FOR YOUNG READERS

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30176, 6 July 1963, Page 3

FOR YOUNG READERS

The House. in Sunflower Street. By Gunter Spang and F. L. Tripp. Oxford University Press. 40 pp.

This is a very lively book and the American-style layout and illustrations from Continental authors, published in England, may cause some surprise. The combination of the best modern traditions from these major areas Of children’s book production comes off very well. No. 99 Sunflower street seems quite an ordinary house which has always belonged to one family. But when the present incumbent aspires to a brand-new home and talks of selling, No. 99 decides to give him a few shocks and frighten potential , buyers away. This original theme has hundreds of possibilities which are exploited to the full. The book is novel in every way and will create interest as well as pleasure. One Day in Ancient Rome. By G. B. Kirtland with drawings by Jerome Snyder. Macmillan and Co. Ltd. 36 pp.

Here is another delightful surprise in the approach to life in ancient Rome. Careful research has shown that children have not changed much. In Rome they had their teachers, their pets, their games and their special treats. This narrative about a patrician family is full of interest and sly humour. Primarily it is a story for younger children but, because Latin terms in common use are introduced (meanings and pronunciations are given in a glossary), it is likely that some older brothers and sisters will be challenged to display their third-form knowledge.

What Happens in the Sky. By Ray Bethers. Macmillan and Cleaver Ltd. 48 pp.

This is “visual explanation” in which the author combines his descriptions and own drawings most economically to show that these things don’t just happen. About the only major question not answered is: “How high is the sky?” This account begins with thepteranodons, giant bat-like reptiles from the beginning of time. It moves on to the earliest birds, bees and butterflies, sunshine and moonlight, a lot about air, clouds, rain and rainbows, and the phenomena of thunder, lightning, waterspouts, tornadoes, hurricanes and typhoons, weather forecasting and modern flying.

Seven-day Magic. By Edward Eager, illustrated by N. M. Bodecker. Macmillan and Co. Ltd. 156 pp.

The children found a red, small and “comfortably shabby” book, but in it was a faithful record about themselves, even up to everything they had said and done that morning. Fredricka wished on the book for an adventure with wizards and witches and immediately a green-eyed dragon swooped down and carried her off in a puff of purple smoke. The tale is a lot less frightening than this start may suggest.

Treasure at Morgenster. By Eileen Ryder, illustrated in colour by Elisabeth Grant Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 80 pp.

Another unusual and authentic story showing that publishers of children’s books are casting wide. in their search for new material. It is a saga of life on the veldt of South Africa —the farms, game reserves, natives and diamond mines. It tells of the trials of drought, constant anxiety about crop failures, but of a good life in the open air. This family faced disaster until the good earth produced unexpected riches.

The scene change again in THE GOLDEN POMEGRANATE, by David Scott Daniell, illustrated in colour by George Adamson (Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. 80 pp.), this time to Elizabethan London. Dr. Peppercorn was an alchemist, naive and trusting. Robin had no- faith in his father’s experiments. When the treasured golden pomegranate went missing, Robin came to the rescue after some hilarious adventures. It was a bold venture to choose this period of history for a comedy of youth but the outcome is Sheer fun. The title: BIGGLES TAKES A HAND, by W. E Johns (Hodder and Stoughton. 160 pp.), is sufficient to inform hundreds of boys that a new Biggies adventure is to hand. They will need to

know little more than that this one concerns a chase after three murderers which takes Biggies and the, air police to West Berlin and involves them in another case of espionage.

In “JONATHAN’S CHILDREN,” by Constance Heward (George Harrap and Co., Ltd., 223 pp), Mr Joseph Sparrow, the grocer was appalled when Lindabeth and her brothers, John and Joey (his brother Jonathan’s children) arrived to live with him. But so well did the children behave that his heart was melted. However, before he brought himself to admit his change of heart, the children had discovered an' unposted letter in which he had refused to have them—and so they tried to run away from home. They were soon discovered and all was happily explained. While there is a good deal of well-written description of day-to-day life in a grocer’s shop in this book, there is also an overabundance of syrupy sentiment which is unlikely to be popular with the modem child. Maribel Edwin is a sensitive writer with a fine gift for creating atmosphere. Her stories, unusually and beautifully told and always well illustrated, command esteem. THE HIDDEN HOUSE (Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd. 218 pp.) is set largely in the sand dunes between the sea and the house of the story. The narrative, the dialogue and the holiday adventure are all credible while building up a fine tension. Boys and girls about to enter their teens will be the chief readers. The Children’s Illustrated Classics (Phoenix House) have given us a most beautiful edition of Charles Kingsley’s “THE HEROES.” First written in 1835, it retold, for his own children, the Greek myths of Perseus, The Argonauts and Theseus, and all the magic still remains. In addition to the beautiful tales, there is a brief resume of the author’s life and works and also four lovely colour plates and many exquisite black and white line drawings by Joan Kiddell-Monroe in the Minoan fashion. All young people from 10 years upwards should find both the myths and their presentation here enchanting.