Books and Writers: Holiday Redding for All Moods
ZEALAND publishers are generous in their efforts to provide amusement for the young people of the Dominion and among numerous local publications children's books are in the majority. Catering for all age* they are beautifully produced and most are copiously illustrated. "Just Us" is a large, well-printed boolt of verses on topical themes by .John Brent. Many drawings in line and colour are the skilful work of Stop VVrathall. Children will delight in following the exploits of the little boy in the verses and they will laugh over the sketches of Mussolini and Hitler, though they may find the rhymes accompanying them rather "above their heads." "Just Us" is published by the Ilotorua Morning Post. An invaluable little book for school, home and entertainment is Mrs Joye Taylor's "Twelve Graded Plays for Children," with choruses and songs. An unusual feature is the thought colour for each piece of music. The plays aro varied in theme and setting and suggest no difficulty for acting. There are some delightful illustrations by Elizabeth Paterson and Elizabeth Taylor. (Whitcombe and Tombs.) "Fair as the Morning," by Isabel E. Walmsley, is another local publication from the Presbyterian Bookroom. Its appeal will probably lie more for parents, who will adore the charming photographs of children in all moods. Opposite each photograph there is a delightful little verse expressing thoughts concerning the subject. Battle Lines "Poems from the Desert" (Harrap) will be widely read, for they are the fruits of a competition open to all members of tho Eighth Army. The most striking poem is the only one which could not be considered as an entry, since it was anonymous and the slip of paper on which it was written "fluttered into the hands of a soldier sheltering in a slit trench during the Battle of El Agheila." There is space to quote only three of its nine verses: Stay with me, God. The night is dark, The night is cult/: my iiltlr spark Of courage dies. The night is long; He with we, God. anil make me. strong. I Jove, a flame. I lore a fight. I hate the. dark; I love the Uriht. I love my child; I love, my wife. I am no coward, I love Life. Life with its change of mood and shade. I want to live. I'm not afraid. But me and mine are hard to part, Oh, unknown God, lift up my heart.
Mr Nevil Shute Any novel about the present war is almost bound to have its tragic, moments, and these are not absent from Nevil Shute's "Pastoral"; yet it would not be wrong to describe it as one of the happiest books which the war has called into being. The pilot of a Wellington bomber falls in love with a W.A.A.F. officer serving on his own station, and she is not sure of herself. There you have the simple story in a nutshell. The young woman plays absolutely fair, but there come troubles which, but for the "Winco's" worldly wisdom, might have led to very serious disaster. Mr Shute has written no more engaging novel than this. (Heinemann.) Simple Pleasures Will any reader be offended on being classified as old-fashionable? writes V. Sackville-Wost iin the Observer, London. I hope not, for it is not meant in any deprecatory sense. Readers of old-fashionable taste, then, will appreciate Mr J. H. B. Peel's "In the Countrv" (Watts). They will find themselves 'in harmony with his proclamation of himself as a lover of Tranquillity and simple things. Quotation is the best way to convey his quality and the following verses make one feel that poets ought to bo subsidised by the State, now that the days of the patron have forever gone: II is a lillle thing that / have askciiof life —a cottage in a plot, a child or two, a wife, and some not empty task that I might do among the hills and dales I love, to feed and clothe my young. 1 did not ask for fame or wealth or days of ease; it was the modest things to which I said "Yes, please." But life denied them all, and so my years are spent upon a city stool where 1 must earn the rent. Russian Education .1 C lieid's pamphlet "Kducntionnl Change in Soviet Russia" is interesting reading in New Zealand. It is very clear that Russia lias in recent years reacted violently against the new education, and, as in many other spheres, found use and value in much that the first enthusiasm of Socialism rejected. (Whitcombe and Tombs.)
Dominion of Canada Mr W. H. Chamberlin is the able American journalist who wrote "Russia's Iron Ago" and thoiij sitter some years in Japan, published his autobiography as the confessions of an individualist. He went through Canada two years ago, and was tlmlled by_ the Dominion, especially by the variety in North American likeness which it presents to the United States of America. "Canada loday and Tomorrow" is designed mainly tor the enlightenment ol the author's tellowcountrymen. Its value and interest for the British reader is undeniable. There is just enough of the historical background and the Far West. Mr Chamberlin puts clearlv the varied conditions of the Maritime) and Prairie Provinces, together with the permanent contrast between Ontario and Quebec. He describes the amazing wartime development of agriculture, industry, aviation and the new integration between Canada and the United States of America. He is admirable # iu his exposition of Dominion politics and the position of Mr Mackenzie King. He draws an attractive and highly-appre-ciative picture of' the Canadians at home. Altogether a bright and informing'survey, delightful to read. (Robert Hale.) America's Home Front During a tour of some months Mr Victor Vinde, who is a Swede, was able to look over the stupendous spectacle of American war production. In "America at War" he describes it all vividly, and with unalloyed admiration for American energy, audacity in design and disregard of economy. Naturally he was most impressed _bv the mass and speed of the war-industry centres. (Hutchinson.) Cook's VoyaQes The announcement recently made in London that, early in 1945, the Golden Cockerel Press will issue a complete edition of Anders Sparrman's Account of Captain Cook's Second Voyage to the South Seas, 1772-1775," brings to mind a little-known, but . none the less distingi'ished, scientist, and companion of tho great navigator. The forthcoming volume, translated from the original Swedish, is to appear in a strictly limited edition of .'550 copies priced at L'G 12s (id. with 40 copies specially bound in white morocco at £25 each, under the editorship of Owen Mutter, with 13 woodcuts by Barker-Mill. —George Mackancas in the Sydney MornI ing Herald.
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New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25084, 23 December 1944, Page 2
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1,123Books and Writers: Holiday Redding for All Moods New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25084, 23 December 1944, Page 2
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