Books for Children: A Christmas List

The number and variety of books for children each year pose a problem of selection, and the quality of writing and illustration this Christmas season is exceptionally high. There are more than enough good family stories, fantasy-fairy tales, escape-adventure thrillers, sound biographies, and enchanting picture books to satisfy even the most ardent young bibliophile.

We shall start with the picture books and proceed chronologically.

Any child from three to thirteen will shriek with glee over the funny situations in a handbook of etiquette, WHAT DO YOU SAY, DEAR?, by SESYLE JOSLIN, pictures by Maurice Sendak (Scott). If, for example, when walking backward one bumps into a strolling crocodile, the thing to say is, of course, “excuse me.” The inspired double-spread pictures illustrate the many hilarious situations.

WHAT IS THE WORLD? by BETTY MILES, pictures by Remy Charlip (Knopf). Unusual in color, design, and philosophical concept (to the average child the world is a globe that he can rotate), this book is a spur to the imagination.

In THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, with colored woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi (Harcourt, Brace), the familiar nursery rhyme is given in both French and English, an effortless way to pick up sizable bits of another language. The bold, unusual woodcuts help considerably.

THE ANIMALS AND THE AUK, written and illustrated by KARLA KUSKIN (Harper), tells the old Bible story of Noah and the animals in lilting verse and amusing pictures.

TERRY WHITES A LETTER, story and pictures by CHARLOTTE STEINER (Macmillan). Just after Terry’s friend Ted moved away, all kinds of exciting things began to happen, and Terry wished that she could write Ted about them, but alas! she hadn’t yet learned to write. How she managed to convey her news should be an inspiration to other tots in a similar predicament. Lovely pastel pictures.

HOLIDAY FOR EDITH AND THE BEARS, story and photographs by DARE WRIGHT (Doubleday), is the second photographic episode about Edith, the “lonely doll.” This time, with her Teddy bear friends, she goes exploring along the wharves and dunes of the Atlantic seashore, and if cautious Mr. Bear hadn’t intervened, daring Edith and Little Bear might have drifted out to sea.

HOW DO I GO? by MARY ANN AND NORMAN HOBERMAN (Little, Brown) is a fine travel book in bright poster colors for toddlers who have so far only experienced tricycle cruises around the block. Numerous modes of transportation are described from subway to airplane plus a nice nonsense touch about riding on the backs of whales or sailing in a pail.

Naturalists as young as three are fascinated by THE WONDERFUL EGG, written and illustrated by DAHLOV IPCAR (Doubleday). Excellent pictures of dinosaurs and their ilk decorate the easily understood story of prehistoric beasts with a pleasant surprise — the egg that sat all alone.

PETUNIA, BEWARE! with story and pictures by ROGER DUVOISIN (Knopf) is a new adventure of that silly goose, Petunia, who barely escapes extinction when she wanders off seeking greener fields. Gay pictures and an excellent story.

THE PICNIC, written and illustrated by JAMES DAUGHERTY (Viking). Cheddar, frisky young scion of a respectable mouse family, could not resist shying an acorn at a sleeping lion one day when the family were picnicking in the woods. The results were almost disastrous until each realized that helping one another is as necessary to animals as it is to man. Effective silhouettes in black and ocher of mice, raccoons, and lions frolic through the story.

SOMETHING SPECIAL by BEATRICE SCHENK DE REGNIERS and IRENE HAAS (Harcourt, Brace). This is a delightful book of poems that has caught the spirit of a child’s world with humor, sounds, smell, and color. The fine drawings complement the text.

CABIN FOR DUCKS, written and illustrated by EDYTHE RECORDS WARNER (Viking). Two small boys are initiated into the exhilarating life of the Minnesota woods one autumn wdien they are invited to go duck hunting with their grandfather. The detailed drawings of birds, animals, forests, and lakes are beautiful indeed.

GEORGE GOES TO TOWN, written and illustrated by PHYLLIS ROWAND (Little, Brown). This second book about that kinky-haired poodle who couldn’t keep out of trouble finds him disconsolate for the period that he has to endure living in a city apartment. Wonderful drawings of mad situations that George’s presence always engenders.

THE FROG IN THE WELL by ALVIN TRESSELT, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin (Lothrop). The author’s version of an old fable about the foolish frog who found that there was more to the world than his comfortable moss-covered home. Hundreds of frogs in every conceivable attitude decorate the pages in brilliant color.

THE WORLD OF CHRISTOPHER ROBIN, by A. A. MILNE, illustrations by E. H. Shepard (Dutton), combines the complete When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six in one fat, handsome volume.

SCIENCE CAN BE FUN by MUNRO LEAF (Lippincott). This authorartist has that particular genius for imparting knowledge to the young, whether it be manners, arithmetic, or anything one could mention. It was inevitable that he should attack science, and here it is: a book that explains scientific fundamentals with simple experiments any child can perform. A challenging book with step-by-step drawings.

OTTO AT SEA, story and pictures by WILLIAM PÈNE DU BOIS (Viking). The hero of this dog adventure was a mammoth hound too big to fit in any ordinary palace, so he was shipped off with his master on a good-will tour of America. He proved his extraordinary strength and heroism on the ocean voyage and, upon arrival in New York, was tendered a ticker-tape parade up Fifth Avenue. Magnificent pictures illustrate this fantastic adventure.

There are five books so far in the Beginner Book series recently published by Random House; all are edited by Dr. Seuss, whose rules for vocabulary control keep the stories well within the grasp of a beginning reader. DR. SEUSS’S own contribution, THE CAT IN THE HAT COMES BACK, is by far the pick of the lot, with that zany cat and a hatful of kittens named for letters of the alphabet cavorting in a story that moves at a fast clip, with comic pictures that almost talk, A FLY WENT BY by MIKE MCCLINTOCK, illustrated by Fritz Siebel, another in the series, tells about an exciting animal chase. The verse and expressive illustrations in striking color make the book much more than an easy reader.

The child from seven to ten has a treat in store with this imaginative tale: ROLAND, by NELLY STÉPHANE, illustrated by André François (Harcourt, Brace). Roland, made to stand in the corner because he was late for school, drew a tiger on the wall, said “crack,” and the tiger came to life. Of course, this power gets Roland into all sorts of hot water and gives the artist plenty of scope to execute pictures of a strange dreamlike quality that fit the bizarre situations.

MR. BASS’S PLANETOID by ELEANOR CAMERON, illustrated by Louis Darling (Atlantic—Little, Brown). Science-fiction fans who enjoyed The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet will welcome the new adventures of David and Chuck who, with the help of Tyco Bass, solve the mystery of the Brumbliton whose chain reaction could have destroyed the world.

ROGER, A MOST UNUSUAL RABBIT by DOROTHEA W, BLAIR, with pictures by Hilary Knight (Lippincott). Roger, the effete hero of this success story, had impeccable manners along with a pleasing talent for portrait painting. These two attributes paid off so well that he became the only known rabbit painter to their majesties the King and Queen of England.

THE MOONEYED HOUND by BILLY C. CLARK, illustrated by Nedda Walker (Putnam’s). This unusual story of a poor Kentucky hill family is suitably written in flowing Biblical prose. It concerns the exploits of a boy’s coon dog who is born blind in one eye but who overcomes his handicap and proves himself the best hunting dog in the area, as well as the top cross-country racer.

CASTLES AND DRAGONS compiled by the Child Study Association, illustrated by William Pène Du Bois (Crowell). Among the eighteen tales in this distinguished collection are The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, adapted from Grimm by Wanda Gag, Ashputel by Walter de la Mare, and The Lost Half Hour by Henry Boston. Reading treasures galore are to be found in this well-designed, handsomely illustrated volume.

TISOU OF THE GREEN THUMBS by MAURICE DRUON, illustrated by Jacqueline Duhème (Scribner’s), is about a French boy of an elegant family who couldn’t abide school and, as a consequence, was given over to the gardener in order to learn the fundamentals of gardening. Under his magic thumbs flowers grew abundantly, even from the mouths of guns, and the story ends with Titsou appropriately climbing a miraculous wisteria and disappearing into the clouds.

TAN’S FISH by RUTHVEN TODD, illustrated by Theresa Sherman (Atlantic-Little, Brown). Tan’s hobby was collecting fish, and he hoped that one day he would find a new species that would entitle him to become a member of the Cathay Aquarists. How Tan did find the rare fish that subsequently was named for him, and how he became a celebrated aquarist before the required age of twenty-one, is the story. There is more to it than that, however; this small boy taught some of the greedy collectors an excellent lesson in conservation.

A good family story with believable situations for the young adult is BORROWED BROTHER by FLORENCE CRANNELL (Houghton Mifflin). Jan, sixteen and an only child, yearns to visit a large family of cousins, and her parents obligingly arrange for her to exchange places with her cousin Molly, one of many. There are slight complications for both girls, but all in all the exchange proves a happy arrangement.

BIG TIME MYSTERIES, edited by BRETT HALLIDAY (Dodd, Mead). This diversified collection for young mystery addicts, chosen by The Mystery Writers of America, keeps in mind the sort of mystery young people enjoy. The stories range from science fiction to engineering, from lockedroom puzzle to historical mystery, and were originally written for adults.

Among the books for the twelveto-sixteen-year-old, the excellent Landmark series (Random House) has eleven new titles, one of which, EXPLORING THE HIMALAYA, by WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS, is extremely entertaining. It is filled with homely details about the people who live near the formidable mountains, as well as good accounts of the exploits of famous Alpinists and the author’s own experiences in mountain climbing.

Biographies make stimulating reading for young people beginning to think about careers. Among the many this fall, the following three are outstanding in content, decoration, and design.

WILLA: THE STORY OF WILLA CATHER’S GROWING UP by RUTH FRANCHERE (Crowell) evokes the feeling of the prairie country that the small girl from Virginia felt upon her arrival in Nebraska and points out how she made use of all she saw, heard, and felt in the fine novels she wrote.

YOUNG MAN IN A HURRY by JEAN LEE LATHAM, illustrated by Victor Mays (Harper). This veteran biographer of so many historical recreations brings Cyrus W. Field to life in a vivid manner. The impatient young man, who at thirty was successful by the standards of the day, didn’t hit the peak of his inventiveness until the mid-nineteenth century, when he laid the cable under the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland.

AMERICA’S OWN MARK TWAIN by JEANETTE EATON, illustrated by Leonard Everett Fisher (Morrow), takes young Sam Clemens through his turbulent childhood, Mississippi pilot days, printing and writing experiences in the Far West, and lecture tours in Europe and America in later life. Humorous writer though Clemens was, the author captures the spirit of tragedy that haunted him always.

THE LEGEND OF BEFANA by HENRY CHAFETZ, illustrated by Ronni Solbert (Houghton Mifflin). This is a new version of the legend about the saintly woman who distributes baskets of presents to the good children of Italy on Twelfth-night. The naughty ones are not forgotten; for them she leaves a warning of sticks and stones.

THE CHRISTMAS ROCKET by ANNE MOLLOY, with drawings by Artur Marokvia (Hastings House), is set in modern Italy and tells the story of a potter’s son, his trip to market, his disappointments, and then the miracle of the rocket that sparkled over the village during the Christmas night celebration. The illustrations are filled with Christmas spirit.

THE NUTCRACKER, adapted and handsomely illustrated by ARREN CHAPPELL (Knopf), is the charming familiar story of the Sugar Plum Fairy, the horrid Mouse King, Nutcracker, and the other gallant toys. Samples of the delightful music throughout. This is one of the more beautiful books of the season.

THE FAMILY UNDER THE BRIDGE by NATALIE SAVAGE CARLSON, illustrated by Garth Williams (Harper). Perhaps it was the Christmas spirit, or again it may have been the appeal of the three little waifs themselves whom the old hobo found occupying his special corner under the Seine bridge, that changed him. But changed he was and to the point of actually asking his friend, Father Christmas, for a job so that he could rent a modest home for the children and their widowed mother. This is a story to treasure.

THE FARAWAY CHRISTMAS by EDITH THACHER HURD, illustrated by Clement Hurd (Lothrop), is set on the Farallon Islands in the choppy waters outside the Golden Gate, where the wind howls and the weather is dreary most of the time. When Christmas draws near and the presents ordered from the mail-order catalogue haven’t arrived, depression thicker than the surroundingfog envelops the waiting children. Then the sun breaks through, the boat bringing the Christmas packages and greenery braves the rough sea, and there is a joyous Christmas after all. This charming story, based on true happenings, is embellished with pictures that capture the spirit of the islands.

THE STORY OF HOLLY AND IVY by RUMER GODDEN, illustrated by Adrienne Adams (Viking). Holly, a doll appropriately dressed for Christmas, awaits the life-giving touch of a little girl’s hands; Ivy, a six-year-old orphan, clad, too, in Christmas colors, searches for a nonexistent grandmother; and Mrs. Jones, imbued with the magic of the season, prepares her house for a small girl she doesn’t have. All three get their wishes in this story which in less competent hands would be cloying but which escapes that fate by Miss Godden’s skill and sensitivity in the use of words.