For younger readers' shelf

Press, 27 August 1977, Page 17

For younger readers' shelf

PET SHOW, a brightly-coloured Picture Puffin by the popular children’s author, Ezra Jack Keats, tells the simple but appealing story of Archio who on the day of the pet show was unable to find his independent cat. How Archie won a prize at the show with a completely different pet, and how the cat also turned up at the show and brightened an old lady’s day makes a story which should please the most discerning young readers. The price is $l.lO, and the text and illustrations are delightful. GONE IS GONE by Wanda Gag, an old childhood favourite first published by Faber and Faber in 1936, is now a Young Puffin paperback at 95c. It tells ‘of Fritzl the farmer, who feels that his wife, Liesi, has an easy life, “puttering and pottering around the house a bit.” So the two change places for a day, and when Liesi comes home from the fields for lunch her house is a disaster area, and Fritzl vows never again to claim his work is harder. Charmingly told and illustrated, the story should delight both young children and the adults who read it to them.

Heinz Kurth has written and illustrated three books in a new series of Puffin Picture Books. Published by Penquin and retailing at $1.60 the books seem expensive for slim paperbacks but are nevertheless all good value for the money. They are clearly printed on good quality paper and are full of informative and colourful illustrations which will greatly aid the young reader in following the text. The three titles now to hand are PRINT A BOOK, DOWN THE RIVER, and AT THE AIRPORT. The first shows at a child’s level the whole process by which a book is made. The last few pages give young readers a clear set of instructions to follow in order to produce their own small books. The other two titles are of an equally high standard. “Down the River” follows a river from source to sea, clearly explaining and illustrating such things as canyons, dams, weirs, locks, groynes and deltas. “At the Airport” covers simply but adequately all the different activities necessary to the smooth operation of any airport, large or small.