ANNUALS.
THE experienced parent knows the value of a bound magazine for keeping restless young people quiet. One solid volume of the Boy's Own Paper, for example, will last the most eager reader for days, and seems always to contain something new. That is why the demand for annuals is persistent and the supply unfailing. We are glad to find that the old favourites are this year as good as ever. The Boy's Own Annual (R.T.S., 13s. 6d. net), much the best of its kind, is carefully written, full of variety, and intelligently illustrated. Some of the -school stories are excellent. The tales of adventure have little or no reference to the war, but deal with a treasure-hunt in the South Atlantic, fur-trapping in old Canada, and so forth. Among the coloured plates we may commend a set of British butterflies as an exceptionally good example of colour-printing.--The Girl's Own Annual, edited by Miss Flora Klickmann (same publishers and price), appeals to young women as well as schoolgirls. It is attractively produced, and contains many pleasant articles qll general topics, as well as serial stories and information about dressmaking and the fashions. It strikes us as being a magazine with character, not merely a fortuitous concourse of agreeable atoms.—The Sunday at Home (same publisheas and. price), while preserving its distinctively religious character, is better illustrated than it used to be,
and contains a good deal of miscellaneous reading. We notice in its pages a comical dog story from the Italian front. An Austrian dog, with a wound in its leg, was found by an Italian patrol and adopted as a pet. After an Austrian attack which failed, the Italian patrols went out taking the dog on a leash with them. All at once the dog made a rush for an apparently barren rock. The men followed, guided by the dog, and found a cave in which were six Austrians, at one of whom the dog leaped with evident delight. The animal had unwittingly betrayed his old master.—Young England (Pilgrim Press, 6s. net) contains some good serial stories and many shorter tales for boys, articles on the Navy, travel, games, and other interesting subjects, and many illustrations. The " Boy's Allotment Calendar " is a useful monthly item, which should be continued.—Of annuals, as distinguished from bound magazines, there is an increasing number. Herbert Strang's Annual (II. Milford, 7s. 6d. net), now an old favourite, contains sonic capital short stories, articles on the Channel Tunnel, the Transcontinental Railway of Australia, mountaineering, and so forth, and a new sea-serpent yarn which, Mr. F. W. Dean assures us, is true. There are many illustrations. —A companion to this is now provided in Mrs. Strang's Annual for Girls (same publisher and price). It consists mainly of short stories by "Katharine Tynan," Mr. E. F. Benson, and other practised writers. There are, too, some articles ; those on houseboat holidays, skating, and amateur bookbinding may be commended. The coloured plates aro unusually good.—The Empire Annual for Boys and The Empire Annual for Girls (R.T.S., 5s. net each), now in their eleventh year, arc very readable collections of the same type, which would interest young people.—The British Boy's Annual (Cassell, 6s. net) has some exciting stories by Mr. S. Walkey and other expert romancers, and some attractive articles, of which those on natural history by Mr. Richard Kearton and Sir H. H. Johnston are the most noteworthy.— The Oxford Annual for Scouts, edited by Herbert Strang (H. Milford, 6s. net), is for the most part as sternly practical as the Scouts themselves, and devotes most of its space to the things that a Scout ought to know, such as tracking, how to keep fit, map-making, or bird-calls, rather than to fiction. Still, as even Scouts have moments of relaxation, there are several
short stories as well in this engaging volume. For smaller children there is a new volume of the popular Rosebud Annual (James Clarke, 5s. net), which is as good as ever.—The Cottager and Artisan. (R.T.S. 3s.)'—This is an unpretentious little magazine, with sensibly written articles on such subjects as the Income Tax, Poultry Farming, Newspaper Production, and so forth, besides short stories and some simple and earnest papers on religious subjects. The volume is plentifully illustrated in black-and-white, and has a gaily coloured cover.
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