CHILDREN'S BOOKS
SIR,—May I remind such a very cross Miss Manning that one reviewer's meat is another reviewer's poison. I am a fan of quite, a few non-thematic children's writers, especially David Severn and Ursula Moray-Williams, who both have brilliance and originality, but as to how many children prefer reading Swiss Family Robinson or The Tapestry Room is quite another matter. I must ask my teen- age daughter. Adults' favourites are not necessarily children's winners, and it would be fascinating if we could see what will be cherished on the junior bookshelf in fifty years' time. The reviewer's job is to plunge into the annual torrent of children's literature and see what he can find which has read- ability, and more or Iess reflects the social schizo- phrenia of our time. I am delighted to find that the themes I enumerated are still indispensable and indestructible. But what has become obvious since 1957, when I first reviewed children's books for the Spectator, is the ever-increasing volume of historical-cum-fictional material which bypasses the younger reader, yet is a shade too juvenile for the teenager.
As for adult fiction, if such a different world must be dragged in to prove Miss Manning's point and emphasise my deplorable ignorance, then I maintain, apart from Mr. Angus Wilson and Mr. Patrick White, for whose works I have the greatest enthusiasm, that much of it does consist of 'romantic slush' or 'sex and sadism' These are Miss Manning's words, not mine. She has thrown down the glove, therefore I must pick it up.
Let posterity decide who shall be great.
33 The Grove, NWII
BRIDGET TISDALL
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