Children's books for Christmas
Juliet Townsend
The advantage of books as Christmas presents is that they are so easy to wrap and send, compared to some of the impos- sible shapes and sizes of other offerings which, bursting out of their paper, have to be personally delivered at great inconve- nience to one's godchildren in the frantic last week. Among those well worth consid- ering for children between seven and 11 is A Street Through Time (Dorling Kindersley, £12.99). Each large double-spread illustra- tion shows the same stretch of river bank at a different period, from 10,000 BC to the present day, from the tents and dugout canoes of the Stone Age to the tower block and shopping centre of the 1990s. Steve Noon's excellent illustrations are crammed with fascinating detail, elucidated by Anne Millard's short, clear text.
Also notable for its fine illustrations is Brian Wildsmith's Exodus (OUP, £10.99), the story of Moses, well told and brilliantly depicted. The pictures of the Egyptian palaces and the Israelites trekking through the enormous desert are particularly good. If you want a wider selection of the best- known Bible stories, the Usbome Children's Bible by Heather Amery, illustrated by Linda Edwards (£12.99), is clearly told, with bright simple illustrations.
Of picture books for little children, Princess Camomile Gets Her Way (Ander- sen, £9.99) is a delightful story by Hiawyn Oram about a mouse princess who escapes from the palace only to be kidnapped by the Bad Cat Bagseye. Susan Varley's illus- trations, slightly reminiscent of Ardi77one, are charming.
Quentin Blake can be relied on to be sharp and funny, both in text and pictures. In Zagaroo (Cape, £9.99), young children will take at face value the tale of the baby who metamorphosises into vulture, ele- phant, warthog, dragon and 'strange hairy creature' that got 'bigger. . . and hairier.. . and stranger' before finally emerging as a charming young man. Parents may recog- nise their own children apparently perma- nently stuck at the warthog or smoking dragon stage.
For slightly older readers of seven to ten, The Lion and the Unicorn (Bodley Head, £12.99) gives a vividly imagined picture of life for the homesick evacuee, Lenny Levi, in a grand house in the country. Shirley Hughes's text and illustrations are, as always, perfectly balanced. The contrasting pictures of the Blitz and the peaceful idyllic walled garden are outstanding. For the same age, Graham Oakley has produced another excellent and funny book in 'The Church Mice' series, Humphrey Hits the Jackpot (Hodder, £9.99). Humphrey the mouse finds a lost lottery ticket and wins millions, only to be disqualified, although `a respectable middle-aged mouse, six years old next birthday', for being under age. Even his threat to take his case to the European Court as 'a blatant piece of anti- rodentism' cuts no ice.
Novels for eight- to 12-year olds include the amusing historical fantasy The Devil and His Boy by Anthony Horowitz (Walker Books, £9.99). As the author says in his postscript, he has put in some deliberate mistakes 'to keep the teachers happy', but there is also a lot of authentic Tudor detail and a rollicking story of murder and may- hem, with a cast of real characters from John Dee to Shakespeare — 'I'm told he's rather good,' Queen Elizabeth grudingly admits.
A story of magic and the mysterious Land of Starless Night is Helen Cresswell's Snatchers (Hodder, £10.99), which records the adventures of Ellie and her unconven- tional guardian angel, Plum, as they try to foil the dastardly plots of the Boss, the Wolf Woman and the sinister army of men in raincoats and dark glasses.
Girls of 12 and over who like books about personal relationships and family traumas may enjoy Bloomability by Sharon Creech (Macmillan, £9.99), which follows 13-year-old Dinnie from a peripatetic life with her chaotic family in America to the completely new world of an international boarding school in Switzerland, where her uncle is headmaster.
Perhaps the most interesting of this year's novels for older children is Peter Dickinson's The Kin, illustrated by Ian Andrews (Macmillan, £14.99), a huge, chunky book whose generous print and margins mean that it is not as long as its 632 pages suggest. It represents a consider- able feat of imagination, as it tells the story of a group of children of the newly evolved Homo sapiens sapiens in the Africa of 200,000 years ago. They are 'probably the first humans to have language', but they exist side by side with other hominoids who cannot speak. Of course, imagining the conversation of such people and expressing it in a believably simple form must have been incredibly difficult, and Peter Dickin-
'Ignore the ten lords a-leaping.' son succeeds admirably both in this and in showing the part-animal-part-human pat- terns of behaviour of these figures from our remotest past. It is a tribute to his imagination that we actually mind what happens to Suth, Ko and the others as they struggle on through danger and disaster in search of the new Good Places.
Of the poetry anthologies, Classic Poetry, selected by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Paul Howard (Walker Books, £14.99), is a very handsome, well-produced volume of poems we should all know, with a portrait of and notes on each writer. The Oxford Treasury of Time Poems by Michael Harri- son and Christopher Stuart-Clark (£14.99) contains a wider range of poets, though on a more limited subject, and is also a plea- sure to handle and read. Dick King-Smith's Countryside Treasury, illustrated by Chris- tian Birmingham (Collins, £14.99), offers prose selections and a few poems on coun- try matters by authors from Kilvert to Masefield.
For those who understand such things, The Usbome Animated Children's Encyclo- pedia book and CD-ROM by Jane Elliott and Colin King (£19.99) may forge a link between book and computer enthusiasts. I can only vouch for the book part, which provides lively easy reading and lots of pic- tures.
Finally, for those who want to pass on books which they enjoyed in their own childhood, there are several good reprints available. Just Jimmy, Richmal Crompton's attempt to move on from William and appeal to a slightly younger audience, was never as popular as her previous more anarchic and powerful hero, but the stories are enjoyable and worth reviving. They are illustrated, like the William books, by Thomas Henry (Macmillan, £9.99). Two classics for younger children have also been reissued. More Mill y-Molly-Mandy is told and illustrated by Jayce Lankester Brisley (Kingfisher, £9.99). This is wonderfully cosy stuff, good to read after a frightening story to ensure a peaceful night's sleep, but fathers sometimes find it a bit sentimental. `Damn Little Friend Susan!' was often heard round our house at bed-time. The Teddy Robinson Storybook by Joan G. Robinson (Kingfisher, £9.99) will also bring back happy memories to many people and the stories read well aloud.
Last but not least are two well produced and illustrated titles from ACC Children's Classics at £12.99: George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin, illustrated by Nick Walton, with an introduction by Joan Aiken, and T. H. White's Mistress Masham's Repose, illustrated by Martin Hargreaves and introduced by Anne Fine. Both these are wonderful stories, but I have a particularly soft spot for Maria in Mistress Masham's Repose, and would urge anyone who has enjoyed the magnificent gardens at Stowe to read this story inspired by them while White was a master at the school.
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