Common Sense in the Nursery. By Mrs. Sydney Frankenburg. (Cape.
5s.)
What of the Child ? By Andrew Kefalas. (Heinemann. 5s.) Common Sense in the Nursery is, without exception, the best book on its subject that I have ever come across. I would recommend it to every parent' of young children and to every expectant mother. Some twelve years ago, Mrs. Franken- burg wrote what must be regarded as the nucleus of this book r but, since then, she has become the-mother of two more children, has consequently acquired further experience, and, as a result, has not hesitated to modify where necessary the conclusions at which she previously arrived. The first- handedness of the teaching and of the practical philosophy
on which it is based is, indeed, the outstanding characteristic of the book.
Mrs. Frankenburg has obviously read, with an open mind, everything of consequence that has been written on the psychology and the hygienic upbringng of children. Without prejudice, she has brought these conclusions of others into contact with her own observations and her own experience. She has neither accepted nor rejected without sound reason.
The result is that she has produced as near to a complete guide to the physical, emotional and intellectual training of young children as can be imagined.. Diet, clothing and cleanli- ness ; sleep and fresh air, common ailments and accidents ; the formation and prevention of "bad habits" ; "the facts of life" : all these are helpfully discussed ; as also are emotional relations, and the problems of correction and " punishment." There is -an excellent chapter on the early mental education of the child and on preparatory schools. It is impossible too highly to praise this book.
Dr. Kefalas has also written an interesting and suggestive book. He is almost entirely concerned with the emotional and moral training of children. Like Mrs. \Yrankenburg, he writes out of his own experience. He has his own views about children ; but where these might be c.onsidered peculiar to himself, he states the fact clearly, and-advises his readers so to regard them. Though to many the book will seem' old- fashioned, it really represents in these days. of . Freudian worship and what we may call child libertarianism, a refreshing heterodoxy. Even •sthen we do not entirely -see, eye to eye with the author, we can but recognize that he puts for ward
a good case, which calls for an answer. - , H. R.
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