GIFTBOOKS.
STORIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.
As all girls nowadays read their brothers' books, and some boys at any rate, read their sisters' books when they cannot find something more amusing, the old-fashioned classification of stories for boys or for girls has ceased to have any meaning. We observe, too, that most of the new stories which seem to be primarily intended for girls have something to do, directly or indirectly, with the war, and are more exciting than girls' books used to be. Miss Brenda Girvin's clever tale, Jenny Wren (Milford, 5s. net), is a characteristic example of the new type. The heroine volunteers as a decoding clerk in a small naval base in Scotland, and finds herself in a serious predicament because the secret messages leak out and become common talk among the idle women at her hoarding-house. She suspects the wrong man, of course, and is herself unjustly suspected by the young naval officer who would like to marry her. We shall not betray the secret. The story illustrates very happily the fine spirit in which young girls tried to help their country during the war.—Miss Dorothea Moore's Ilea of the Lower School (Nisbet, 6e. net) is an amusing story of a girls' school, into which, however, are woven a somewhat alarming adventure with a German spy and a narrow escape from drowning. One wonders whether children did in fact pay so much attention to the stories of signalling to Zeppelins ; the profound indifference of the head-mistress to such minor matters is much more plausible.—In Miss Mary Bradford Whiting's A Daughter of the Empire (Milford, 5s. net) the war is a background. It opens unconventionally in the Wild West, where a young girl's wit prevented a lynching. It is continued in an English country-house, the frigid mistress of which dislikes the heroine for her independent manner. The conflict between the woman and the girl is developed naturally, until under the stress of events they are reconciled at the end of this well-written book. —Phyllis in France, by May Wynne (Blackie, 4s. net), is an interesting story of two young girls who found themselves in the war zone in August, 1914, and had many adventures in the effort to escape to the coast. At that time, before the trench lines were drawn, many civilians had a similar experience, and the exciting incidents are well told.—The Happy Comrade, by E. L. Haverfield (Milford, 5s. net), is an agreeable story of a girls' school in which sonic high-spirited girls set a bad example by climbing out of window at night and making excursions to the seashore. There is also some bullying, and the wrong girl of course is suspected until the end of the book.—Another very readable story is Miss Angela Brazil's The Head Girl at the Gables (Blackie, 5s. net). There is a. little affair with a spy, but the main interest lies in the troubles of a monitress with no very clear conception of her powers.—The Reputation of the Upper Fourth, by Christine Chaundler (Nisbet, 6s. net), is concerned with hockey, and, as it shows much expert knowledge and enthusiasm, it is sure to be read with interest by schoolgirls. The author knows how to elaborate a simple plot, and her mischievous girls are very natural.—Miss Chaundler's other storyega's Third Term (Milford, 5s. net), is also highly amusing. Pat as a junior girl with a hot temper has a somewhat difficult t.me at school, and her -little troubles are well described.
Netherdale for Ever, by Theodora Wilson Wilson (Swarth. more Press, 6s. net), is a cheerful story about some village children who form a guild and carry on a feud with a truculent neighbouring landowner of the new type. It is a lively controversy, ending with the conversion of the magnate to better ways.—Maids of the " Mermaid," by E. E. Cowper (Blackie, 5s. net), is a well-written story of a holiday on the coast during the war. A pseudo-Swiss governess, whose lover is a U '-boat commander, is the villain of the piece, and a young French girl is the heroine. The plot is skilfully worked out, though the author does not flatter the coast-watching service.
The Shaping of Jephson's, by Kent Carr (Chambers, 5s. net), is an entertaining story of a boys' school. The hero is the orphan son of a plumber and the nephew of the school butler ; he has been sent to the school by a wealthy woman's whim. He is good at cricket, and is transferred from the School House to be head of " Jephson's " in place of a popular boy whom the head-master has felt bound to depose. This is the somewhat unusual situation which Mr. Carr develops in a very sensible and amusing way. It is one of the best school stories that we have read for a long time.--Charlie's Mascot, by H. C. Hooke (A. and C. Black, 5s. net), is an ingenious school story in which there is a surprising amount of intrigue, all turning on the possession of a mysterious Indian coin. It is told with great spirit.—There are some good old-fashioned smugglers in The Mystery of Danger Point, by John Finbarr (Milford, 5s. net). Whether small boys in the reign of George III. had less sympathy with smugglers than with the revenue officers we take leave to doubt. But Mr. Finbarr's heroes involved themselves in sore trouble by prying into smuggling matters.—Among the new stories of the war we may commend The Thick, of the Fray at Zeebrugge, by Percy F. Westerman (Blackie, 4s. net). He contrives to place two British officers in a prison cell on the Mole, so that they see the spectacle of St. George's Day, 1918, from the best possible standpoint and have a chance of joining in the fray.—Mr. Joseph Bowes's story of The Aussie Crusaders (Milford, 5s. net) is lively and amusing. The two heroes are taken prisoner, escape from captivity, play the spy, and, in short, behave as valiant men of tho Australian Light Horse. Mr. Bowes is inclined here and there to adhere too closely to the facts of the campaign, which are not really needed in a story. In an interesting book on the same subject, With Allenby in Palestine (Blackie, 5s. net), Colonel F. S. Brereton weaves fact and fancy together with a practised hand. His heroes are an Englishman and a Scotsman, and their adventures in their intelligence work are distinctly exciting.—Tommy of the Tanks, by Escott Lynn (Chambers, Os. net), is highly sensational reading. Tank fighting forms only a small part of the hero's work, which includes the defeat,tion of one "Big Bertha" by a raid far behind the enemy lines. The author knows how to tell a story.
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