ILLINO SUNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN

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University of Illinois atUrbana-Champaign Library

Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007.

BULLET IN " --

LIIBR nY

Published by THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARY CHILDREN'S BOOK CENTER

Volume VII September, 1953 /I -l Number 1

EXPLANATION OF CODE SYMBOLS USED WITH ANNOTATIONS

R RecommendedM Marginal book that is so slight in content or has so many weaknesses in style or format that it barely misses an

NR rating. The book should be given careful consideration before purchase.NR Not recommended.Ad For collections that need additional material on the subject.SpC Subject matter or treatment will tend to limit the book to specialized collections.SpR A book that will have appeal for the unusual reader only. Recommended for the special few who will read it.

M Barrington, G. W. Jan, the Dutch BargeeAow 8"' Dog. Longmans, 1953. 148p. $2.50.

%44i ~ and &""w s of A slow-paced, rather mildly written,Sstory of a Dutch barge dog. Jan joins the crew

of the Dutch barge Twee Broeders while stillSpC Allstrom, Elizabeth C. The Round Window; a very young puppy. His experiences while grow-

drawings by Jeanyee Wong. Friendship ing up on the barge and in England - where he isPress, 1953. 127p. $2 cloth; $1.25 lost from his master for a short time - make apaper. pleasant although not outstanding dog story.

A group of stories about children in (Gr.6-8)various countries of the world, designed to beused as Sunday School story telling material. SpC Beim, Jerrold. The Taming of Toby; illus.The stories are moderately interesting, although by Tracy Sugarman. Morrow, 1953. 48p.their very obvious lessons will limit their use $2. (Values: Consideration of others)to Sunday Schools. (Gr.3-5) Toby is an elementary school pupil

who has difficulty understanding the reason whyR Andersen, Hans Christian. The Steadfast he should exercise self-control in his classroom.

Tin Soldier; tr. by M. R. James; illus. He whispers to his best friend, trips other chil-by Marcia Brown. Scribner's, 1953. dren, and makes a general nuisance of himself.32p. $2.25. Then a chance visit to his teacher's home one

A favorite Andersen tale illustrated in day shows him that she is not being overlysoft, pastel colors. Many of the illustrations strict in class but is just requesting the kind of

capture the etherial fairy tale quality of the co-operation that is necessary if thirty children

story; a few are confused and will have little are to work successfully in one classroom. Anmeaning for young children. The pictures of obviously contrived story with a solution that

the boys who own the tin soldier are strongly comes too easily and too completely to seem

reminiscent of Sendak's illustrations in The realistic. The book might be used as guidance

Giant Story (Harper, 1953). An attractive edi- material with problem children; will not have

tion for home and general library use. (K-Gr.3) value for general library collections. (Gr.3-5)

BuuLsTm of the Children's Book Center. Published by the University of Chicago Press for the University ofChicago Library, Children's Book Center. Mary K. Eakin, Librarian.

The book evaluations appearing in this BULLETIN are made with the advice and assistance of members of thefaculty of the Graduate Library School, the Department of Education, and the University Laboratory School.

Published monthly except August. Subscription price is $2.50 a year. Checks should be made payable to theUniversity of Chicago Press. Correspondence regarding the BULLETIN should be addressed to the University ofChicago Press, 5750 Ellis Avenue, Chicago 37, Illinois.

CIO *Zr iN7II.

R Berrill, JacqNetM.y- Wonders of the Wood-land Anim•• T-he Family Lives of theFurrr Anim••ils. Iy the author.Dodd4 ,4ad, Of3 77p. $2.50.

Brief acc9••t9 of the family life andnesting habits of fourten small animals of thewoods. Included are the raccoon, the harvestmice, the cottontail rabbit, the skunk, the bat,the oppossum, the porcupine, the squirrel, thechipmunk, the woodchuck, the beaver, the redfox, the whitetail deer, and the black bear. Writ-ten in a chatty, friendly style that makes the ani-mals seem real without resorting to personifi-cation. Interesting nature study for young read-ers. (Gr.4-6)

M Beyer, Evelyn. Who Likes Dinner? picturesby Dellwyn Cunningham. Wonder Books,'1953. 201. 25 cents.

The kitten, the puppy, the pig, thebunny, the colt, the chicks, the squirrel, and thesmall boy tell what they each like best to eat. Awell-worn theme with little originality to eitherthe text or the illustrations. (Pre-School)

R Bleeker, Sonia. The Delaware Indians;Eastern Fishermen and Farmers; illus.by Patricia Boodell. Morrow, 1953.160p. $2. (Values: Intercultural under-standing)

The sixth title in Miss Bleeker'sseries on the Indians of North America. As inthe earlier books, the author combines a semi-fictionalized and straight factual style to givedetails of the life, customs, and beliefs of theIndians in the days before the white men cameto this country. The last two chapters bringthe history of the Delawares up to modern times.A book that will have appeal both for generalreading and as source material for units on theIndians. (Gr.4-6)

NR Bonner, Mary Graham. Wait and See; illus.by John N. Barron. Knopf, 1952. 87p.$2.

Spider liked to start collections buthe never stayed with them for long. When hebegan his collection of Indian relics he wassure that this time he would carry through untilhe had some fine exhibits. In a way he does justthat although the outstanding find is not Spider'sbut his dog's. The story wanders around with-out making much more progress than Spider didwith some of his earlier collecting ventures.Dull. (Gr.5-7)

NR Bradbury, Bianca. Tough Guy; illus. byMarie C. Nichols. Houghton, 1953. 32p.$1,50.

Tough Guy is a Persian kitten whosets out to prove to Joe, an alley cat, that he is

not a sissy. The story is very slight, the ani-mals are so highly personified that they cease toseem like cats at all, and the illustrations arestatic. (Gr.3-5)

R Bridges, William. Zoo Babies. Morrow,1953. 95p. $2.50.

Brief accounts, illustrated with photo-graphs, of twelve baby animals in the Bronx Zoo.Included are a grizzly bear cub, a baby gorilla, alesser panda, a Chinese water deer faun, anorangutan, a baby elephant, a white deer, a chim-panzee, a baby walrus, a baby tapir, a white-handed gibbon, and a buffalo calf. The storiesare rather simply told in a matter-of-fact stylethat is enlivened by the numerous, sometimeshumorous, photographs. The book will makegood nature study material and will be fun to usein connection with visits to a zoo. Because ofthe straightforward style and interesting subjectthe book could be used as remedial reading ma-terial with high school students who are readingat about a fourth grade level. (Gr.3-5)

R Bright, Robert. Hurrah for Freddie! writ-ten and illus. by Robert Bright withDorothy Brett. Doubleday, 1953. 38p.$2.

Small Michael, his toy drummer Fred-die, his Uncle Bert, and his Aunt Margaret wereall up early on coronation day to see the Queen.They waited so long that Michael became con-vinced that no one had thought to wake the Queen.He sat down on the curb to wait, fell asleep, anddreamed that Freddie had ridden to BuckinghamPalace to awaken the Queen. When Michaelawoke there was the parade and there was theQueen. An amusing story which, in spite of itsrather specialized subject, should have appealfor young children. (Pre-school)

NR Brooks, Walter Rollin. Freddy the Pilot;illus. by Kurt Wiese. Knopf, 1953. 247p.$3.

The nineteenth title in the series ofstories about Freddy the pig and his friends onthe Bean farm. This time Freddy is involvedwith a circus and an airplane. The humor isforced and the plot is thin. Some incidents areintroduced which have no real purpose in the de-velopment of the plot and merely serve to padout the story. (Gr.4-6)

NR Brown, Margaret Wise. Doctor Squash, theDoll Doctor; pictures by J. P. Miller.Simon and Schuster, 1952. 28p. (A LittleGolden Book). 85 cents. GoldencraftCloth Binding.

Dr. Squash takes care of each of thedolls during their illnesses and then the dollstake care of him when he becomes ill. Slightand pointless. (Pre-school)

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NR Carpenter, T. V. W. The Too Long Tail;illus. by Campbell Grant. Houghton,1953. 22p. $1.50.

Jasper, the Cat, discovers one morn-ing that his tail is several times as long as itshould be. He consults the other animals aroundthe farm but none of them can suggest a solutionthat suits him. Finally the problem is solved byBilly Tattoo, a wharf rat, who ties a sheepshankknot in the tail. Rather forced humor and a so-lution that will be meaningless to many youngchildren. (K-Gr. 1)

R Cleary, Beverly. Otis Spofford; illus. byLouis Darling. Morrow, 1953. 191p.$2.50.

Otis Spofford, the bad boy in EllenTebbits, is shown in a new light in this story ofhis deeds and, more often, misdeeds. Otiscraves attention - primarily because he gets solittle of it at home - and his efforts in that di-rection usually lead to trouble either for Otis orfor those around him. There is some of thesame humor of situations here that is found inHenry Huggins and Ellen Tebbits, and there isalso a serious note, which will probably be moreapparent to adults than to children, in the ex-planations of why Otis acts the way he does.

(Gr.3-5)

NR Crew, Fleming H. The More the Merrier;pictures by Nils Hogner. Oxford, 1952.121p. $2.75.

Simple stories of the animals livingin and around a pond in the South. The animalsare too highly personified for the book to be use-ful as nature study material and there is littleor no story appeal. (Gr.3-5)

M Conger, Marion. All Aboard! pictures byCorinne Malvern, Simon and Schuster,1952. 28p. (A Little Golden Book). 85cents Goldencraft Cloth Binding.

The story of a small girl and hermother who travel by train across the countryto visit the little girl's grandmother. The storyis quite obviously written to show how a modernstreamliner operates and as such is satisfactoryalthough by no means outstanding. (Pre-school)

NR Dalton, Alene. Fluffy and Bluffy; illus. byMary Gehr. Children's Press, 1951.26p. (A Silver Star Book). $1 regular;$2 reinforced.

An adult's mistaken idea of what achild's fantasy might be like. Two puppies,Fluffy and Bluffy, go to look for a present fortheir mother and encounter Peter Rabbit, theThree Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, an Elf, andthe Three Bears before they run home in terrorand there discover that love is the best present

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of all. A strained attempt to be whimsical andcute. The author seems to think that by includ-ing characters from well-loved children's sto-ries she will make her book appealing to chil-dren. The tone is too condescending for thesecond and third grade students for whom thebook is intended and pre-school children wouldfind much of the text confusing. (Gr.2-3)

R DeLeeuw, Adble Louise and Cateau. Hide-away House; illus. by Robert Candy.Little, Brown, 1953. 151p. $2.75.

Period fiction of a family who movedfrom their New Jersey farm, down the Ohio Riv-er to a section of land on the Big Miami in 1791.The story is well-told, with interesting detailsof pioneer life and with suspense in the contactsthe Titus family have with Indians and with wildanimals. (Gr. 5-7)

R Dickson, Marguerite (Stockman). BennettHigh. Longmans, 1953. 218p. $2.75.(Values: Appreciation of others; Valuebuilding).

Angelica Foster was dismayed whenshe learned that Montgomery High had been con-demned and she would have to finish her senioryear at Bennett High which was nearer to herhome but on the "wrong side of the tracks." Shestarted to Bennett convinced that she could neverhave anything in common with "all those east-siders and queer people from Factory Village."Once she became involved in the school activities,which turned out to be much more interesting andvaried than any she had known at Montgomery,she began to realize that these Bennett studentswere just like the ones she had known at Mont-gomery. An obvious plot but adequtely handled.

(Gr.7-9)

NR English, James W. Border Adventure.Abelard, 1952. 224p. $2.50.

The melodramatic story of a highschool senior who, as a part of his job as cubreporter for the Border Gazette, helps to capturea gang of jewel thieves who are operating alongthe Mexican border. The story is replete withkidnappings, shootings, and midnight stalkingsthrough the streets of a small Mexican town. Thetreatment of the Mexican police as objects of rid-icule and scorn is objectionable. The plot is fan-tastic. (Gr.7-9)

SpC Eschmeyer, R. W. Woody Woodcock; de-signed and illus. by Francis W. Davis.Fisherman Press, 1953. 50p. (True-to-Life Stories). 50 cents paper; $1 cloth.

Semi-fictionalized conservation tractrecounting the life of a woodcock from birth tomaturity. The first half of the book is just aboutthe woodcock; the second half is about the people

on whose farm the woodcock lives. The bookcould be used for conservation units but will havelittle value for general library use. (Gr.4-6)

NR Ets, Marie Hall. Beasts and Nonsense. Vi-king, 1952. 64p. $2.

Black-and-white drawings and uneven-ly rhymed text about animals of various types.The humor is of a sophisticated nature that willappeal more to adult readers than to young chil-dren. (Pre-school)

Ad Friskey, Margaret (Richards). The TrueBook of Air Around Us; pictures byKatherine Evans. Childrens Press,1953. 47p. $2.

A simplified explanation of air andweather written at the upper second grade lev-el. As is often true of highly simplified treat-ments of complicated subjects, the text willoccasionally require amplification before itwill be clear to young readers. The illustra-tions do little to aid the reader in understand-ing the text. (Gr. 2 -4)

M Goudey, Alice E. Jupiter and the Cats;pictures by Paul Brown. Scribner's,1953. 90p. $2.

Jupiter was a friendly dog with every-one except cats. His life was made miserablewhen his backyard was suddenly invaded by catsand he could not get rid of them. Then a neigh-bor remembered that one of the herbs she hadgiven Jupiter's owners was catnip. The plantwas dug up, the cats left, and Jupiter was oncemore a happy dog. A mildly amusing story.Rather stilted page lay-out with illustrations inred, black, and grey. (Gr.2-4)

R Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Wil-lows; illus. by Ernest H. Shepard. Scrib-ner's, 1953. 259p. $2.50.

A new edition of Wind in the Willowswith all of the original Shepard illustrations plussix new ones drawn from the note-book whichMr. Shepard used in first illustrating the book.The new illustrations have the same charm andhumor of the earlier ones and show added detailsof the life of Mole, Water Rat, Mr. Toad, andBadger. The new edition is slightly larger(5-1/2 x 8) than the earlier one and is printed inclear type, with wide margins. A fine editionthat will be welcomed by children and adultsalike. (Gr.5-8)

NR Grosscup, Clyde. The Winning Spirit.Barnes, 1953. 160p. (A Barnes JuniorSports Novel). $2.

A story of junior high school football.Bud Gray wins a place for himself on the RimRiver team and manages, in spite of difficulties,

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to lead his team to victory. The story follows apattern that is typical of sports stories and hasnothing original in either the plot or characteri-zations to make it noteworthy. The tone of thewriting is quite sentimental. Crowded pages andsmall type will make the book difficult for the agereader who would normally be interested in thesubject. (Gr.6-8)

NR Hale, Kathleen. Manda. Coward-McCann,1953. 30p. $2.50.

Manda, a Jersey calf, decides sheneeds a holiday so Farmer Evans' wife helpsher pack her nightie and mackintosh and off shegoes to Ireland. There she meets a young jennetwho lives with a poor Irish family and the twoanimals become friends. Meg, the jennet, re-turns to England with Manda, and Farmer Evanssends the Irish family a ram and a ewe to re-place her. The story is too coy and condescend-ing in tone to appeal to the third and fourth gradereaders who could handle the text, and too longand involved to hold the attention of youngerchildren. (K-Gr.4)

R Haywood, Carolyn. Eddie's Pay Dirt. Mor-row, 1953. 188p. $2.50.

Eddie Wilson returns from Texas with,among other things, a parrot, a snake, a pail ofpay-dirt (given to him by his friend Manuel), anda saddle (but no pony). These additions to hisvaluable property collection bring hilarious ex-periences for Eddie and his friends - climaxedwhen Eddie finds $500 worth of old Spanish coinsin the pay dirt. The coins are returned to Man-uel as their rightful owner, and as a reward forhis honesty Eddie's uncle gives him the pony hewants. Good fun for all past and future LittleEddie fans. (Gr.3-5)

R Hinternhoff, John F. Barry's Boys; illus.by Clifford N. Geary. Holt, 1952. 180p.$2.50.

A fictionalized biography of CaptainJohn Barry told through the adventures of MarkBowen, who joined Barry's ship, the Lexington,as a young midshipman and continued to serveunder Barry throughout the Revolutionary War.The story begins with Bowen's hearing of Barry'sdeath in 1803. The reader is then taken back tothe day when Bowen first joined Barry, and thestory continues through the account of the warand of the period immediately following the war.The style is somewhat uneven but the book doesgive a good picture of the very early days of theU.S. Navy. (Gr.7-9)

NR Hurd, Edith (Thacher) and Clement. St.George's Day in Williamsburg. Double-day, 1953. 32p. $1.25.

Picture-story book describing the St.

George Day celebration in early Williamsburg.Young Adam was up and out early to take in allof the fun and excitement of the day. Much ismade of Adam's participation in the events ofthe day, but the young child will have difficultyin distinguishing Adam from the other people inthe pictures. A book that will have more mean-ing and appeal for adults than for young children.

(Pre-school)

NR Johnson, Enid. The Three J's; illus. bySari. Messner, 1952. 63p. (EverydayAdventure Stories). $1.50.

A mildly pleasant, unimportant, storyof triplets whose aunt is staying with them whiletheir mother is away. They try to confuse theiraunt, who has always had difficulty telling themapart, but she learns to distinguish betweenthem anyway. Story interest is lost in the tooobvious lesson on family co-operation that theauthor is trying to teach. (Gr.2-4)

NR Johnson, Enid. Tommy and the Orange-Lemon Tree; illus. by Anne MerrimanPeck. Messner, 1953. 63p. (An Every-day Adventure Story). $1.60.

The story of a family living in anorange grove in California. The story is in-tended to be used in social studies classes as apicture of the citrus fruit industry. Actuallythere is little information about orange growingand marketing in the book. The story is pri-marily concerned with the relation between theBarnes family, who own the grove, and Pedro,a homeless Mexican-American boy who wantsto work for the Barneses. Too contrived.

(Gr.3-5)

Ad Johnson, James Ralph. Mountain Bobcat;illus. by Earl Sherwan. Wilcox & Follett,1953. 160p. $2.50.

The story of Battle, a wildcat livingin the mountains of northern Alabama. The bookfollows a fairly typical pattern for such stories- beginning when Battle is a cub and endingwhen he is a fully matured animal. The style isnot outstanding but it is easy to read and the bookwill satisfy the need for stories of wild animals.

(Gr.5-7)

NR KAstner, Erich. The Animals' Conference;based on an idea by Jella Lepman; illus.by Walter Trier; tr. by Zita deSchauensee. McKay, 1953. 60p. $2.75.

A contrived story, combining some ofthe elements of the Pied Piper of Hamlin andthe plagues of Egypt, in which the animals be-come so disgusted with the quarreling and fight-ing of mankind that they force the statesmen ofthe world to sign an agreement outlawing warand the instruments of war. The pictures have

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some freshness and humor but the text is too ob-viously written with a purpose to have much ap-peal or effectiveness. (Gr.4-6)

M Krasilovsky, Phyllis. The Very Little Girl;pictures by Ninon. Doubleday, 1953.21p. $1.50.

The very little girl was smaller thana rose bush, smaller than the kitchen stool, andeven smaller than mother's work basket. Thenshe realized that she was growing larger eachday, until finally she was a big girl, able to takecare of the very, very little baby brother. Apleasant but extremely slight story of growing up.The illustrations, in pink and green, have a mildcharm but little vitality. (Pre-school)

NR Lattimore, Eleanor Frances. Jasper. Mor-row, 1953. 128p. $2.

Young Jasper, who was six and goingon seven, lived on Whooping Island near Charles-ton. Jasper looked forward with much eagernessto the time when he would start to school and be-come as smart as his cousin Lanny, who wasthree years older and seemed to Jasper to knoweverything. While waiting for the day to comewhen he could start to school, Jasper spent histime learning to tie his shoelaces, trying to milka cow, taking care of his cousin's cats, and play-ing with his four-year-old sister, Thankful. Thestory is too slow moving to overcome the objec -tions many upper second and third grade readerswill have to reading about a six-year-old. Thechapters are somewhat too long for reading aloudto younger children. (Gr.2-4)

SpC Lattin, Anne. Peter Liked To Draw; illus.by Richard M. Powers. Wilcox & Follett,1953. 30p. $1.50.

Peter was fond of drawing but he couldnever seem to convince the adults around himthat it was important that he should be able tokeep his pictures after he drew them. Finallywhen his frustration was about to turn him intoa problem child, his father understood the situa-tion and fixed his room so that he could keep hispictures on the wall as long as he desired. Lessa children's book than a book to help parents un-derstand their children. (Pre-school)

M Leonard, Nellie M. Grandfather Whiskers,M.D.; A Graymouse Story; illus. by Bar-bara Cooney. Crowell, 1953. 217p. $2.

More about the Graymouse family, afamily of mice who live in an attic during thewinter and move to a nearly pond during the sum-mer. The story is slow-paced and sensitivechildren may be disturbed by the two episodes inwhich the twin mice have their tails cut off. Bar-bara Cooney's illustrations are by far the bestpart of the book. (Gr.3-5)

R Lindquist, Willis. Burma Boy; pictures byNicolas Mordvinoff. Whittlesey House,1953. 96p. $2.

Absorbing story of a small Burmeseboy who saves the life of a great elephant thathad gone wild and thus proves his own ability asan oozie (elephant rider). The illustrations cap-ture perfectly the excitement and the atmosphereof the story. (Gr.4-6)

NR McGuire, Frances. Indian Drums BeatAgain; illus. by John Polgreen. Dutton,1953. 12 3p. $2.50.

A mediocre, rather dull, mystery in-volving a small boy who is spending his firstsummer on Mackinac Island, an Indian hackdriver on the island, and two confidence men.The plot is unrealistic. The story is heavilyburdened with extraneous information about thehistory of the region that adds to neither theplot nor character development. (Gr.6-8)

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NR Meek, Sterner St. Paul. Rip, a Game Pro-tector. Knopf, 1952. 266p. $2.

A written-to-order story designed toshow the work of the New York Game Protec -tors. Budge Outland and his pointer, Rip, res-cue two Boy Scouts who are marooned on a lakeisland during a severe winter storm, help theowner of a large estate solve his beaver prob-lems, and help capture a gang of thieves andpoachers. An interesting subject but a thor-oughly mediocre style. (Gr.7-9)

R Meigs, Elizabeth Bleecker. Candle in theSky; illus. by Dorothy Bayley Morse.Dutton, 1953. 113p. $2.50.

A highly fictionalized, very readable,account of the life of Joan of Arc from the ageof seventeen when she first met Jean de Metzuntil the time of her death. The emphasis is oncharacterizations and the interplay of person-alities rather than on descriptions of the battlescenes, which are kept to a minimum. The ap-peal of the book will be primarily for teen-agegirls. (Gr.8-10)

Ad Miner, 0. Irene Sevrey. The True Book ofPlants We Know; illus. by Irene Minerand Karl Murr. Children's Press, 1953.44p. $2.

An introduction to plants for beginningreaders that explains in simple terms how plantslive and grow and their uses by man. The textranges in difficulty from the upper first gradereading level to the third grade reading level.The arrangement of text on the page may proveconfusing for beginning readers. There aresome inaccuracies in the text. Selsam's Playwith Plants (Morrow, 1949) and Webber's Any-where in the World (Scott, 1947) are only slight-

-6-ly more difficult than this book and are to bepreferred for their arrangement of material andaccuracy of information. (Gr. 1-3)

M Osborne, Chester G. The First Puppy;illus. by Richard N. Osborne. Wilcox &Follett, 1953. 128p. $2.50.

Another story of Great Bear, theyoung hero of The First Bow and Arrow. Thistime much of the action centers around GreatBear's sister, Mea, and the wolf cub she bringshome. The members of the tribe are horrifiedat the idea of a wolf living in their midst untilthe cub shows its friendliness and proves a helpwhen they are hunting. As in the earlier book,the author has stayed as close as possible withwhat is actually known of life in pre-historictimes. The illustrations picture the people aslooking much too modern to be realistic.

(Gr.4-6)

M Otto, Margaret G. Stephen's Train; illus. byMary Stevens. Holt, 1953. 32p. $2.

Five-year-old Stephen is not only mak-ing his first train ride, but is travelling alone tothe city for a visit with his grandmother. He hasa fine time with the conductor, whose name isMr. Stephen, and with another small boy, alsonamed Stephen, who is travelling with his mother.The two boys entertain themselves by playingthat they are trainmen operating Stephen's toytrain. A mildly pleasant story. (Pre-school)

M Page, Thomas Nelson. Two Little Confeder-ates; illus. by John W. Thomason. Scrib-ner's, 1953. 190p. $3.

Re-issue of a book first published in1888. The story is well told and will still haveinterest for modern children. It is unfortunatethat the older, stereotyped illustrations have beenretained and that the word "Negro" has beenspelled throughout with a small "n." (Gr.5-7)

NR Paschal, Nancy. Spring in the Air; illus. bySusan Knight. Viking, 1953. 192p. $2.50.

Sudie Emerson finished college withthe hope of establishing her own landscape archi-tect business in her home town. Her grandfather,with whom she lived, objected strenuously on thebasis that she did not need to work for a livingand that she would be better off to simply settledown and marry. He even had the young manpicked out for her. Sudie insisted on joining thefirm of a young and quite successful landscapearchitect, whom she eventually marries. The al-most plotless story gives a few glimpses of thepossibilities of landscape work but fails com-pletely as a novel. (Gr.7-9)

R Paxton, S. H. The Dragon in New Albion;illus. by John C. Wonsetler. Little, 1953.

213p. $2.75.A fictionalized account of a real epi-

sode in the career of Francis Drake. The storyis accurate historically in that Drake did landon the coast of California, which he named NewAlbion, and he did have contact with the MiwokIndians there. The author has added to the his-torical facts the imaginative tale of a young Eng-lishman, Harry Foulke, who "deserts" Drake'scompany to track down a Spanish spy, is takeninto the Miwok tribe as a leader and remainswith them when Drake returns to England. Thestory, told in the first person, moves very slow-ly in spots, but has enough subject interest tocarry the reader over such places. (Gr.7-9)

R Prescott, John Brewster. Meeting in theMountains; decorations by Larry Toschik.Longmans, 1953. 181p. $2.75.

A story of the Salado Indians who livedin what is now Arizona until some time duringthe fifteenth century. The story of their migra-tion from their mountain home is, of necessity,pure speculation since little is known of the peo-ple. The characters are well-drawn although attimes they seem remarkably modern in theirways of thinking and acting. An interesting ad-venture story. (Gr.7-9)

NR Prud'hommeaux, Ren6. The Extra Hand;illus. by Raymond Abel. Viking, 1953.190p. $2.50.

Two young boys who are spending thesummer on a farm become involved with anamateur magician, his daughter, his wife who isrecuperating at a nearby sanitarium, and otherassorted characters ranging from an eccentricaunt to a gang of jewel thieves. The author'shandling of his plot and characters is as confus-ing to the reader as are the magician's tricks tohis audience. (Gr.6-8)

M Reilly, William J. Career Planning forHigh School Students. Harper, 1953.110p. $2.

A guide for high school students whoare concerned about their future careers. Theauthor emphasizes the need for a thorough un-derstanding of one's self as the first step incareer planning and the choosing of careers tomeet individual abilities and interests. The ma-terial presented is adequate but the tone of thewriting is so condescending it will probably dom re to annoy than to enlighten young people.

(Gr.9-12)

R Rounds, Glen. Buffalo Harvest. HolidayHouse, 1952. 141p. $2.25.

The importance of the buffalo to thePlains Indians is told in vivid style, and withamusing but informative illustrations. The au-

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thor emphasizes the way in which the Plains In-dians harvested buffaloes as regularly as othertribes, and most white men, harvested theirfield crops. Many Indian customs and beliefsare woven into the account. An excellent com-panion volume to Bleeker's The Crow Indians(Morrow, 1953). (Gr.4-9)

NR Rutley, Cecily M. The Hedgehog, the Badg-er and the Otter; pictures by Joan Wank-lyn. Warne, 1953. 52p. (Tales of theWild Folk). 75 cents.

Three stories, one about a hedgehog,one about a badger, and one about an otter. Theanimals are too personified for the book to beused as nature study material and the storiesare not interesting simply as stories. (Gr.3-5)

NR Sanderson, Ivan Terrance. John and Juanin the Jungle; with 25 original paintingsin full color by Miguel Covarrubias.Dodd, 1953. 64p. $3.

A story of two young boys in CentralAmerica that has obviously been written to fit agroup of paintings of Central American animalsand plants. The illustrations are striking butthe story is dull and too patently contrived.

(Gr.5-7)

NR Schlein, Miriam. The Four Little Foxes;with illus. by Luis Quintanilla. Scott,1953. 33p. $2.

Slight story of the first few months inthe life of four young foxes. There is not enoughsubstance to the story for the book to have valueas a picture-story book, and the foxes are toohighly personified for the book to be used as na-ture study material. (Pre-school)

NR Schmidt, Sarah (Lindsay). This Is My Heri-tage. Abelard, 1953. 242p. $2.50.

Sentimental, contrived story of ScottBradford, young war veteran who inherits hisolder brother Dave's dry land farm in Coloradoand learns that the inheritance includes Dave'sdream of irrigating the land and bringing infarmers of many racial and nationality groups toform a kind of rural U.N. The problems present-ed in the book are serious ones and the ideals ex-pressed are worthy ones, but both are weakenedby poor writing and unreal characterizations.The characters are, in fact, mere types whosesole purpose is to exemplify an idea or concept.

(Gr.7-9)

R Selsam, Millicent (Ellis). Microbes at Work;illus. by Helen Ludwig. Morrow, 1953.95p. $2.

A simplified, very readable, accountof what microbes are, where they come from,how they live, what mankind does to discourage

the harmful ones and to encourage the helpfulones, and how microbes in the soil affect thelives of all people as well as of plants and otheranimals. Included are easy experiments that canbe performed at home with a minimum of equip-ment. An excellent book for beginning scienceclasses. (Gr.5-7)

R Sperry, Armstrong. River of the West; TheStory of the Boston Men; illus. by HenryC. Pitz. Winston, 1952. 182p. (WinstonAdventure Books). $1.50.

Eighteen-year-old Robert Haswell wasone of the officers serving under John Kendrickand Robert Gray on their first voyage around theHorn and up the coast to what is now Oregon.The voyage was sponsored by a group of Bostonmerchants who hoped to profit by trading furs be-tween the Indians and the Chinese, and who alsohoped that their expedition would be able to lo-cate the great River of the West that was sup-posed to be one link in the legendary NorthwestPassage. The trading proved to be more costlythan had been anticipated, but the exploration wassuccessful, for the river was found and namedthe Columbia. The story, told in the first personby Haswell, moves swiftly and, although notSperry's best writing, will make an acceptableaddition to collections of sea stories. (Gr.6-8)

R Sterling. Dorothy. Billy Goes Exploring;with photographs by Myron Ehreberg.Doubleday, 1953. 56p. $2.

The experiences of a young boy whogoes exploring in his neighborhood on a nicespring morning. Billy thinks at first that every-thing outdoors is green, but he soon discoversthe purple and yellow of spring flowers; theorange, gray and black of a butterfly; the blueof a robin's egg; and many other colors of plantsand animals. The simple text and full page pho-tographs could be used to introduce boys andgirls to the possibilities of exploring in theirown neighborhoods. (Gr.3-5)

NR Sterling, Dorothy. The Cub Scout Mystery;illus. by Paul Galdone. Doubleday, 1952.191p. $2.50.

Den Two of the Huntsville Cub ScoutPack was assigned to the Huntsville Enterpriseas its share in the "Know Your Neighborhood"project. At first it seemed a very dull assign-ment when compared with the other assignmentsof the fire station, the police department, etc.,but then the Den members became interested inthe news stories of an old robbery that had takenplace fifteen years before. They set out to findthe $5,000 which had never been recovered -and were successful in their search. Highly im-probable story and unrealistic characters.

(Gr.4-6)

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R Syme, Ronald. Magellan, First Around theSWorld; illus. by William Stobbs. Morrow,

1953. 71p. $2.Brief but vivid account of the life of

Magellan from the time he was thirteen until hisdeath in the Philippines twenty-eight years later.Like the other biographies by Syme, this one iswritten in an easy, flowing style without beingwritten-down or simplified to the point of dull-ness. Fifth grade readers will find the bookeasy to handle and the subject and style will giveit appeal for older students as well. (Gr.4-9)

R Thompson, Laurence, comp. The Boy'sBook of Scotland Yard; with official co-operation; intro, by Robert Fabian.Bentley, 1953. 191p. $2.50.

A detailed account of the innermostworkings of Scotland Yard. Included are a his-tory of Scotland Yard; the work of various de-partments such as CID, the flying squad, theriver police, etc.; and accounts of famous caseswhich have been solved by the Scotland Yard po-lice. In spite of the rather forbidding format andthe fact that the book is obviously intended forEnglish boys, the subject will give it appeal forAmerican readers. (Gr.6-12)

NR Treat, Roger L. Boy Jockey. Barnes, 1953.160p. (A Barnes Junior Sports Novel).$2.

Excessively sentimental story of ayoung jockey and his race horse. Peanut Mageefollows in the footsteps of his famous father tobecome an expert jockey in spite of a severeknee injury he received while trying to save asnake-bitten horse. He becomes the only jockeywho can ride the vicious killer, Red Ribbon, andhe rides the horse to fame in the Kentucky Derby.The description of the Derby is good, but the au-thor's characterization of sixteen-year-old Pea-nut as his mother's "manly little man" willhardly endear the character to older readers.

(Gr.7-9)

NR Vaughan, Anne. Whopper Whale. Children'sPress, 1951. 24p. (A Silver Star Book).$1 regular; $2 reinforced.

Story of a whale who gets his come-uppance when he grows too proud of being thelargest thing in the ocean and decides that he isalso the smartest thing in the ocean. A schoolof minnows trick him into racing for the shorewhere he gets stuck in the sand until his tearsraise the water level and he can swim away - aneasier whale to live with. The book is writtenfor second grade readers but the tone is muchtoo condescending and didactic to have appeal atthat level. (Gr.1-2)

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R Untermeyer, Louis, ed. The Magic Circle;Stories and People in Poetry; illus. byBeth and Joe Krush. Harcourt, 1952.288p. $2.

An excellent collection of story-poems."Every poem in this book has been touched by. . .enchantment. In these pages are story-poems of adventure, gallant and ghostly. Here,told as only poets can tell them, are legends asspine-tingling as a creaking door, tales of folkheroes and fabulous creatures, of wars and war-riors. Humor is here, too, not only in the sec-tion called 'All In Fun,' but waiting to be found inthe least expected places. And here are poem-portraits of people, real and imaginary, overwhom the poet has waved his wand until theycome alive for you in all their fascinating differ-ences." - Introduction. (Gr.4- )

R Warner, Priscilla Mary. Tessie's Caravan;illus. by the author. Doubleday, 1953.2 2 4p. $2.50. (Values: Growing up; Valuebuilding)

Sequel to Biddy Christmas. This timethe focus is on twelve-year-old Tessie Silver.Tessie, her young sister Ann, and their friendJan Martin, feel the need for a playhouse of theirvery own. They try various places but none willquite do until Tessie finds an old gypsy caravanand buys it with her savings. The caravan is en-joyed by Ann and Jan, but it becomes an obses-sion with Tessie who spends all of her timepainting the outside or working on the furnish-ings. Because her entire time and thought aregiven to the caravan, she almost fails in herschool work and does lose a chance for an artscholarship. At first she is unwilling to admitthe real reason for her failures, but finally shehonestly faces the situation, realizes what it hascost her, and develops a much saner attitude to-ward the caravan which then becomes a sourceof pleasure rather than a problem. A perceptivestory of a young girl's growing up. (Gr.6-8)

SpR Weissenstein, Helen. John and the ChessMen; illus. by Kurt Werth. McKay, 1952.152p. $2.75.

A fictionalized introduction to chess.John Lane, bedridden as a result of an accidentalfall, becomes interested in chess through hisnext-door neighbors - twin boys who belong toa chess club. With their help he not only learnsto play the game but acquires an interest thatenables him to forget himself and thus speed hisrecovery. Information on how to play the gameis clearly presented through text and diagrams.The story is too slow-moving to have interestfor general reading, but the book might be usedto stimulate an interest in chess and to intro-duce young readers to the fundamental princi-ples of the game. (Gr.7-9)

R Wyatt, Edgar. Cochise, Apache WarriorSand Statesman; illus. by Allan Houser,

Whittlesey House, 1953. 190p. $2.50.A dramatic, thought-provoking biog-

rap y of Cochise, great Apache Indian chief whotried to live in peace with the white settlers ofArizona but was forced to defend himself whenthey falsely accused him of stealing and of lying.Told in a semi-fictionalized style, the bookgives an excellent picture of the period as wellas of the men who played an important part inthe events of the time. (Gr.7-9)

1/a ntcuc^ a/^{4aeii4^

Better Human Relations. Vol. 4, No. 1. "A Se-lected List of Films." Board of Education,Newark, New Jersey. May, 1953. Availableupon request from Dr. Edward J. Kennelly,Superintendent of Schools, Neward 2, NewJersey.

Books, Children and Summertime. Branch Li-brary Book News, New York Public Library.June, 1953. 10 cents.

Brandes, Louis Grant. "Selected Bibliographyof Recreational Mathematics Publications"The Mathematics Teacher 46:329,336. May'53.

"Free and Inexpensive Materials on Nutrition";Suggested by the Nutrition Education Com-mittee of the Welfare and Health Council ofNew York City. Curriculum and MaterialsBoard of Education, New York, N.Y. Vol.VII, No. 5, May, 1953.

"Johnny's Textbooks: How Good Are They?"Third article by the Committee on SchoolEducation of the National Congress of Par-ents and Teachers. National Parent-Teach-er 57:7-10 June '53.

Meyer, Alfred G. What You Should Know AboutCommunism. Life Adjustment Booklet. Sci-ence Research Associates, Chicago, Illinois.40 cents.

Meyer, Agnes E. "Freedom of the Mind" NEANews Vol. 7, Feb. '53.

Reprint of an address given by Mrs. Meyerto the American Association of School Adminis-trators at Atlantic City, February 17, 1953.Copies of the reprint are available from the Na-tional Education Association, 1201 SixteenthStreet, N.W., Washington 6, D.C. Free up to 20copies; $3 per 100.

Oren, May H. and Gittleman, F. C. "Children'sBooks for Vacation Fun" Child Study 30:38-40 Summer, 1953

Titles arranged under the headings: Out-door activities; For the young naturalist; Woodsand Fields; Things to do.

Rivlin, Harry N. Improving Children's Learn-ing Ability Better Living Booklet, ScienceResearch Associates, Chicago, Illinois. 40cents.

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Stoops, Emery and Rosenheim, Lucile. PlanningYour Job Future Junior Life Adjustment Book-let, Science Research Associates, Chicago,Illinois. 40 cents.

"Teaching Aids for International Understanding"The Educational Leader 16:51-60 April '53.