Books for Children: A Christmas List

This list of suggestions for Christmas giving, selected from the hundreds of children’s books published this year, is by no means complete. It merely suggests books, from innumerable categories, that exemplify good narratives, fresh and appealing illustrations, and in general, stories that will give the child reading pleasure. Beginning with picture books for the preschool child, the list advances through the age groups to the teens.

A talented graphic artist, new to the children’s-book field, has written, as well as illustrated, a charming ABC book, A IS FOR ANYTHING by KATHARINA BARRY (Harcourt, Brace & World). Each letter of the alphabet is a copy of old hand-cut wooden type that forms part of the picture. This ingenious use of type, coupled with gay verse, brings a fresh approach to an age-old subject.

THE ABC HUNT, story and photographs by ISABEL GORDON (Viking). It all started when Cathy found an A in her alphabet soup and her brother, Christopher, suggested that they search further until all the letters of the alphabet were found. Posters, animals, trucks, maps, and a host of familiar objects supplied the rest of the letters. Delightful action photographs on every page show the children on their word safari.

THE LITTLE BOOK, written and illustrated by BEATRICE SCHENK DE BEGNIERS (Walck), is just that — small enough to fit comfortably into the hand of a two-year-old — with a satisfying story of a little girl out for a walk who greets each animal she meets with “Hi.” The animals return greetings in their own idiom, which is fine, but when she meets a little boy who returns “Hi” for “Hi,” that is best of all, and the two play happily the rest of the day.

THE LONELY DOLL LEARNS A LESSON, photographs and story by DAREWRIGHT (Random House). Edith, the onetime lonely doll, devotes all her time to a new friend, a kitten, to the complete exclusion of her oldest friend, Little Bear, who understandably becomes quite sad and lonely. Not until wise Mr. Bear takes a hand in the situation docs she realize that old friends should not be dropped completely for new. Magnificent photographs of kittens, puppies, and Edith.

THE FOX WENT OUT ON A CHILLY NIGHT, an old song illustrated by PETER SPIER (Doubleday). Autumn colors of New England, muted by moonlight, supply the backdrop for the wily fox, dashing through wood and field with his kill, while the silly farmer and his wife watch helplessly. Lyrics and music are included.

ONE SNAIL AND ME by EMILIE WARREN MCLEOD, illustrated by Walter Lorraine (Atlantic—Little, Brown . A counting picture book to tickle the funny bones of children at bathtime tells how one little girl filled her bathtub with all sorts of creatures, from snail to hippo. The bather, with a snail resting in her hair, contemplates the animals as they appear, and, of course, counts them. Childlike absurdity that is sure to go over with the young.

THE SNEETCHES AND OTHER STORIES by DR. SEUSS (Random House Here arc four brand-new stories by the inimitable doctor, all first-rate nonsense, accompanied by zany pictures of creatures with unbelievable names like “zak” and “sneetch.”

FUZZY AND ALFRED, written and illustrated by DOROTHY MARINO (Watts). A fuzzy Teddy bear and a little boy named Alfred were fast friends until a new toy tiger appeared. Fuzzy was hurt when he was replaced by the tiger, but very soon he thought of a way to gain the attention and affection of his lost friend. Excellent story for twoto three-year-olds, who become vocally sympathetic and indignant as the story proceeds.

RUFUS, written and illustrated by TOMI UNGERER (Harper). Rufus, a bat, while hunting one dark night, saw a Technicolor movie in an outdoor theater which changed the habits of a lifetime. He waited for dawn to see the colors of the day and became so enchanted that he began painting himself all over with blue, violet, green, and red, an impulsive act that resulted in difficulties he had not anticipated. The bright pictures, almost in the colors of neon lights, on black pages, the story itself, and the handsome design all go to make this an enchanting picture book experience for four-year-olds.

ALEXANDER THE GANDER, written and illustrated by TASHA TUDOR (Walck). Sylvie’s gander was inordinately fond of eating purple pansies, no matter to whom they belonged. He nibbled young lettuce and carrots in everybody’s garden as well, but always made his dessert of pansies. This distressing situation is never solved in the story, to the delight of young readers who enjoy hearing of the naughtiness of others. Pictures in soft shades on every page.

THE GREAT REBELLION by MARY STOLZ, illustrated by Beni Montresor (Harper). Two mouse heroes of a recent jungle adventure find it hard to adjust to household routine on their return, particularly since the head mouse is a dictator. The story of the mice’s escape from tyranny and their finding a haven in a wellslocked storehouse makes a satisfying story filled with humorous incident. Detailed cat and mouse pictures.

STRIPES AND SPOTS, written and illustrated by DAHLOV IPCAR (Doubleday). A baby leopard and a baby tiger, spotted and striped respectively, decide that they will hereafter eat no animal or bug that is not striped or spotted. All their prey evades them, and they are both glad to be rescued at the end of the day by their mothers and hungry enough to eat what is put before them. Deep tones of green and orange in jungly illustrations complete this story, which should be a favorite for young readers.

KICKAPOO by MISKA MILES, illustrated by Wesley Dennis (AtlanticLittle, Brown). Howdie was reluctantly persuaded that his mule, Kickapoo, was moth-eaten and ornery and would not get anywhere in the race at the pony-express rodeo. He did not dare mention his decision within the mule’s hearing, as Kickapoo’s ears were long and sharp. Somehow, though, the mule sensed what was about to happen and mulishly went into action. How he won the race and gained favor with everyone is a story that boys particularly will appreciate to the fullest. Spirited pictures of animals are very comic.

MISTER PENNY’S CIRCUS, written and illustrated by MARIE HALL ETS (Viking). A bear and a chimpanzee, who ran away from the circus when the big tent blew down, join Mister Penny and his domestic animal menagerie and enjoy their new life so much that they dislike the thought of returning to their rightful owners. Mister Penny, in his wise and thoughtful manner, rights the situation for the animals and finally creates an unusual circus of his own, in which all his animal friends perform. An enjoyable story with amusing illustrations.

THE FIRST DOLL IN THE WORLD by LEE PAPE, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard (Lothrop). A little girl named Twinkle, who lived in a mountain cave in prehistoric times, longed to have something that she could cuddle and love. Her mother fashioned a very crude doll from bits of wood and dressed it in strips of reindeer hide, and the little girl was content. This unusual story told in verse has appealing pictures of the cave-dwelling family.

THE LITTLE JUGGLER, written and illustrated by BARBARA COONEY (Hastings). A former Caldecott Medal winner made a trip to France to study the thirteenth-century manuscript of the legend of the juggler of Notre Dame, on which she bases her version of this time-tested talc.

MRS. PEPPERPOT AGAIN by ALF PROYSEN, translated by Marianne Helweg, illustrated by Bjorn Berg (Obolensky). Appropriate drawings illustrate new fantastic adventures of Mrs. Pepperpot, who could shrink and grow again in the twinkling of an eye. The old woman is always in difficulties, but miraculously gets out of them at just the right moment, and in between keeps her young readers convulsed with giggles.

CUSTARD THE DRAGON AND THE WICKED KNIGHT by OGDEN NASH, illustrated by Linell (Little, Brown). Belinda’s pets included a kitten, a mouse, a puppy, and a dragon. Custard the dragon was somewhat put upon by the other pets, who misinterpreted his shyness for rank cowardice. They soon found out, however, that when sufficiently aroused, “He sizzled and he simmered and he bubbled and he hissed. Then he whooshed like a rocket through the evening mist.” The poet’s wonderful nonsense verse is augmented by pictures of Custard in fiery action and the other pets in more relaxed poses.

MOORLAND PONY, written and illustrated by HELEN BURLINGAME BEATTY (Houghton Mifflin). An American family living in England discovered that the wild ponies roaming the Dartmoor hills are friendly toward tourists, and that some of them will even stick their noses in the car windows and beg for food. One pony became such a pet that, when the family returned to America, the pony went with them and seemed just as happy kicking up his heels in the green pastures of Vermont as he ever was in England. An extremely readable story of horses, family life, and travel, illustrated in bright, clear water-colors of the English countryside and the hills and villages of Vermont.

EMILY’S RUNAWAY IMAGINATION by BEVERLY CLEARY, illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush (Morrow). Emily Bartlett, who lived on a farm near the town of Pitchfork, in western Oregon, during the 1920s, got herself into some incredibly funny situations, all owing to her unrestrained imagination. Her schemes, like the one of feeding all the windfalls to the pigs to save them (the pigs got very tipsy and broke up Mama’s elegant party for the starving Armenians), or the one she devised when, to impress her city cousin, she transformed a plow horse into a snow-white charger with the aid of a scrubbing brush and a bottle of bleach, follow one after another as the book progresses. This story is bound to enrapture girls from eight to twelve.

WILD ORPHAN, written and illustrated by GLEN ROUNDS (Holiday). For the child who likes his nature stories without the fripperies of imaginary human conversation, this is the book. It concerns the struggle for survival of a beaver kit who is orphaned when his parents are trapped by a man. By actual observation, the author follows the kit’s adventures in swamp and pond for a full year and records his findings in an excellent nature-study documentary, illustrated with small pen-and-ink drawings.

MEG OF HERON’S NECK by ELIZABETH LADD, illustrated by Mary Stevens (Morrow). Orphaned tenyear-old Meg was blissfully happy living with her older half-brother aboard The Sea Mouse in a Maine harbor crowded with fishing and excursion boats. When forced to leave her happy tomboy life for her uncle and aunt’s farm, she became understandably rebellious. She was miserably homesick and unhappy at first, then gradually became interested in the farm and school, and finally realized that she really liked her new home and could not go back to life on the boat.

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by NORTON JUSTER, illustrated by Jules Feiffer (Epstein and Carroll). Milo was completely bored with life, and especially with schoolwork, which he considered a great waste of time. Milo’s lassitude miraculously disappeared the day he got a surprise package in the mail curiously labeled, “One genuine Turnpike Tollbooth.” Inside the package were directions for assembling the various parts of the tollbooth, a book of rules, and in small type, the guarantee that if, after using, the results were not satisfactory, all wasted time would be refunded. Milo set to work assembling the various items, including a car, and soon was whizzing down an unfamiliar highway completely “unabridged” to Dictionopolis. This unusual fantasy, besides being very amusing, has a quality that will quicken young minds and encourage readers to pursue pleasures that do not depend on artificial stimulation.

Three books of poetry that would make ideal gifts for the middle group are:

THE PENNY FIDDLE by ROBERT GRAVES, illustrated by Edward Ardizzone (Doubleday). This outstanding poet of many talents selects twenty-three of his poems that will appeal to children from eight to twelve. The volume is charmingly illustrated in pen-and-ink sketches, with an overlay of transparent wash in pastel color.

THE MAN WHO SANG THE SILLIES by JOHN CIARDI, illustrated by Edward Gorey (Lippincott). A collection of sheer delightful nonsense verse about animals, seasons, and people, adorned with drawings completely in tune with the humorous spirit of the poetry.

BEYOND THE HIGH HILLS, collected by KNUD RASMUSSEN, photographs by Guy Mary-Rousseliere (World). These powerful songs and chants were collected many years ago and arc here published for the first time. The harsh life of the Far North is further dramatized by the remarkable photographs of Eskimos, hunters, fishermen, mothers, and children against the forbidding backdrop of snow, ice, and the eerie lights of the Arctic.

More and more dual-language books appear each year, and happily enough, their themes are usually humorous, as witness Winnie llle Pit of last season. Latin is again used in ONE DAY IN ANCIENT ROME by G. B. KIRTLAND, drawings by Jerome Snyder (Harcourt, Brace & World). In this, however, just thirty-three familiar Latin words and phrases, which almost translate themselves, without reference to the glossary, arc woven into a droll story that is an authentic re-creation of ancient Roman life. Humorous drawings are artfully detailed.

A charming translation from English into Erench is LE HIBOU ET LA POUSSIQUETTE by FRANCIS STEEGMULLER, illustrated by Barbara Cooney (Little, Brown). The rhythm of Edward Lear’s nonsense poem, “The Owl and the Pussycat,” has been retained in this divertissement. The original poem and a glossary are included. Drawings in appropriate sea green are filled with capricious humor.

LE PETIT CHIEN, by DENISE and ALAIN TREZ (World), is the youngest of ten brothers, who, because of his small size, succeeds in a dangerous feat that his bigger brothers found impossible. The English version of this tale of bravery begins on the last page of the tiny book and meets the French precisely in the middle. Comic drawings in orange and black-and-white.

THE SNOW AND THE SUN, written and illustrated by ANTONIO FRASCONI (Harcourt, Brace & World), presents an old Spanish folk rhyme, accompanied by the English version and embellished by this distinguished artist’s woodcuts, showing the vagaries of the seasons.

YOUR TEENS AND MINE by ELEANOR ROOSEVELT and HELEN FERRIS (Doubleday). Mrs. Roosevelt, in a candid account of her own problems during adolescence, has written a book showing that the universal problems of growing up have not changed a great deal over the years. In it she recounts numerous anecdotes of her own periods of uncertainty, and tells how painful it was, at times, to conquer self-consciousness and fear of the unknown. In this affecting story from one who has achieved greatness in the world of women, teen-age girls will find helpful, inspiring words of wisdom.

THE BRONZE BOW by ELIZABETH GEORGE SPEARE (Houghton Mifflin). The winner of the 1959 Newbery Award for The Witch of Blackbird Pond has written an excellent novel set in the Holy Land. It concerns David Bar Jamin, a Galilean youth of eighteen who, filled with bitterness and deep hatred for the Roman soldiers, invaders of Israel and murderers of his parents, joins an outlaw band biding its time for the proper moment to attack the Roman legions. The tragic story proves to David and the reader that tenderness and compassion are more moving forces than revenge and violence.

THE QUEEN’S MOST HONORABLE PIRATR by JAMES PLAYSTED WOOD, woodcuts by Leonard Everett Fisher (Harper). Davy Purviance, halfEnglish son of an Irish pirate and crewman on his father’s ship, sees his father killed in a skirmish with the English off the Irish coast, where he was born. Twelve-year-old Davy is taken prisoner, and, resentfully at first, then with resignation, comports himself through the years with such courage and honesty that he becomes a protege of the great English pirate, Francis Drake, and for his brave deeds is made a Justice of the Admiralty. The story, filled with thrilling incidents, is a deft mixture of history and fiction with a vivid background of Elizabethan morals and manners.

THE FISHING FLEETS OF NEW ENGLAND by MARY ELLEN CHASE, illustrated with prints and photographs (Houghton Mifflin). Against the background of centuries of fishing in the cold North Atlantic waters, the author tells the part that boys, sometimes as young as twelve, played in the exciting and dangerous adventure of sailing ketches, schooners, and other craft through the fog, ice, and high seas in pursuit of the cod. The perils, methods of fishing, superstitions of the sea, and many other facts about the great fishing fleets are vividly described.

RAPHAEL, a biography by ELIZABETH RIPLEY (Lippincott), illustrated with reproductions of the artist’s paintings, tells the story of Raphael’s brief life and the amazing amount of work he crowded into its short span, creating paintings that have lived and given pleasure for five centuries.

NORWEGIAN FOLK TALES, collected by PETER CHRISTEN ASBJORNSEN and JORGEN MOE, illustrated by Erik Werenskiold and Theodor Kittelsen (Viking). A lively, vigorous translation of thirty-five folk tales of Norway presented in America for the first time, with the original illustrations, which show so well the spirit of the people and the characteristics of the country.

EDGAR ALLAN POE STORIES, introduction by LAURA BENÉT (Platt & Munk). This collection of twentyfive stories and eight poems includes all the well-known favorites and several lesser-known spine-chillers, such as “The Imp of the Perverse” and “The Premature Burial.” The foreword gives a resume of Poe’s life and establishes the mood for full enjoyment of the stories.

THIRTEEN FOR LUCK by AGATHA CHRISTIE, edited by Raymond T. Bond (Dodd, Mead). A baker’s dozen selected from the many short mystery stories written by one of the acknowledged topnotch suspense writers of modern times. In this collection, young readers will meet six fictional detectives (including master detective Hercule Poirot), most of whom have become almost real to adult mystery story addicts.

CHRISTMAS IS A TIME OF GIVING, written and illustrated by JOAN WALSH ANGLUND (Harcourt, Brace & World). This book, in tiny format, captures the spirit of Christmas, the giving, sharing, happy family celebrations, and the wonder and joy, all expressed in brief sentences and endearing red-and-green drawings of little children participating in holiday activities.

KATIE AND THE SAD NOISE by RUTH GANNETT KAHN, pictures by Ellie Simmons (Random House). Katie’s parents hoped that the reason for Katie’s strange talcs of hearing a sad noise every night when she went to bed was the fact that she was overexcited about the approaching holidays. But when Miss Tablet, her teacher, told them that she, too, heard the noise, and then, one after another, others began to hear it, the situation became tense. As it turned out, when the mystery was solved, the whole town celebrated the best Christmas surprise ever. Vignettes of family life, suspense, and excitement all combine to make an enjoyable, spirited story.

THE NOBLE DOLL by ELIZABETH COATSWORTH, illustrated by Leo Politi (Viking). Dona Amalia and her small companion Luisa lived in genteel poverty in what once had been a grand house in Mexico. Among the old lady’s dwindling possessions was Rosita, an elegantly dressed doll, whom she installed in the window beside the creche on Christmas Eve. When the celebrations began —the endless processions, the chanting, the breaking of the pinatas — the great miracle occurred which, because of Rosita, brought happiness and sustenance to the old lady and Luisa. Joyful Christmas pictures in color and black-and-white.

MINCE PIE AND MISTLETOE by PHYLLIS MCGINLEY, pictures by Harold Berson (Lippincott). Christmas customs of many lands now an integral part of American yuletide celebrations are described in nine poems, all touched with Christmas magic. The poems are enhanced by pictures, in soft colors, of children in appropriate dress participating in various ceremonies of the special day.

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE by HERTHA PAULI, illustrated by Kurt Werth (Washburn). Two children living in the Black Forest thought they saw a child wandering in a snowstorm, and, on the chance that he might return, saved some of their soup for him. He did come back, cold, hungry, and in rags, and was glad to share their soup and their blankets as well. Before he miraculously disappeared, he told the children a story about a little spruce tree that they remembered always. This is a little-known version of one of the many Christ child legends, and a very beautiful one.

THE TIME OF THE LAMB by LEONARD WIBBERLEY, illustrated by Fritz Kredel (Washburn). A young boy, apprenticed to a rugged old shepherd on the wild moors of Hampshire Downs, was often lonely and afraid, but got cold comfort from the old man, who believed that men should be made of sterner stuff. It took a Christmas Day miracle to refute the old shepherd’s beliefs, thereby enabling the boy to enjoy his lonely life among the sheep and the stark beauty of the wind-swept downs.