifully composed and enormously good-humoured — should establish this as the best ABC since Brian Wild smith's.

Do You Want to be My Friend? Eric Carle (Hamish Hamilton £1.25) Can yoU recognise an animal by its tail? An ingenious and amusing book, all but without words, in which a mouse in pursuit, of a friend follows tail after tail and each time finds on the following page some thoroughly unaccommodating animal. A snake as long as the book accompanies the mouse who does finally discover a friend, sui generis. Very colourful, very sharp plc" tures.

Frederick Leo Lionni (Abelard-Schumea £1.25) While the other mice gather against winter corn and nuts and wheat and stravi, Frederick gathers sun rays and colours and words. In the cold colourless months his imaginative energy proves invaluable. The book certainly strikes a blow for the artiSt, and the subtly-coloured gently humoroUs pictures (which exploit the page rather than being imprisoned by it) are, outstanding, as befits this distinguishe', artist, but the text is a little unequal an should have been left, as is often the caSe' to a writer.

Alexander and the Wind-up Mouse Lionni (Abelard-Schuman e1.25) As I' Frederick, Leo Lionni has a point to make: quite simply, the value of life, whatever its tribulations. Simple words and delightful, affecting pictures, of a piece with those in Frederick, tell of the friendship of a real mouse and clockwork mouse, and of the magic lizard who can (and does) turn one animal into another. Recommended.

Huni Fiona French (Oxford University Press £1.00) Huni, the son of a Pharaoh, follows the sun god Ra through the night; he visits the kingdom of Osiris, Ruler of the Night, and by facing the unknown and reaching daylight again proves he will be strong enough to rule Egypt. There are almost too many strange ideas in this story — the gift of an eye from Horus, falcon-headed god of the sky, the lotus Power which becomes the morning, etc — In relation to its length, but it is nonetheless very clearly told. The Pictures, based on Egyptian murals, are detailed, eye-catching and authoritative. Few children in the recommended age range six to eight will find this book easy to begin with; but if it were first read to them, many would later want to read it for themselves.

Bobar's Birthday Surprise Laurent de nrunhoff (Methuen 80p) In the kingdom °f the elephants, Podular the sculptor takes on an elephantine commission: to carve a statue of Babar out of the Mountain face as a birthday surprise. Rabar's children come to see the work in Progress. All three were amazed "How handsome Papa is as an mountain,' said Alexander." Despite alarums, the secret is kept until the great day. An inventiiie story and entertaining pictures; another success for all Babar's subjects.

rhe Dragon of St. Pancras Simon Barnard (Rex Collings £1.00) A far-fetched little fantasy in which a dragon called Beeching, scourge of St Pancras, turns out to be not draconic but lonely; he is duly rescued from the BR by the youngest of a king's three sons and taken to live at Tooting Bec Castle. Good cartoon-like pictures.

Henry Bada-Bada Polly Hobson pictures by Jane Rendel (Macmillan £1.05) The engaging Bada-Bada is made of folded Paper and even the least practical of Parents will be able to create him. This b°01t tells of the adventures and zrusadventures of Henry, including an allbut-disastrous flirtation with his own reflection in a tap, in complicated prose and somewhat old-fashioned but efficient, sketchlike pictures. There could be a BadaRada craze.

1;°ng, Broad and Quicheye Evaline Ness lehatto, Boyd and Oliver £1.05) This is a 00d retelling of a stirring Bohemian folk 'ale about a prince, his three magic F°41. panions, a princess and a sorcerer, but It Is altogether too long for the picture_st°rY book format and the typeface is much too small. The pictures are artistically satisfying but they are muted and may not appeal to young children.

tlest Friend for Frances Russell Hoban ictures by Lillian Hoban (Faber £0.90) eW books catch the exchanges and altercations of young children (albeit through the mouths of badgers) better

than the Frances series. This sure-footed and humorous story, and its fetching illustrations by Tomi Ungerer (Methuen fellow badgers first exclude one another and then learn to share says something really worth saying — and says it in a way that should attract young child and parent alike — about the values of friendship.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice Barbara Hazen Illustrations by Tomi Ungerer (Methuen £1.20) A sharply written and very powerfully visualised representation of this famous folk tale, set in this instance in a castle on the banks of the Rhine. The book is in the same large format as Zeralda's Ogre and deploys the same use of virulent colours. What about a cartoon film making use of Dukas's music and Ungerer's pictures?

Sea-Change Irmgard Lucht and Josef Guggenmos (Macdonald £1.25) Simple prose and poetic pictures tell how leaves long to be free, like birds; how suddenly they have explored. Sceptics will write and dart through the dancing forests of the sea; and how then a fisherman sees them and drops his net and harvests a shoal — yes, of autumn leaves. "They are beautiful. On each one are traceries of veins, like maps of the paths of the sea they have explored." Sceptics will write this book off as flimsy whimsy; in fact it points to a striking relationship in the natural woEld and treads very delicately the tightrope between seen and imagined. First published in Germany, it won the 1971 Bologna Book Fair Prize for the best picture-story book of the year.

Carter is a Painter's Cat Carolyn Sloan pictures by Fritz Wegner (Longman £1.10) Robust and colourful words and pictures tell how Carter's shape for the day is determined by the way in which his owner depicts him that morning — colourless, or thin, or without whiskers, or on two legs — and relate his week's fortunes and misfortunes. Carter has the last laugh by painting his owner, painting himself and pushing off for a holiday. A satisfying book in which the animals really are animals and not just sub-humans.

Hogglespihe Patricia Drew (Chatto, Boyd and Oliver E1.25) This book develops in consistent prose and gentle friendly pictures a charming idea: a hedgehog who has rolled in bright petals curls up inside a flowerpot in a greenhouse and later wins admiration and an award at the local flower show. There is not much more to it than that, but the execution is impeccable.

The Fisherman's 'Bride Barbara Swiderska (Macdonald 85p) A fisherman wins his bride, the princess, after bringing her father 'ten pearls beautiful as mist' and fulfilling the traditional three impossible tasks. The retelling of this folk tale is unaffected and the pictures are warm, though somewhat static. Pleasant enough, but low-keyed.

The Damp and Daffy Doings of a Daring Pirate Ship Guillermo Mordillo (Harlin Quist 0.05) No words. Two pirate ships meet; the victorious crew are confronted by an incredible sea monster and dispose of it with a single well-placed arrow; they reach a desert island, find a treasure hoard, and fill their ship with so much gold that it promptly sinks; they swim for it and, undeterred, at once start work on another ship. The dauntless potato-shaped buccaneers are genuinely comic, the action on the high seas and under them is highlY entertaining, and the colours — shocking pink, ultramarine, crocus yellow etc. — are stunning.

Mr Bear and the Robbers Chizuko Kuratomi. Illustrated by Kozo Kakimoto (Macdonald £1.00) Three robber rabbits reluctantly enlist a bear's assistance. He disembowels a house for them but, Innocent of their intentions and endearingly credulous, repairs the house's contents and restores them to their true owners while they (and the rabbits) are still asleep. Delighted bear and confounded rabbits subsequently receive thanks an attend a birthday party. A good storY, with colourful and winning illustrations. A worthy addition to a worthwhile series.

The Giant Who Stole the World J011° Cunliffe. Pictures by Faith Jacques (Deutsch £1.05) A sky-giant pockets the world for 0 while and flummoxes the human race who cannot fathom the reason for the prolonged darkness, the frayed stars, and the prevalent whiff of cheese. This is clearly told story, but it is very mildlY patronising — a vice in children's boo14,5 daily decried but now rather unusual' Workaday pictures.

Walker, the Witch, and the Striped FlYil Saucer James Stevenson (Deutsch £1.2m. Walker tells Jane of his nightlife' accosting and later accounting for a wirell' boarding a flying saucer and flying both 0 car and a bi-plane through the dark sky 1 an unsurpassable combination for young boys. Jane is a good trooper; sP: listens and she suspends most of Ile`e disbelief. The black-and-white pictures ar. charming and the book's design creates ° welcome sense of space. Sixes and Sevens John Yeoman. Pictures by Quentin Blake (Blackie E1.10) Barnaby sets off by raft for Limber Lea, and at each landing stage takes aboard animals and other passengers. Potentially explosive situations (mice v. schoolmistresses, schoolmistresses v. schoolboys, snakes v. frogs etc.) are defused by solutions from Barnaby's bottomless box. The inventive and lively text is perfectly complemented by gay and humorous watercolours.

Petah and Gurigoo Francois Raoul-Duval Illustrated by Agnes Molnar (Collins, 95p) A South American Indian legend of how the forest birds, a melancholy troop dressed in black and grey, win their colours. The text is simple, the story fetching, and the pictures an appropriate Combination of the sombre and brilliant. This is a thoroughly satisfying book for the youngest age group.

Aesop's Fables A Selection illustrated by Gaynor Chapman (Hamish Hamilton £1.25) These fables, none more than a hundred Words long, are retold in language either Marginally too complicated, or lacking in immediacy, or both. (' In the very next battle the weasels routed the rats . . . Were saved but the proud generals, who Were unable to get into the holes because of their horns, and thus perished through their foolish pride.') Routed? Thus? Perished? What a pity, for Gaynor Chapman's clear, colourful and dramatic Illustrations are unusually striking.

Tamara and the Sea Witch Krystyna Turska (Hamish Hamilton £1.25) This story, in which a peasant girl wins and loses and regains a prince for husband after a dangerous journey to the island of the evil Sea Witch, is not the most compelling of Russian folk tales, and Miss Turska's retelling of it is no more than Unexceptionable. But her pictures are ontstanding — full of grace, subtle colours and a sense of movement.

the Moon Began James Reeves illustrated by Edward Ardizzone (AbelardSchuman £1.40) Hats off for a small enterprise expertly realised by these two seasoned campaigners. James Reeves' Lretelling from Grimm of how four brothers 'rought the moon to their land of Exe, and "len claimed their quarter shares in it on their deathbeds with the most startling results, is quite impeccable — simple, economical, and graceful; and Edward Ardizzone's pictures conjure up a world of light and shadows, and arcadian innocence.

Legend of Paradise Margareta StrOms(cdt. Photographs by Lies Weigman `‘.11gus and Robertson £1.50) Based on the

enesis legend of Eden, this book tells in

onntatory words and compelling poetic dulack-and-white photographs of how 'I' jeams that he creates the inanimate 7orld, the animal kingdom, and a boy and girl who learn guilt and fear by eating 4`ne apple, but who can derive hope still asL always from the sun. The book is not, it might so easily have been, e..fetentious or self-conscious; it is certainly 4,,e.ntimental but I found it also totally 41sarming.

Kevin Crossley-Holland