Who is the Smartiest of them all?

Juliet Townsend

A report on the children's books shortlisted for the Smarties prize.

How often I have watched in bemused admiration the judging of the Best in Show at Crufts. With a confidence baffling to the amateur the judge appraises the rival merits of a Pekinese and a saluki or grapples with the finer distinctions be- tween a dachshund and a St Bernard. And from this array of immaculate specimens, each the epitome of its breed, somehow emerges the Supreme Champion.

The judges of literary prizes face a similar problem, for they are seldom called on to compare like with like. Even when books are divided into categories or age groups there are still enormous differ- ences.

The Smarties Prize was launched last year for books published for children between four and eleven. The short-list is divided into three categories: 'Six years and under', 'seven to eleven years' and `Innovation'. In younger children's books the balance between text and illustration is all important. In the Beatrix Potter stories, for instance, or Edward Ardizzione's Little Tim books, the words and pictures are of equal importance and quality, but this is very difficult to achieve. Katie Morag and the Tiresome Ted (Main Hedderwick, £5.25, Bodley Head) is set on the Hebri- dean Isle of Struay, with lovingly depicted landscapes, and day and night panoramas of the bay on the endpapers which children will particularly enjoy. It is a simple but strong story and the illustrations have a lot of enjoyable detail, though I was mildly irritated by the CND badges which coyly decorate the children's bedroom.

There is an increasing demand for books aimed at children of different races. Jyoti's Journey (Helen Ganly, £5.95, Andre Deutsch) is a tale in simple English about an Indian girl who leaves her country to join her father in England. One wonders why, as the first part of the book shows a paradise of vibrant colour, family jollifica- tions and blue sky, while England is depicted as a gloomy mass of dung col- oured blocks of flats. The only compensa- tion for the poor child seems to have been `a beautiful new bed and bedcover'. The impressionistic collage pictures will prob- ably appeal more to grownups than chil- dren. I can hear the comments — 'Why haven't they got any faces?'

Happy Christmas, Gemma (Sarah Hayes, illustrated by Jan Ormerod, £5.95. Walker Books) is a straightforward story of a West Indian family's Christmas in Eng- land. The text has a satisfying rhythm and the illustrations are lively. There is a need for books like this, depicting ordinary life in a black family without proselytising. In so many books on this subject the actual story is drowned by the grinding of axes.

15 Ways to Go to Bed (Kathy Hender- son, £4.95, Bodley Head) is a cheerfully anarchic and colourful collection of 15 poems, mostly in free verse, on the subject of bedtime. They will ring a bell with all exasperated parents and procrastinating children.

A beautifully produced book in this category is The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg (Geoffrey Patterson, £5.95, Andre Deutsch). The eggs are most satis- fyingly golden and the goose has great charm — perhaps too much, as I anticipate tears when her neck is wrung, though the illustrator depicts the tragic scene at a tactful distance.

Some of the books for seven- to eleven- year-olds generate a certain gloom. Chil- dren's writers have long deserted the hear- ty uncles and jolly summer hols of 30 years ago and are rediscovering the dramatic possibilities of death, drink, disablement and deprivation so dear to their Victorian predecessors. The heroine of Juniper (Gene Kemp, £5.95, Faber) suffers from a mad mother, a deformed arm and a crimin- al father and only feels secure at school and playing with her friend Ranjit. It is a sinister little mystery, sadly without illus- trations.

The Snow Spider (Jenny Nimmo, illus- trated by Joanna Carey, £5.50, Methuen) is set on a Welsh hill farm haunted by the memory of Gwyn's sister Bethan, who disappeared four years before. Gwyn, with the aid of the snow spider Arianwen, tries to use his new-found power as a magician to see her again.

Woof! (Allen Ahlberg, illustrated by Fritz Wegner, £6.96, Kestrel) is an altogether more cheerful affair about a boy called Eric, who at unpredictable and usually embarrassing moments is apt to turn into a Norfolk terrier. The details are well observed and the dialogue and illus- trations excellent.

Henry's Quest (Graham Oakley, £5.95, Macmillan) shares the format and quality of illustration of the author's Church Mice books, but portrays a strange future post- industrial England, a sort of northern Angkor Wat, where creepers have smothered the pylons and cooling towers. The king inaugurates a Quest to find the mysterious 'petrol', which he needs to animate the family heirlooms — long abandoned cars. Henry's search for this unlovely Grail takes him into a dark world which is a nightmare caricature of our own.

The Phantom Carwash (Chris Powling, illustrated by Jean Baylis, £2.50, Heine- mann) would be a good stocking filler for a seven- to eight-year-old — small, colourful and with an original magic Christmas story.

Shirley Hughes is a much loved writer/ illustrator of children's books. Another Helping of Chips (£5.50, Bodley Head) is an idiosyncratic combination of text with drawings and comic strip. It is funny and excellent for slow readers.

The most striking book in the Innovation category is The Mirrorstone (Michael PalM, Alan Lee, Richard Seymour, £7.95, Cape) with its extraordinary three dimen- sional holograms, the first time this eerie technique has been used to illustrate a book. One does feel, however, that the story has been devised to exploit the medium, with a plethora of mirrors, crystal globes and pools.

The Working Camera (John Hedgecoe, Ron van der Meer, £9.95, Angus and Robertson) is perhaps aimed at rather older children, though technically minded 11-year-olds would probably enjoy it. It also owes its inclusion to its illustrations, elaborate pop-ups of cameras and perspec- tive views. Though extremely ingenious, it is only 12 pages long.

The Magic Music Book (£6.95, Hippo) also wins its place on the shortlist by its novelty value, and would make an original Christmas present for a seven- or eight- year-old. The book incorporates an actual keyboard on which the reader can play the 12 songs in the text.

A rich combination of myth, narrative, vivid illustration and archaeological detail makes The Legend of Odysseus (Peter Connolly, £7.95, OUP) compulsive read- ing for older children in this age group who are interested in the Ancient World. The book follows the story from the outbreak of the Trojan War to the return of Odys- seus to Ithaca and reinforces each incident with facts and photographs.

Where's Spot? (Eric Hill, £5.95, National Deaf Children's Society) is a new edition of the old favourite, the first sign language translation of a children's book to be produced in this country for deaf children. Anyone who has been involved with judging a rural school's project will be familiar with the format of Village Heritage (Miss Pinnell and The Children of Sapper- ton School, £10.95, Alan Sutton) in which the children explore the history of their vil- .1age. What sets it apart is that it is un- usually exhaustive and polished, and portrays a most interesting village.

So there they stand — dalmation, pug, Great Dane, borzoi, each with its good points, each so individual. I do not envy the judges their task.

The winners were: The Goose that laid the Golden Egg and The Snow Spider (Grand Prix winner); the Innovation category was divided between The Mirror- stone and Village Heritage.