GIFT -BOOKS.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS.*

This year there is a delightful light-heartedness about the story- books, and one feels that the clouds of the last six years have Vaned to let more rays of sunshine fall on our nurseries. Not that the war-time children's books were gloomy, but one felt that their authors were being forcedly cheerful instead of spontaneously so, as they evidently are just now.

Hum Esquire, is an unpretentious-looking little book, but its plain covers hide a really amusing story. The gentleman of the title is the last of the Imps and turns everything upside down in a most ingenious manner. He is full of fun and good inten- fions, but his zeal makes bins" overdo things," Lady Acland tells us. The father of the family in which he takes up his abode is a professor "much interested in enchantments and ,,' 111 Masi Esquire. By Alice S. Arland. London ShIgwirk and Jackson. 5d. net.]—(2) The Gingerbread Howe. By Cathetine Male. Illus- trated by Helen Jacobs. London Harrap. 153. net.]—(3) The hibuine Hy P. B. Mackie (Mrs. H. Cavendish). Music by Ch. 0. Bassett. illustrated by II. E. Smith. London : Ilarrap. (5s. net.1—(4) The edit Curious. By Jean do Bow,chere Illustrated by the Author and retold in English by If. Tennyson J- • London : Heinemann [108 fel. net.] --CS) The Land. of the leer Younit. By Itosamo d Langb•ridge. • Illustrated 117P.D. Bedford. London S.P.C.K. [12s. Sal. net.(—(6) Belly and Bobtail at ...lane-Tree Penn. By Lilian Oask. Illustrated by Helen Jacobs. Jondon my. [0a. not.]—(7) Shoe. By J. A. Bentham. Illustrated and rented by Hilda T. Killer. Louisa: Duckworth. [5s. net.]—(8) The Y .g.riattt Tramp. By V. C. Barclay. Loudon C. Arthur Pearson. 125. 61. 2T—(8) That Curly Efeaded Roque. Written and Illustrated by Lilian ( man. I.ondon Jerrold. (8s. net.]—(10) The Paestoerd to Fairy Land. Elizabeth Southwark with drawings by Florence M. Andereon. London, 2V.5'Pkin. Hare/mil. [15s. net.I—(11) The Gnome's 2'reasure, The Riddle of the .oed. The Land of Nursery lthymes. and The River of Dreams. All by Alice aud lease Pouting. With 8 Photographic Illustrations by A. Posting. London : yonl 5050 Boon. [28. 8d. net each.]—(12) 2'he Parables. Illustrated by H. J. ”. • London S.P.C.K. [4s. tld. net.]—(13) &elan of Engltsh Church

By Elizabeth Grierson. London : S.P.C.K. [45. net.]

old spells and things of that kind." Matters come to a pretty pass when Hum lets loose a flood on the country-side by way of watering his friend's garden, puts soap in the kitchen pots and pans and even into the children's jam, collects all the pigs of the neighbourhood into Mr. Cheff era's garden, and does a hundred and one dangerous and inconvenient things in the funniest ways imaginable. The professor was convinced that all the queer things that happened were the work of an imp and took them in the utmost good part, even when he sprained his ankle and hurt his elbow because Hum had covered the door-step with soap, and so turned it into a trap for everybody who left the house. Mr. Cheffers east spells in the most approved manner, but with no result. The climax was reached when the family went to London for a few days. Hum, hearing of their plans, added a postscript to Mrs. Cheffers's letter to the hotel ordering rooms, saying, "The ehildten are very fond of ices, and will you please see that there are plenty of animals in their bed- room for them to play with ?" Not content with this, lie tele- phoned to the manager ordering bands to play cheerful music, and decorations of water-lilies in tuba, besides sumptuous meals. Then he arranged that Mr. Jamrack should bring a fine collection of animals to entertain the Chaffers family on their arrival at Paddington. And no the fun and the complications grow, and poor Mr. and Mrs. Cheffers get more and more puzzled and uneasy, while the children revel in ices and enjoy the cheerful music, and the kittens, and otherdelights, that Hum has thought- fully provided for them. The denament is well worked out., and eventually Hum escapes from the enchantment which com- pelled him to make a muddle of his best intentions. He even- tually turns into a sort of super-garden boy and lives happily with the now tranquillized Cheffers family.

The Gingerbread House' is a delightfully romantic story of children and grown-up people. The scene is laid in an English country house of the present day, and though there in an echo of the war, the children are inspired rather than saddened by it. Ten-year-old Peter is the hero of the story, and lie and his little sister Anne are very attractive children who help to smooth the course of true love for several other characters in the book. Indeed, Peter is one of the nicest little boys we have met for a long time, and we heartily recommend our readers to make friends with him. Miss Helen Jacobs' full-page coloured pictures are very good, and really illustrate the story. We particularly like the frontispiece showing the two children sitting on the floor in their nursery.

In The Moving 110218e 3 Miss Mackie waves her magic wand and we are transported into fairy land, there to consort with tho Little People and to watch the gradual development of Buss, tho faun, into a mortal poet. This can only be achieved by tears, but, luckily, they arc not tears of sorrow, for he says that he only weeps for joy at winning the love of Lottie, the mortal girl. The story is well told, and the many characters are cleverly drawn. Besides a merry company of fairies and their attendant animals,such as a rat and a rabbitathere are the peasants of a woodland village, and Great Uncle Nat, a wicked old piratical sea captain, who turns Lottie out of her little house on Mid- summer Eve. While she is having fairy adventures, he passes a lurid time in the compamy of the ghost of his own conscience and those of three cabin boys whom he had sent to Davy Jones's locker. There are also two horrid old women called Chit and Chat, the impersonifications of ill-natured gossip. With all these people there is no lack of incident, and we can assure the possessors of this story-book that they will enjoy themselves very much when they read it. The faun's pipings and the song of the Ancient Crow are well set to music by Mr. Charles Olm- stead Bassett. The book has a coloured frontispiece and some black-and-white illustrations by Mr. Horace Smith.

The old fairy tale idea of a house made of sweetmeats is developed in The City Curious, into a country, full not only of appetizing things like chocolate castles, but of inhabitants composed of cake and pastry and such-like delicacies. The hero and heroine are mortals, "made of suet," as a eakey person contemptuously remarks. Setting out from home on a quest for three little girls, "fine, sweet, pink, and good," they found themselves at last in this curious city of animated food. There they met with some difficulties and even dangers ; but with plenty of good luck and good management they escaped from their enemies, rescued the girls and their father from this somewhat sticky country, and wound up all their affairs at a successful and " unforgettable " picnic. The title page says that M. Jean de Bosschere's story has been retold in Englisle by E. Tennyson Jesse, and very well the work has been done. The Belgian turns of thought and imagery have been kept, but not at the expense of good English, as is sometimes the ease In a translation. People who remember M. de Bossehere's delightful Christmas Tales of Flanders will be delighted to see some more of his work. It is difficult to choose an illustration for special praise, but we must draw our readers' attention to the picture of the hen who not only lays plenty of eggs in a coal-scuttle, but cooks them as well. Housekeeping details are entered into with zest in this story, and now that we are all doing our cooking and housework, or expect to be doing it, to-morrow or next day, there is a poignant interest in such things as sugar plates that are eaten for dessert instead of being washed. Our author tells us that singing and dancing in the kitchen produces nice things to eat, and we might well lay this to heart as an allegory for these hardworking times.

The Land of the Ever Young' is a fantastic story of a little boy left in charge of an aunt during his mother's absence In India. The aunt was microbe mad, and the children called Dermot "the antiseptic boy." The chapters that tell us of his nursery life in London, and of an All Halloween party, are full of amusing details, but when we come to Dermot's illness and his feverish dreams, the thread of interest is spun out rather long and thin. The characters are mostly Irish, and are supposed to be very charming in consequence, for the author follows our curious English habit of assuming, at any rate for the purpose of a story or a joke, that the Irish are a harmless, pleasant set of people with particularly "good hearts."

Betty and Bobtail at Pine-Tree Farm' is another of Miss Lilian Gask's excellent books about animals and children. She here tells us of the wild as well as the tame creatures on a farm, and has many amusing and interesting things to say about their queer and clever ways. Betty is an engaging child, and her story, with its appropriate ending, is prettily told. We are glad to see some more of Miss Helen Jacobs's charming illustrations.

Shoes, is a story of a little girl whose wish to be somebody else was granted by the fairies, and her rather sedate adventures will no doubt please seriously minded children. Miss H. T. Miller's illustrations are pretty, and she has tamed the three- colour process into quiet tones.

The Mysterious Tramp' is a sequel to Danny the Detective, in which this resourceful scout again takes the le tog part. It is a really thrilling little story of the machinations of a gang of forgers and gipsies, and the plot is well worked out. It is called "A Story for Wolf Cubs," and tells of the formation of a " six " out of very rough material and of the rapid improvement of these very disagreeable little boys. Though Wolf Cubs may appreciate the book more than other people, we feel sure that all children will follow the adventurers with bated breath. The illustrations are, unfortunately, somewhat primitive.

Here is another very charming Peter book. That Curly Lipari,' Bogue' is a most engaging child, but his excitable spirits and warm heart keep him and his adoring family in such an atmo- sphere of emotional high pressure that they must have found life very fatiguing. He has scarcely been saved from drowning in the bathroom when ho has a desperate encounter with an old gardener over a goweberry net, to be followed by such adventures as salting the cake mixture for a tea-party, spoiling a picture his artist father had just finished, and nearly breaking his neck and quite shattering his people's nerves by an expedition on to the roof. This bald catalogue gives no idea of the state of agitation into which everybody, including the reader, is worked up by Miss Lilian Cheesman, but to make amends she introduces us to some delightful people and brings Peter safely through all his mischievous deeds.

The Password to Fairy Land° is an imposing-looking volume, full of charmingly fanciful black-and-white illustrations by Mies Florence Mary Anderson, but the coloured pictures by the same artist are very bad examples of the process that we so often find fault with. The story, which is not particularly interesting, Is concerned with the wanderings of a little girl and a mule who have long conversations with very talkative fairies.

The Gnome's Treasure" is the first of a series of four little books with brightly coloured covers, telling of the adventures of George and his friendly gnome. We find them again in The

Biddle of the Wood, The Land of Nursery Rhymes, and The River of Dreams. They are often joined by a nice, sensible little girl

Galled Dorothy, and when difficulties seem to be getting too much for the children a fairy godmother always appears at the critical moment. The little books are illustrated with photo- graphs of beautiful woodland glades.

The Parables." Mr. Ford's illustrations are less conventional than pictures of this sort too often are, and will probably interest the children for whom they are intended. "The text is that of the Authorized Version," we are told, "but a familiar word Is occasionally substituted for an unfamiliar one," and is explained in simple introductory notes. The print is large and dear.

These Sketches of English Church History" are well written, and the book is more interesting than the cover-title would lead one to suppose. Miss Grierson has something to tell WI of many famous people and events from the time of Queen Bertha and the coming of St. Augustine down to Sir Christopher Wren and the building of St. Paul's CathedraL She also gives UB a number of black-and-white illustrations.