Beginners Only
riititt .ire a few late arrivals in the bookshops which will help, to solve the last-minute•Christ- atas present problem for the younger generation. l'irst, and finest, a new edition of Gulliver's 1•+'in.rls. While most of us read 'Gulliver' in childhood and foolishly put off a rereading, pub- lishers will continue to treat it as a children's book. This year, however, Constable's have pro-
duced a 'Gulliver' (though only the first parts, alas!) that grown-ups will want to impound, probably giving the excuse that it is too good for the nursery. The illustrations, by Hans Balt- zer, are superb. Beautifully drawn, as rich in colour as stained glass, they relate delightfully to the layout of the type. This book is the per- fect gift for the artistic boy or girl old enough to appreciate the undying truth of Swift's humorous satire on human nature.
Parents who believe in combining entertain- ment with crypto-education should seize on The Aeneid of Virgil and Myths of Ancient Greece, both decorated in the classical manner by Joan Kiddell-Monroe. The Aeneid is a very elegant production and the simplicity of Dr. Taylor's prose makes it a joy to read. It would be a help to the student, but not a crib. Adults who did not take Latin may now catch up with Virgil in the most painless way possible. Robert Graves retells the Myths with brevity and wit. This is a book for younger children by which they can, all unsuspecting, imbibe legends which for cen- turies have been the bases of the great litera- tures of the Western world.
The Golden Slippers and A Dream in the House are written for girls passing through the lyrical phase which centres on the age of twelve. The Golden Slippers is interesting for its descrip- tion of Damascus and its child's-eye view of Syrian native life. Apart from that, it is a simple little story about a motherless girl with a kind father and a tiresome aunt, ending with the possibility that the lady doctor who be- friends her may become her stepmother. A Dream in the House is much more complex and should appeal to girls with a taste for poetry. Jean, a solitary, imaginative child, sets out on a dream-journey to find her twin sister who was lost during a storm at sea. The atmosphere of fantasy is well sustained. Most girls will be thrilled by it, but some who are highly strung may find it in parts too eerie for comfort.
For boys there is The Golden One, a highly coloured, full-blooded romance set in Constanti- nople at the time of the Fourth Crusade. Con- stantine, 'the golden one,' and his sister lose their parents during the capture and sack of the city, then set out on an odyssey during which they pass from the hands of the Assassins into those of Tartar• tribesmen and end up in the court of the Great Khan himself. Constantine is a tough, hard-hitting boy, naturally contemptuous of girls, but suitably protective. The book is crowded with incident, the descriptive passages are good and the different civilisations of the period well evoked and contrasted.
Good little children with nice, clean hands deserve to be given. Joha and the Wild Boar, another splendid Constable production with illus- trations in breath-taking colours. The simple text in English and German may induce the au pair girl to take on the task of reading aloud.
Reading aloud is too often a chore, but The Glass Ball and Albert and Emerald can be recommended as entertainment for both the nursling and those of older years. The Glass Ball, by William Mayne, who lives in Greece and knows all about it, is (to adapt a phrase) a book about boys that girls will love. Albert and Emerald, or How They Saved the Nation, is another book liable to be stolen by grown-ups, who will be enchanted by the pictures and by the author's ironical undercomment on the methods of dictators. Children, when they can get hold of it, will be exuberant (and, one hopes, shocked), at the behaviour of the Prince of the Atlantic Ocean and Captain Lune a Ticque in the ser- vice of the frightful Poleum.
OLIVIA MANNING
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