2 JANUARY 1897, Page 35

Squib and his Friends. By E. Everett-Green. (Nelson and Sons.)—"

Squib" is a little boy who has earned this nickname by a way he has of exploding, so to speak, in a rapid gush of impul- sive talk after long periods of silence and inaction. The scene is laid chiefly in Switzerland, where the boy makes a very valuable acquaintance in the person of one Seppi. Seppi's story is a most interesting one, and the whole book is one of very considerable merit. A better "story for children" it would not be easy to find.