Animals, Machines, and Heroes
In the Green Jungle. By Lieut.-Colonel Gordon Casserly. (Ward, Lock. 58.)
The Golden Book of Animal Stories. By H. Mortimer Batten. (Blaclde. 5s.)
Fire Fighting by Land, Sea and Air. By W. Branch Johnson. A CASUAL observer of the habits of the modern boy might con- clude that he had only two real interests in life—Red Indians and motor cars. There is some truth in the generalization. It is not, however, quite the whole of the truth. In fairness to .boys—who will certainly never take the trouble to defend themselves—the list should be slightly extended. To motor cars should be added all kinds of large and noisy machinery, and any apparatus connected in any way with the Fire Brigade. To the Red Indians should be added pythons and grizzly bears. Indeed, if we may judge from this year's list of boys' books, the grizzly bears and other wild beasts have driven the Red Indians and the pirates almost out of print, which is sad news for Captain Hook. In all the books now before me there is only one human villain—a wretched Dacoit —and he is killed and eaten, significantly enough, by a tiger ! But if we mourn the absence of old friends, we must admit that, from the point of view of the authors of boys' books, the problera has been considerably simplified. All you have to do this year is to choose between machinery and wild animals. You probably choose the latter ; and, having done that, there is really nothing further to worry about—except to try to persuade Mr. Warwick Reynolds to draw the pictures. That is where Colonel Gordon Casserly has scored. There is a decorativeness about Mr. Warwick Reynolds, and a firmness of line, that we all know ; and there is, above all this, a feeling for the .essential -dignity of all created living things—their nearness to the Divine—which more than makes up for a Certain lack Of spirit, such as may be Observed in his foxhounds as they close in on their prq. " Mr. TiVaikick Reynolds is the almost perfect illustrator Of such bOoks-aiIn the Green Jungle ; and why not admit frankly that;-in a boys' - book, the pictures are half the battle at least.? In the Green • Jtigk,ts a-matter of fact, Would in any ease be distinguished among its fellows by the originality of its plots. Each separate animal story contains some pleasant little surprise, and each wears an air of verisimilitude which it is refreshing to meet with in a book of this kind. It can be read with pleasure by any boy between the ages of fourteen and forty. Books of the same type are Mr. Francis Dickie's Umingrnuk, Mr. Mot. timer Batten's Golden Book of Animal Stories, and Mr. Bucklen's Jungle John. The last is the best Of the three. Mr. iludden has grasped The secret of Unit inferiority complex—physical inferiority—which is part of the make-up of every healthy boy and was the' real secret of Henty's popularity. Henty under- stood that he must make his boys the heroes of his books : grown men must go down before them bite ninepins. Mr. Budden's youthful "Jungle John" ends up by braining a tiger with a hatchet ! But what Henty never attempted was to write for boys in the language of boys. His manner was that of a Parliamentary orator, his humour like a maiden aunt's. It is a tradition that has persisted to this day. There are more long words and middle-aged sentiments in boys' books than in any other class of contemporary literature. Even Colonel Casserly, good as he is, cannot escape from the charge of printing at least one word or turn of speech on every page which no boy of less than sixteen could be expected to understand. Miss Johnson, on the other hand, has made a serious attempt to retell her American animal stories—most of them already familiar in Uncle Remus and elsewhere—in short, easy sentences and words of two syllables, such as children use themselves. Grown-ups may prefer the original Brer Rabbit and his Tar-baby (though, as a matter of fact, the " original " appears to be Cherokee Indian and not negro at all), but what children want is the plot ; and that they will find here, carefully arranged so that children of eight or ten may be able to read it for themselves. Queer Beasts at the Zoo will appeal to readers of the same age. It is an amusing work, ingeniously illustrated, and happily designed to break down that unfortunate air of cynical in- credulity in the modern young, which is the despair of Father Christmas and called forth the historic reinark from the little boy who had just been introduced to his first giraffe : "I don't believe it ! " Natural History Animals is for older children. It is described as "a handy book of reference to the animal kingdom." It manages to be brief and informa- tive, and to carry an air of authority without being dull. It is admirably illustrated, chiefly with photographs. The machinery books may be briefly dealt with. Mr. Percy M. Baker, writing for boys of sixteen and upwards, shows a real gift of lucid exposition. He describes many kinds of machinery, from steam engines and hydraulic lifts to reinforced concrete and its uses ; and he very wisely illus- trates his remarks profusely with drawings in the text. Mr. Jackson's locomotives will be hardly less popular ; Mr. Branch Johnson, in his description of fire-fighting by land, sea, and air, has chosen a subject which no boy can resist— especially when he sees that brilliant paper cover ! The Wonder Book of Engineering Wonders, in spite of its wonderful title, is frankly not quite a success. There are some thrilling photographs and colour-plates, in which we see great canals being built, ships going into dock, and a dream-vision of New York's projected " King of Skyscrapers," the Larkin Tower, but the language used in descriptions is unfortunate, being too technical for the enthusiasms of extreme youth, and not quite comprehensive enough for the serious student. However, it must be said that few adventurers of the " meccano " age could fail to be enthralled by those illustrations. Whilst it requires some stretch of the imagina- tion to include Chemical Amusements and Experiments amongst the literature of machines, certainly this book belongs to the same realm of daring and discovery, and may be recommended for embryo chemists as safe and entertaining. The last book on our list, Heroes of Modern Adventure, is a perfectly gorgeous production which, it is safe to say; will be among the half- dozen most popular book-preseits-for boys this- Christmas. Here are the stories of,Sir Alan Cohltiun's flight, Lawrepee of Arabia, Crenfell of-Lahradoi;Skipper Gowen and his "pee- -jacks,' and a doiiint-othera;_all told exactly as they should be, -hi modest, miernbMidered language, and fairly bulging with '-heroi6-qtuff.
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