Book guide to Christmas fiction

BOOKS FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN

The Apple and the Butterfly and The Egg and the Chicken Iela and Enzo Mari (A. and C. Black, each 15s). Two picture books without words. A caterpillar caterpillars its way out of an apple and spins a cocoon from which a butterfly emerges to lay its egg in the apple blossom; a chicken lays an egg inside which evolves a chick which breaks the egg and struts towards motherhood. Well- conceived and well-executed demonstrations of the life cycle, in which artistic finesse is subordinated to clarity.

Mr Gumpy's Outing John Burningham (Cape 21s). For very young children. Mr Gumpy allows two children and an ark of animal% to join his water picnic on the strict understanding that they will not squabble, bleat, flap, etc.; they do. John Burningham is in altogether more pastoral and dreamlike mood here than in his previous books. The sheepish sheep and bland cat are as engaging as anything he has done but, overall, the impact is muted. Emanuel and his Parrot Christine Craig illustrated by Karl Craig (Oxford University Press 18s). This slender tale, set in Jamaica, about Emanuel, his disobedient parrot, and a donkey, is little more than a peg for the pictures which are brilliantly colourful (the powerful green of the plantation dominant) but imaginatively tepid. Superb production. Little Red Riding Hood Brothers Grimm translated and illustrated by Harriet Pincus (Collins 16s). Red Riding Hood Brothers Grimm adapted by Noel Streatfeild illustrated by Svend Otto (Ernest Benn 12s). Both texts are concise and unaffected but the illustrations could hardly differ more. Miss Pincus's wide-eyed Red Riding Hood and innocuous Lassie-like wolf epitomise her approach to the story; Mr Otto's red mini- swinger and monstrous fanged wolf epitomise his. His picture of the heroine picking flowers in the immensity of the forest does make the nape of the neck tingle but, all in all, Miss Pincus needs Mr Otto's sense of fear and Mr Otto needs Miss Pincus's sense of wonder.

The Golden Apple Max Bolliger illustrated by Celestino Piatti (23s). A very simple but sharp story illustrating how luck can prevail over design: the animal kingdom wait for the golden apple to fall, fight over it and make off, wounded; 'a child like you', walking in the forest, finds it. Piatti's illustrations are confident and brightly- coloured. A well-designed and satisfying book.

Boy on a Hilltop and The Runaway Tram words by Peggy Blakely painting by Kota Taniuchi (A. and C. Black, each 16s). Two unusual and haunting books. One small boy describes his bicycle journey to the hilltop to watch and listen to the train 'telling its tale on the rails' and daydreams about it until it is time to sleep and dream about it; another describes a visit with his grandfather to see an old tram that once ran away (as it does again in their imagination) and stopped to collect a girl with red shoes who, says the boy, 'is my grandma now'. Told in clear, almost incantatory prose, these 250-word stories are accompanied by equally uncluttered, remarkably serene paintings, illuminated with quite delightful humorous and imaginative touches (the boy pedalling home from the hilltop sees a row of houses as linked and on the move). One has the rare and unmistakable sense that this is indeed the world as a small child sees it. Very highly recommended.

Angelo written and illustrated by Quentin Blake (Cape 20s). Debonair, cartoon-like drawings and simple text tell how Angelo, a tightrope-dancer, and his family gym- nastically (Angelo stood on Beppo's shoulders; Beppo stood on Benno's shoulders ...') enable the unhappy Angelina to escape from the house of her severe uncle and join the troupe; she obliges by becoming Angelo's co-star on the rope. Lively and humorous.

My Good Tiger Elizabeth Bowen illustrated by Quentin Blake (Cape 16s). An extremely

stylish but lightweight story about a lonely tiger befriended by two children who release him from the zoo and invite him home to a tea party, with predictable consequences. Quentin Blake's two-colour illustrations prance across the pages. This could be the start of a popular series.

The Circle Sarah Drew Peter and Susan Barrett (Ward Lock 13s). Sarah draws a circle; her friends guess what it represents. A snail? A duckpond? A manhole? The reader is left to supply his own answer. Not a bad, if circumscribed, idea for very young children but the illustrations are no more than commonplace.

Clocks and More Clocks Pat Hutchins (Bodley Head 18s). An invitation to laugh at Mr Higgins who buys clock after clock in pursuit of 'the right time', unable to grasp that it takes time to tell the time, and that, as he scoots from room to room, minutes pass. Text and pictures are at odds here: this slender but sophisticated conceit will confuse children still learning to tell the time, while the warmly-coloured illustrations (with a delightfully eccentric Mr Higgins) are probably too simple for most children who have learned to do so.

The Magician who Lost his Magic story and pictures by David McKee (Abelard- Schuman 19s). A magician loses his powers, travels, learns the lesson that magic must be put to sensible ends, and regains them. The pictures are a hive of activity but both they and the text are far too earthy. No sense of strangeness, or of wonder.

The Fantastic Story of King Brioche the First Anne Jenny illustrated by Jocelyne Pache (Cape 22s). The story of how the King realises his nagging ambition : to be -able to fly. The text is unworthy of the swirling brilliantly-coloured illustrations which bring King, court, cat with magical powers and passenger-carrying bird equally to life.

Bonko Robert Wolfgang Schnell and Jozef Wilkon (Dobson 18s). A young bison, captured and imprisoned in a zoo, escapes and after various adventures and encounters in the man-made world. finds his way back to the forest and feels 'under his feet the softness of the greenish-blue forest grass'. The outcome is never (as it should be) in doubt but the pictures. great splodges of watercolour, are both striking and rather moving.

Zeralda's Ogre Tomi lingerer (Bodley Head 250. Tomi Ungerer's reputation may first and foremost be as a cartoonist capable of biting social and sexual satire, but this is no mean achievement : the story of how little Zeralda's talent as a cook causes the Ogre to abandon his habit of eating children is told in sharp prose and bold. virile pictures that will inspire fear but not terror. Large format, immaculate production.

The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and her Dog illustrations by Arnold Lobel (Collins 12s). A little, sotto yore book, in danger of being swamped. but in fact exactly the right vehicle for this miniaturist. His pale orange, olive and grey pictures, one for each couplet. are finely drawn and genuinely witty.

Willy O'Dwyer Jumped in the Fire variation on a folk rhyme by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers illustrated by Beni Montresor (Collins 18s). 'Willy O'Dwyer jumped in the fire/ The fire was so hot he lumped in the Pot: And from the pot into the sea. on to a Pig. on to a wall, up to the moon and so on. The pictures are extremely ebullient and fiercely colourful: but they, are also sensitive and acknowledge a child's fears and fantasies--the shadow in the dark room that could be a witch, the lump in the mattress that might be a tiger under the bed.

Kulumi the Brave Jenny Seed illustrations by Trevor Stubley (Hamish Hamilton 25s). A really outstanding retelling, economical, immediate and colourful, of an impressive Zulu folk tale in which human bravery, love and persistence, assisted by a touch of magic, -satisfyingly tip the scales against natural and supernatural forces. Like the text (quite possibly the best in any picture-story book this year) the pictures are well-researched. but though consistent, they are somewhat conservative and lack much imaginative fire.

The Hunting of the Snark Lewis Carroll pictures by Helen Oxenbury (Heinemann 22s). Having successfully pitted herself against Lear's Quangle Wangle, Miss Oxenbury now turns her attention to Carroll's brilliantly witty and inventive Snark. The result is intelligent but fitful : some of the pictures do genuinely enter into the absurd spirit of the poem, revelling in the combination of familiar and fantastic; others seem altogether too inhibited and workaday for this fireworks of a poem.

Kevin Crossley-Holland