Stories for young readers

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34130, 17 April 1976, Page 10

Stories for young readers

Stories about the astonishing Grandmother Oma who roller skates for exercise, rescues boys from icy lakes, takes her grandchildren to live in a zoo and catches burglars singlehanded have delighted children in both German and English since they were first published in 1364. Written bv Use Kleberger. GRANDMOTHER OMA and GRANDMOTHER OMA AND THE GREEN CARAVAN have been reprinted by the Bodley Head in one volume delightfully illustrated by C er* Id Rose, and costing S 5. The stories are all lively, appealing and funny and should olease both younger children to whom they are read aloud and older ones who can manage them on their own. Some old and some more recent children’s favourites have been reissued bv Bodlev Head in the librarv reprint series. RUFUS M. by E'eanor Estes was first published in 1943. and has dated consideraoiy. It is set in the ■war years, and several stones concern such things as knitting wash-cloths for

soldiers or earning money to become a Victory boy. But that ’ matters less than the old-fashioned atmosphere of' the setting and the writing. This is not to dent that there -s a certain charm in the book hut it will probably appeal now to a slightly older age group. The Moffat family group of mother and four children is well drawn and the simple stories gently told. The book retails at $5. The astonishing thing about the children’s writer, E. W. Hildick, is that although books pour from his pen in a seemingly endless stream the quality and the writing remain consistently high. This latest book LOUIE’S SNOWSTORM is the third in his series about the dour, fierce, expert milkman. Louie Lav. The brilliant!}’ funny, fast and detailed narrative covers one day of Louie’s deliveries; Christmas Eve when he copes with extra orders, a snowstorm, a new assistant, a ourglar and the birth of a baby. The book is published by Andre Deutsch at $6.25.