FICTION

Southland Times, Issue 24650, 23 January 1942, Page 7

FICTION

Stories About Children

CHILDREN FIRST. Short Stories by F. Alexa Stevens. Harry H. Tombs, Ltd., Wellington. Price 2/6.

These stories about children are written by an adult for adult readers. They are short (most of them can be read in a few minutes); but they have a directness of purpose and an economy of words which give them- a distinction not often attained by a New Zealand author. Miss Stevens writes of boys and girls who can be seen on any street in this country. Sometimes she looks at the world through a child’s eyes; but for the most part her characters are shown from the outside, in situations which recapture the ordeals, the bewilderments and exciting mysteries of childhood. The boy Henry (known to his friends as “Podge”) who bluffs his way into the glory of a circus ring is the type of all boys who dream of private heroisms and good fortune, and if in this case he makes his dream come true it is because the margin between vision and performance can be very narrow in young lives. Even more real is Martin, who longs for the day when he is to be taken away for a farm holiday and yet hides at the appointed hour because he cannot bear to go among strangers. And the little girl who is dragged on a shopping expedition can be seen any afternoon in a crowded department store with the same look of silent resignation, her thoughts escaping from the heat, the weariness and the boredom. Miss Stevens avoids the pitfalls of sentimentality. Her stories are neatly constructed; the writing is clear and straightforward, yet unusually flexible in the treatment of changing moods. “Children First” deserves the attention of those who are looking for fresh and sympathetic minds in New Zealand fiction.