Home Truths WHEN I was a child, my Canadian newspaper,
to fill up space, carried this sort of thing:
Old Shave People in Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago had efficient razor blades of volcanic glass with slate handles.
Long Line The railway junction at Crewe, England, has more than 1,000 miles of track.
Wide Range George Sand, French woman author born in 1804, is turn wrote romantic, socialist and pastoral novels.
These useless bits of information were considered by the adults to be 'educational.' But facts, by themselves, one soon discovered, lead to no- where. And the discipline the writer of children's non-fiction books depends on is the particular audience he is writing for. Apart from the pleasure certain books, below, gave me, what I found interesting was to see how professional writers reacted to this. Some, like Peter Green in his Look at the Romans (Hamish Hamilton, 6s. 6d.), become very friendly and chatty, as it they were talking to the kids. And it works. Net only does Mr. Green leave you with some well' hammered-home truths about the Romans, but he does it with a certain freshness : 'Pompeii was a sort of seaside resort for rich business' men.' The danger of this style is that the 1 guage can easily go into the playing-field sport especially when on the subject of war. Well produced, this small book is lively, and has con, siderable wit.
The opposite approach to that of Mr. Greet is the one made by Leonard Cottrell. The tone of his Land of the Two Rivers (Brockhampton, 16s.) is that of an elderly, knowledgeable uncle, who, because it is raining outside, entertains by telling the story of how civilisation started, right up to the fall of Babylon. The pace is unhurried, (He's got more 'than enough information.) And all those strange names make it sound fascinat' ing. More suitable for the industrious child, to supplement work at school. The most attractive thing I found about this book was the dust-jacket by Richard M. Powers.
Mr. Henry Treece comes somewhere between the two. His Know About the Crusades (Blackie• 10s. 6d.) seems to me a good example of how children's book should deal with a historical subject. He never wanders off the point. He states the issues and the people involved, can evoke a whole way of life by a few per' ceptive observations, and is well supported by excellent illustrations. Also in this series ate Know About Newspapers, by Betty Williams, and Know About Jazz, by Peter Gammon and Peter Clayton. The one on newspapers is $ straightforward introduction to the mechanid involved in working for a paper, as well as $ brief historical survey. It is factual, to the point, and the writing is quite anonymous. The jail book is livelier. There is a gay dust-jacket from a Picasso. It briskly tells how jazz began, where it went, what made it change. This is done, first, in the text—with the emphasis on social con' ditions. Then, at the end, through the jazzmen and women involved.
You'd think one couldn't possibly fail with a book of paintings. But I found The First Book of Paintings, by Lamont Moore (Ward, 10s, 6d.), disappointing. Out of thirty-four reproductions' only four are in colour. Nor is Mr. Moore al particularly useful guide. His approach cuts out any personal sense of involvement with what one sees. But it will, undoubtedly, enable one 10 talk about a painting in terms of pattern, rhythm, contrast, unity—these are some of the author's terms of reference.
NORMAN LEVINE
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