Ages two to six
BOOKGUIDE
1, 2, 3 to the Zoo Eric Carle (Hamish Hamil- ton 21s, published 22 May). A train transports one elephant, two hippos, three giraffes and so forth to the zoo: seven seals lolling indo- lently on bunks in their compartment, and eight giddy monkeys looping tails in theirs are per- haps the finest, though five burnt umber bears run them close. No reluctant mathematician is likely to withstand for long the charms of this incomparably rich and gaudy counting book.
One Wide River to Cross Ed and Barbara Emberley (Chatto, Boyd and Oliver 16s). The folk song illustrated with entrancing woodcuts, black against deep, glowing colours: the crocodiles like a pair of ambulant nutcrackers, the hippo like an ill-tempered animal potato with teeth, and all the rest of the menagerie will enchant any reader large or small.
How Babies are Made Andrew C. Andry and Stephen Schepp illustrated by Blake Hampton (Time-Life 27s 6d). A manual for the shy parent, compiled with advice from learned authorities in the us, and issued with stern in- structions to be frank, forthcoming and direct. A candid text explains the reproductive cycle of flower and bee, cock and hen, dog and bitch, and the mechanical side of human sex: the knottier points demonstrated in photo- graphs of gaily coloured and ingenious paper sculpture such as any child might covet. The treatment is concise, explicit, suitably simplified and scrupulously inoffensive. The general effect is to make the adult couples look dis- tinctly foolish while the child—chicken, puppy, human baby—is sufficiently detached from their cumbersome manoeuvres as to seem, in each case, vastly superior.
The Old Bullfrog Berniece Freschet illustrated by Roger Duvoisin (Hamish Hamilton 18s). Bullfrog, snoozing in an uncommonly decora- tive .pool, -proves. more than a match for sly, spindly and villainously sleek heron. Humor- ists, naturalists and amateurs of the chase will enjoy these charming scenes from pond life.- The Extraordinary Tug-of-War Letta Schatz illustrated by John Burningham (Bodley Head 18s). Small, spry, lanky hare outwits brawny hippopotamus and corpulent elephant. A com- forting tale spread across handsome coloured pages—from high noon in a lime, leek and emerald jungle, via crimson sunset and sinister dappled clouds at twilight to pitch-black mid- night, with elephant tottering on the edge of a green globe against a giant moon.
Ferdi and Ferdinand Gunter Spang illustrated by Beate Rose (Macdonald 15s). Sombre tale of a carthorse named Ferdi, made redundant by the tractor and fleeing from the knacker's yard. Text a trifle flat but dazzling illustra- tions—note especially Ferdi outstripped by a
field of slim and graceful racers, roan, bay, sorrel, chestnut, black, sprinting across a mustard ground; Ferdi standing patiently in a gorgeous pink, flame and scarlet circus, while a louche rouged clown twirls upside down across his back and a bucket dangles from his tail; and Ferdi, safe at last, leading a procession of small children past green fields and greener waters with a flower between his teeth.
Dominique and the Dragon Jurgen Tamchina illustrated by Heidrun Petrides (Longmans Young Books 21s). How the bridge at Avignon came to a stop halfway across the river—an explanation involving a stupendous but, as it turns out, remarkably obliging dragon, and demonstrating the incompetence of cowardly grown-ups ()felling, they ran through the city and beyond—back to their mountain villages-r- and there they yelled for two weeks more'), in sharp contrast to the equanimity, wit and wis- dom of small girls. Gripping tale, copiously illustrated.
Tikki Tikki Tembo Arlene Mosel illustrated by Blair Lent (Bodley Head 18s). Cautionary tale on the naming of children, set in ancient China and illustrating the heartlessness of pdrents in those parts. The drawings—especi- ally one of a small boy with a frog on his knee and a fish nibbling one eye, waiting calmly to be rescued from the bottom of a well —have a certain placid oriental charm.
All Sorts of Animals Vera Croxford (Paul Hamlyn 9s 6d). Generous selection from field- mouse to flying phalanger, sloth to shrike, brim- stone butterfly to bluefooted booby or jaboty tortoise. Somewhat sketchy nature notes ac- company bold, often brilliant pictures—par- ticularly fine is a rubber boa, coiled like a plate of pea-green jelly beside a luscious squashy giant tortoise; and a trio of cobra, crocodile, gila monster painted in eerie, ethereal orange and faint washy browns.
Baby Elephant Goes to China Sesyle Joslin illustrated by Leonard Weisgard (Collins 9s 6d). Short, stout and inquisitive Baby Elephant puts in a day at the beach. The pleasures of conversation, food, collecting shells and bath-
ing are all sampled- whereupon our hero digs a 'hole, by George, to China, which turns out well worth the trouble. Mother Elephant makes an admirably tactful and attentive audi- ence for her chatty son. Useful Chinese glos- sary and bewitching pictures.
Previous page
