2 NOVEMBER 1912, Page 13

The Boys' Own. Annual ; The Girls' Own Annual. (Boys'

Own Paper Office, 4 Bouverie Street. 8s. each.)—These are unfailing storehouses of interest for young folk who may have just lost the habit of hanging up a stocking on Christmas Eve. If so, it will solve a difficulty for many parents, since no stocking could contain their splendid bulk. The Girls' Own provides plenty of suitable fiction, mingled with instructive papers on all subjects, feminine and domestic. Even the anxieties of older readers may be soothed (let us hope not intensified) by an article for mistresses and servants upon the Insurance Act. The " Craft of the Woodlander" seems to have strayed from the companion volume. The Boys' Own has thrilling serial stories of adventure and school-life, articles on games, some by those heroes, professional cricketers, and upon innumerable useful crafts. Wo hope that some school- boys still follow the chess problems. Both volumes are profusely illustrated in black-and-white and in colour.