Magical All-Sorts

Robins. (Nicholson and Watson. Ss.)

(Lane. 2s.)

Patagonian Holiday. By M. I. Ross. (Routledge. 3s. 6d.)

MANY and strange are the ways in which the fairy tale heroes and heroines come to the blessed state of " living happy ever after." To a dwarf or an old beggar who asks to share a last crust it is essential to behave well. But for every young man who gets his desire virtuously—say by looking smart and clean, by remembering the magic word at the right moment, or prompt valour in arms against dragon or ogre—there is another who wins a princess and half the kingdom by means of a slovenly appearande, by

flying into a panic, or by being too innately stupid to remember anything at all, or by boaking • of brave deedS that: he hasn't done. - _ .

. Now, there is no subject on which it is more fascinating to speculate than the folk tale, whether your taste be for The Golden Bough, straight archaeology, modern sociology, dream symbolism, or the technique of the narrative. But let it here suffice to draw one conclusion from our one fact. Probably one reason why children have always loved traditional stories is to be found in the free-handed way in which, in the best collections, hope, fear, danger, magnificence, squalor, right and wrong are jumbled, and all in a context that pins the child down to no judgements about the real world. Shame on those tellers of fairy stories who only choose out the " Nice Ones."

The brothers Grimm, Perrault and that greatest of English collectors, Joseph Jacobs, knew better : theirs are collections of magical all-sorts. To realize such 'a truth is to be in a proper mood in which to turn over this year's crop of children's books. Now there are very few books written for children today that are as good • as the • traditional tales. This is no sighing after a golden age, for traditional stories as we know them are the cream .of centuries. For the fact is that, justly buried in learned tomes there are (so the present writer realized in compiling a collection called " Fairies and Enchanters ") scores of flat, dull, meandering and pointless stories that date from the same periods as

such masterpieces as Torn ,T,ii,.Tot Or Ali linba. .

Tales for children must- be judged-on strange qualities. Children will like abominably sentimental, snobbish and anthropomorphic stories ;they will also—the same children-- like stories adorned with every possible jewel of wit, fancy and nobility of thought.

, Let us divide the present dozen books selected out of thirty or forty into those suitable for children at different ages, and begin with an age group of seven to ten..

!` The Youngest Omnibus is a very pleasant -Miscellany which has some excellent traditiOngil stories, besides tales • by such writers as Arthur Ransome, Rithard Hughes- and the great E. Nesbit. The illustrations are rather on the sugary side, but this is not to say that children will dislike them. In A Christmas Holiflay" BObk- tinly‘ " nice"; stories have bee-n chosen ; but there is some excuse for this, as child:, n undoubtedly make a great effort to " make the party go " at Christmas time and do genuinely like a book which AN ill help them to do-it. Besides poems and tales there are receipts for the' making of coco-nut fudge and other minor

eatables. •.

Of collections ..of traditional stories there are two, one illustrated by Heath Robinson, and chiefly from German and middle-European stories, Heath Robinson's Book of Goblins, a `.`._ good-- all-sorts " selection, and Mr. Harcourt Williams' Tales -from Ebony, many of which are already familiar to Jean = Stirling Mackinlay's large public. Mr. Tunnicliffe's illustrations to this are remarkably good, having just the qualitieW clearness, detail, and a decorative filling of the page thafehildren like. The coldur-printing, however,

is not always impeccable. •

Mr. Heath Robinson, in his pictures, has gone back to an old mood, that in which he illustrated- " Uncle Lubin " of happy memory. He is hot seen here in his " scientific " phase ; there is not a single aeroplane made of tables and chairs tied up with string, or One device -for -warming the calves of Highlanders. sees . that the fairy tale 'does not belong to the Machine Age.

One of the books in the next age group (books intended for the . child of six or seven) has been composed by a girl of twelve and illustrated by another of fourteen—The Adventures of the Three Babg.Bunniee, The story ".works " remarkably well and those who. are accustomed to children's compositions will feel quite respectftil to 'see incidents sustained at such length. It is very sentimental; but small children will probably like it. The Runaway Dolls is to be commended for its charmingly old-fashioned character.

Little Tonino, already popular in America, is the story of French working,clais children of the Midi. Once more the sugar has not beeditinted, and Once more that is not to say that" it will be criticized on -that account by the readers for whom it is meant. The Adventures of Toutou is a pleasant picture book which also concerns France. Some children will feel that the dogs behave too much like human beings. On the other hand, these dogs are owned by goats, pigs and sheepwlio play the part of huiriansan ingenious device for, getting round some of the difficulties involved in the "talking-animal " technique. Sea-Birds Simplified is another pleasant little picture book. Ntitli a' thSrnie to each bird. These convey fact as Widdy-yriddy7Wurkey, by Rose Fyleman, has pictures by that admirable illustrator, Valery Carrick, and the nursery rhymes are translated from traditional originals from many countries. Together the collaborators have made a remarkably pleasant book for the five-year-old. Perhaps the best of all for:ehildreit in-this age-group' is the 'I-Spy Alphabet. Oh each page is drawn in clear, bright colours an exceedingly fantaitic group. For example, a clown is :pulling a cracker with a kneeling dioniedaiyirbieh his omits back a candle in a candlestick ; the clown holds m his other hand an alarm clock. Rhymes explain strange justapositicins :

" Only six kir letter C

Are you clever, let us see."

. ,

This will prove a book calculated to give an unusual number of hOurs' anitisement.

Finally, a book which does not really come within the scope of this review.; -In Patagonian Holiday Mr. M. I. Ross, an American author, has written quite a remarkably ex- cellent book, which is suitable for either boys or girls from eleven to fourteen. He most plausibly contrives that a family of children should be wrecked on one of the smaller of the Falkland Islands. The voyage there, the efforts by which they establish themselves on the island, the later ride through the pampas after they have been rescued, and, above all, the scientific elenient in the boOk, are exceptionally well managed. Here is the sort of adventure story for which many of us have been looking—essentially modern elements used to give the old thrills'. Messrs. Routledge are to be congratulated on a real find, but why did they disguise it in the sort of dust-cover and give it the illustrations that usually denote the worst

sort of machine-made school-story ?