Books for younger children

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33917, 9 August 1975, Page 10

Books for younger children

JABBERWOCKY AND OTHER POEMS by Lewis Carroll, with pictures by Gerald Rose ($1.30) is a paperback picture book which appeals to children under six. It is a good way of introducing his famous poems, such as “You are old. Father William” and “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” and it also includes less well-known ones, such as “A-Sitting on a Gate.” In THE FLYING SHIP, published by Faber (54.65), Rosemary Harris retells the story of a Czar of Russia who set a suitor for his daughter three tasks before he would allow her to marry. As one would expect from this distinguished author, the story is told well, and the book is most attractively illustrated in colour with pictures and friezes by Errol Le Cain, who illustrated Rosemary Harris’s earlier books for young children. This is a book for parents to read aloud, and they should enjoy it. A story for younger children in quite a different style is EMIL AND HIS CLEVER PIG. by the author of the Pippi Longstocking books, Astrid Lindgren, published by the Brockhampton Press at $3.60. These stories of Emil have something of the quality of myth; the author looks back to her own childhood for material, and she tells of the days at Katthult farm in Lonnegerga in Smaland in Sweden a long time ago. The stories are in a style of gentle reminiscence, quite different from the fantasies of Pippi Longstocking. POW-WOW STORIES, by Freda Collins. published in paperback in Knight Books (90c), are “stories of all the different kinds of Brownies, their lore, the good turns they like to do and

how they got to Brownieland.” The stories seem to have a genuine appeal to seven-year-old girls. Some of them are realistic, some about fairies, and some are nature stories. The heroines are girls who want to be Brownies, or who are Brownies, or inhabitants of the fantasy Brownieland.

For slightly older children. THE PRINCE OF THE GOLDEN APPLE, by Michael Marks, published by Faber ($5.30), will appeal to some nine and ten-year-olds. It’s a story of Prince Zero and Gling, whose mission is to free birds captured by the Queen of Misery. The author’s use of language is interesting, but his vocabulary perhaps difficult for some of those to whom the theme will appeal. There are good detailed black and white illustrations by Rosie Barlow. THE LITTLE KID’S FOUR SEASONS CRAFT BOOK, by Jackie Vermeer and Marian Lariviere, published by Nelson ($2.25), is an excellent, inventive source-book and manual of things children can make. There are good 'photographic illustrations and clear diagrams, and the instructions are easy to follow. As an example of a new idea (new to some 1): “An everyday item such as aluminium foil can be used to create an unusual picture in relief. The background can be any kind of heavy cardboard, any size. On to the cardboard let the child place a number of items such as nails, washers, . . . cardboard shapes, to create his design. The design should then be glued into place . . .” Directions are given in detail, and in this example, there are also suggestions about how to give the finished article a burnished look.