FOR YOUNG READERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27089, 11 July 1953, Page 3

FOR YOUNG READERS

Fiander’s Horses. By Violet M. Heathcote. Oxford University Press. 247 pp. Fiander Mansel, lately left school, wanted a horse of her very own. Her grandfather offered to give her one, but she was determined to earn enough money to buy it herself. So began two years’ work in hunt kennels, in the stables of a country squire and in the training establishment of a racing man. What Fiander learned at the kennels about cooking pudding for hounds in huge coppers, track-cleaning, schooling jumpers and hunting terms will be of great interest to pony club riders, who hope to follow hounds some day. And in her story Fan introduces delightful “horsey” folk, such as Noel Jennings, owner of a livery stable, and Bill Fensome, kennelman and whip. Then. too. there are some loveable “characters” among the hounds she cares for—Barmaid, the way ward little bitch-hound and old Homespun, the wise one.

Next job Fiander chose was at the country home of a retired army officer, looking after hacks and harness cobs. Here she met a Mr Vesey who took her to see the horses and foals at his bloodstock farm. Completely won over by the beauty of the thoroughbreds, their grace and spirit, Fiander asks him to help her find work in training stables. Soon she is grooming, feeding and working racehorses. Here the fun really begins, for the well-fed blood horse moves quickly when he likes, and Fiander took her share of tumbles, learning a lot by painful experience, especially when handling the young “fuzz-tails.” But she shared the thrill of bringing back a winner and soon found that “there’s no world like toe racing world.” At last comes the time when Fiander realises she has saved enough to make her dream come true, and she eventually buys Pomeis. toe reddish-bay thoroughbred mare. Pomeis was all Fiander had hoped to find, from the comfort of her brisk walk to her sharp canter. She could jump like a stag, turn on a sixpence, ana gave no sign of effervescent behaviour. What more could a girl want? The author has an extensive knowledge of all types of horses and a deen love for them. Her book, which is attractively illustrated with line drawings by Jenefer Peter, is a worthy selection as the book of toe month by Collins Magazines. Ebenez.er was one of the most ambitious young balloons that any littie boy ever blew air into, and the fascinating story of where his ambition took him is well told and illustrated in EBENEZER, THE BIG BALLOON, a story for the very young by Diana Ross. Illustrations by Leslie Wood match the text perfectly, and should make this newest offering by the author of the “Little Red Engine” stories another firm favourite with the very young. Faber’s are the publishers. The ever-popular school story literature for girls is a well-covered field, but. Elinor M. Brent-Dyer has discovered an attractive new background for toe school activities—Switzerland. JO OF THE CHALET SCHOOL (Dymock’s), one of a series by ’the same author, is a story laid in the Swiss Tyrol, where all sorts of exciting adventures happen to the girls at the Chalet School, whose roll includes girls of various ages, nationalities and temperaments.

The Holloway children knew a few phrases of school French, and they had a guidebook of tourist phrases, but it was hardly sufficient for the adventures they met in DETECTIVES ABROAD, a good action story by Jean Henson (Faber). The children go as guests of a charter pilot on what should be a brief trip to France, but there is a strange forced landing, and all sorts of adventures in picturesque France after that.

Boys who like their adventure stories brisk and tough with fights in every chapter and danger on every page will be grateful for JIM STRANGE, by Leslie Bell (Herbert Jenkins; our cony from Whitcombe and Tombs). The docks of London, coalmines in the north of England, luxury suites m hotels, millionaire adventures—these are some of the ingredients of a boy s tale with more excitement in a few pages than real life might provide in a lifetime.

The adventures of a kangaroo in its wild state in Australia, told by a writer who obviously knows and loves Australian wildlife, make a fascinating story of BIG RED, by Henry G. Lamond (Faber). The story of Big Red, a young kangaroo, is full of incident and excitement. Flood, drought and bushfires all threaten the life of Big Red, and human foes endanger him, too. His story is a welcome addition to tales of Australia’s wildlife, and will interest fathers as well as their sons.

The Children’s , Hour sessions from the 8.8. C. have been famous for their successful adventure stories for children. SPREAD EAGLE, by Aubrey Feist (Heinemann) puts in book form a fine adventure story for boys of all ages, with a trail leading across France from a chateau in Brittany to nineteenthcentury Paris. This is a strong action story, full of excitement, and it has the added merit of being written with a skill and tautness often lacking from books written for much older readers. It is no surprise that the novels of Aubrey Feist are .enjoyed by as many adult readers as boys.