NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 17015, 11 December 1920, Page 7

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

■ SOME CHRISTMAS GIFTBOOKS. ffco young lands, Australia and New " • Zealand, show a charming disposition to lead the way i n creating literature for Toang readers. Those good Australians, Lilian wid Ethel Turner, Mary Grant • BnK . e Man* Dwyer, and others, have become known all over thy world; and •' tlie Xew Zealanders. Isabel M. # Pea- • oC j. oi Edith Howes and Esther Glen, are DOW equally welcomo guests in countless • Miss Peacooke's new Christmas books, ' ; >Sand Babies," and "Sand . playmates," are two very dainty examples In the first we have the adventures of 'Sandy" and "Goodies," two ' sand-babies who are described as first covins to the water cables," and perhLos may show some kmsliip a-so to the S modem -Gum Blossoms" and ' "Gtun-nuts." In "Sand playmates, Miss Peacooko has a mord artistic and more original creation. Cmldren should ; delight in reading of Bonny boy, tne "'Sand boy," and dear little, . very human. Semolina Ann: while it wM an imaginative triumph to end the tale by calling up the Old 'lan of the Sea. The illustrations, by Trevor Lloyd, are also fascinating, both in colour and line— and tho get-up of these books reflects rredit upon a New Zealand publishing firm.—(Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 2s). _ . . 4mongst the Australians, Little Ragged Blossom," a new volume by MayGibbs, giving more adventures, oj Snugglcpot and Cuddlepio, is dedicated "to all children —big or little, round or flat—long or short —who love animals nnd flowers, are kind to insects, and try to be good." We should judge that it appeals most to children aged from seven to eleven. The Gum-nut Babies are as adventurous as ever; this time having experience amongst the fish-folk, •under the sea. And fish-folk, with their sea-flower gardens, their Baby-fish schools, and their rides on flying-fish or sea-horses, make splendid matter for an artist. It is no disparagement to Miss Moy Gibbs to remark that her illustrations are even better than her letterpress. The pictures alone should Bell this volume, as its predecessors have already sold, by tens of thousands. (Sydney: Angus nnd Robertson, Ltd. CHristchurcli: L. M. Isitt, Ltd. 6a.) ' Another Australian gift-book, of $ especial merit, is "Dot and the Kangaroo," written by Ethel C. Pedley, ♦with illustrations by Frank P? Mahony. ' The little girl Dot, -who loses her way In 7the bush, is Befriended by a knni aaroo mother who has lost her child. Fed on wild bush berries, Dot becomes ahlo to .hear and comprehend the speech of birds, beasts, and insects —and these TOmmunicate their thoughts and opin- ' ions in a most enjoyablo stylo. That ■ the story has a purpose is indicated by - Us; dedication to the children of Atjs•tralia, "in the hope of enlisting their sympathies for the many beautiful, amiable, and frolicsome creatures whose ' - extinction, through ruthless destruction, us being surely accomplished." There .isboth pathos and humour in this really ■ 'delightful story, which moves through quite convincing wild adventures to its nappy end. Mr Mnhonev's illustrations iuive an "equally characteristic charm. (Australia; Aneus arid Robertso™, Ltd. dirißtchurch: L. M. Isitt, Ltd. 65.) "That Curly-headed by 'JJilian Cheeseman, is not Australasian; and its hero, not being left to play on sand-heaps, having a chance to get lost in the ,bush, has to do what he . lean in-mischief with a bathroom, his father's studio, a garden, or n. Kitchen, i r-F® ero a ' too-confiding cook allows him ' | to watch her making cakes. This, the j third of a very popular series, is introj'Hnced as. "Another Peter Book"—and • j Peter, wjio says as many pretty things fas he contrives'to do troublesome ones, \is nn engaging English imp of whom we ■ ©annot_"liear too. much. (London: • Jarrolds Publishers Ltd. 65.) ■ j A DELIGHTFUL NOVEt. J 'When orio receives a new novel witfi ' the title "In the MountainSf' and without. an author's name, one is not disposed to feel enthusiastically certain that reading it is not going to be a waste of time. There is some matter for reassurance in the first page, and for many pages but the first thirty pages, charming as they are, contain not a hint of what is to coftie. It ; ift a diary. A.lady who has suffered a (lesperato sorrow during tho war—some bitter disappointment in love—haa returned to her Swiss home and its delightful caretakers to nurse the wound in her soul. The slow healing process of the Alps becomes tenderly and chann.jngly visible, but the story does not begin until the sudden arrival of two x sisters—English, and widows, anil in straitened circumstances. They are in-, dticed to stay for the night, and they stay on .for weeks. Nothing liappens- ■ until the lady's uncle arrives from EngHe came to bring her home,.'ana he'stayed to fall in love with the . younger widow, the most enchanting of creatures, j She is'forty, she has married two-Germans in succession (because she amnot help marrying men who ask her), but' she is of a sweetness and delicacy that ono wovdd not think real if one did \ -know that Dolly really was all that, i fatly in the diary it becomes verv plain that-the anonymous author is tha - -gthor of "The CJaravanner" and "The No other writer has . aeliciotis brightness and wit—doft, j,l? ervan > 03mical, and never a fraction *£* concert pitch., Everyone rememwSxin ' marvellous chapter—those a ° d siting pages and pages j a . s^ or 8 Wife" in which we ore ' itSSc i 171 moving picture of the 8 following upon lngeI ■ tiSS&SF"™* ho r engagement to Her r ■ ii? r V S nothin g q"it« like but there t tter in the and teniae p one smilin e and sigh- , tho happy end. The diarist, bearrive qnotes from , S,'n w V? her library the ' • ! at naturally make you read '* sltwl for samples from this : i sample cannot do jusWritten in tha t 1 W . amotion® draped h-Sll in 1 length* and avoided f"XWiti n^ P f of ■USrfffS - Mturalness fs easily JLfI!L - to last Ion?; every grace- ' " a uttl ° while." v 1 ® 01 h* silen.ee, copying tho twenl y authorities. - *'#Z; roppose " wasn,t at ell, • Wttoi— their holidays yon imagine how they would Vi^ n t in £ Bin<> it if were nice | Barnes, and even, eo but) L ®«Mect3 more difficult 7 «— • t'j'i Germtns or hi;sh<inds." iny tincl« [tho X)cunJ i ' llf ® ay ", lo ° ki . n S at us at the end of ■ stonea, gathering in tie harappreciation, "how enjoyable ia «. ' p,sff~~By n ce of legitimate fnn. "Why need - toll' in illegitimacy?' Aid in- • , wcre 60 very good that eveijf ' n !t re they , reach<?d , ° eir 3°^ e > must have been ?? 6°' married." r , «o>>St f * thor '.' eaid Mrs Barnes, ■Kith ' 1 gravity of tone that for a moment) tinJn •i -T, 0 . was uneccountably and ati 2* » the morning. going to em-> tei- lord's Prayer, 'luiew Thackeray. - VP??? 6 * lt . h hi ®-' ' I ««i3, 'must have been. —' B muwi or an enthusiastic word bull < r™/ ono * • • • The nearest apJ aJ, that I found wee enjoyable. I IS?'"™* much of enjoyable. It is a ''i was all I found, so | ft' 2ti t ~a t milßt have been very enjoyi i M d even I could hear that % without excitement. iS • looked at ido- and smiled. ' V- more than enjoyable,' said Mrs ' elevating.' " i um our is only a part of 1 1 COme<^y worked up ■ out

of nothing moro than three* nice women in a Swis3 cbalot, with a Dean at tho end of it-, for it is comedy with, a fading background of tragedy. We are not surprised that the American advertisement says "England is wild over it." (London: Macniillan's.) NEW MUSIC. The output in our time of good pianoforte music winning more than passing favour is very limited. Pianists as a class aro a conservative body, clinging fondly to their unsurpassable treasure-trove as furnished by all the great masters in music. New names find tardy acccptance, if any. Xo wonder, composers and _ publishers prefer productions eommandihg a readier sale, liut evon so, tho scarcity in short piano pieces of poetical aspcct and comparatively 6impio technical needs cannot be denied. All those desirous of adding: to the limited repertoire available should thank 3lr Alfred Hill—no new name to us —for designing three thoughtful, refined picces, each in style as in concoptioti meritorious and interesting, like all that comes from his pen. ''Retrospect" is perhaps the most alluring of tho trio, though adopting tho harmonic daring and restlessness of the dayj tho dainty "Berceuse"' opening in tho soothing key of a famous prototype, soon disperses tho thought of imitation by charming modulations and' independence; whilst the last, a "Valse Triste," is clever, and at least not more morbidly flavoured than the kindred pattern by Sibelius. The three pieces have been accepted for uso at tho N.S.W. State Conservatorium ; they deserve to be specially appreciated in "New Zealand, where the gifted composer has already won so many admirers. (Svdney: Nicholson and Co. Christchurcli: Chas. Begg and Co.)