Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

ILL INOI S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books T H E UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO * GADI)UATE LIBRARY SCHOOL Volume XVI December, 1962 Number 4 New Titles for Children and Young People R Alderman, Clifford Lindsey. Samuel Adams, Son of Liberty. Holt, 1961. 7-10 19 9p. $3.50. An excellent biography and a very good account of the events leading up to the Amer- ican Revolution; the years of the war itself and the remaining years of Adams' life are outlined rather briefly at the close of the book. The writing style is good, but the chief asset of the book is the candid appraisal of men and their motives. It is rare, for example, to read in a book for young people that (without denigrating his other and more patriotic motives) John Hancock was making a profit from sales of contraband Dutch tea, and therefore was indignant at the customs duty on English tea. An exten- sive bibliography and an index are appended. Ad Allan, Mabel Esther. Romance in Italy. Vanguard, 1962. 192p. $3. 7-9 Jane has always longed to travel, and she is overjoyed at the offer of a travel agency job in Genoa, particularly since her mother was born there. Cast off by her father because she had married an Englishman, Jane's mother extracts a promise that her daughter will never divulge the relationship. In Genoa, Jane becomes involved with her relations and falls in love with Andrea, an adopted son of the family; when her grandfather dies, matters come to a head: her mother comes to Genoa in response to a letter of confession, and Jane and Andrea decide they will marry in another year. Much in the pattern of other books by this author, with foreign background, career in- terest, and quite good characterization and values. The story is weakened somewhat by dependence on coincidence: on the train to Genoa, Jane returns a lost pin to the girl who turns out to be her cousin-when Jane goes sightseeing, she helps another cousin who has hurt her ankle and so is invited to the family home-when Jane goes on holiday with two other girls they again run into the cousins when they are stranded on an expedition. SpC Angelo, Valenti. Angelino and the Barefoot Saint; story and pictures by 3-5 Valenti Angelo. Viking, 1961. 63p. $2.75. Ten-year-old Angelino lived on a little farm in Tuscany; he often brought flowers in- to the church garden and put them at the feet of the statue of St. Francis. When cold weather came, Angelino visited the statue one day and was sure the saint no longer smiled; three days before Christmas, the boy decided that the statue's feet were fro- zen, so he made the saint some shoes. On Christmas Day, Angelino found shoes for himself (made by the cobbler, who knew what the boy had done) at the foot of the statue; he found that the saint was smiling again, and he turned to find the garden full of people-all the people to whom he talked about the fact that the barefoot saint had stopped smiling in October. The story has a gentleness and simplicity that is appropriate for the subject, but Angelino seems too naive, and the ending is saccharine. Probably 53 54 best used in a religious education collection. M Anglund, Joan Walsh. Nibble Nibble Mousekin; A Tale of Hansel and Gretel; K-2 Harcourt, 1962. 29p. illus. Trade ed. $3.25; Library ed. $3.57 net. A read-aloud picture book version of the classic Grimm story. Mrs. Anglund departs to a considerable extend from the original: in this version the father does not know that his second wife is hoping to get rid of the children, and Hansel-who in the original story has overheard the conversation-drops crumbs and pebbles only because he is suspicious. Here the stepmother runs away, rather than dying. There seems little reason to prefer this softened retelling, since the cruelty of both stepmother and witch remain in the tale and the story seems basically more suitable for older children than the read-aloud audience. R Bonsall, Crosby Newell. Who's a Pest? Harper, 1962. 6 4p. illus. (I Can 1-2 Read Books). Trade ed. $1.95; Library ed. $2.19 net. A book of nonsensical conversation for beginning independent readers; the humor is just right for the age of the audience. Homer's four sisters stoutly maintain that he is a pest; after getting tangled in discussion with Homer, a lizard, a rabbit, and a chipmunk declare that Homer is a pest. Then everybody but Homer falls into a hole from which issues a mysterious voice calling for help; after Homer rescues all hands, the owner of the voice-a large bear-defends the boy and they go off together, Homer yelling back "You're all pests!" Sample dialogue: "I'm not a pest." "I never said you were." "I never said you said I was." "I never said you said I said you were." Etcetera . the sort of conversation that small children delight in among themselves. Ad Branley, Franklyn Mansfield. Rockets and Satellites; illus. by Bill Sokol. 2-3 Crowell, 1961. 35p. (Let's Read-and-Find-Out-Books). Trade ed. $2.50; Library ed. $2.35 net. In very simple language, the difference between rockets and satellites is explained: rockets are shot from earth and fall, satellites are boosted by a rocket and travel in orbit-depending again on a rocket for any re-entry. The illustrations are attractive, but on many pages give little support to the clarity of the text. As in other books by Dr. Branley, the limitation of the text to the topic at hand is nicely appropriate for the beginning independent reader. R Brookman, Denise Cass. The Young in Love. Macrae, 1962. 191p. $2.95. 7-10 A far-from-formula treatment of the problems of an adolescent girl. Jan, who has resisted a feminine role, finds herself going steady with the boy next door; in trying to establish her identity, Jan loses David, and in trying to attract an older boy she is gently rebuffed-but feels deeply humiliated. Puzzled about herself, Jan feels that her friends are undiscriminating about boys and that her parents can't understand her. She gains perspective and maturity slowly, helped in part by a frank talk with David in which each discovers how vulnerable the other has felt. Good, albeit not outstand- ing, writing style; excellent characterization, with perceptive nuances in group rela- tionships; especially good in the honesty and dignity with which the author describes Jan's changing reactions toward accepting her feminity and toward any form of making love. M Carroll, Ruth (Robinson). Where's the Kitty? Walck, 1962. 30p. illus. 2-4 $2.75. yrs. A read-aloud book for the very young, with a sentence or two on each page and with softly colored illustrations that are lively but a bit cute, as they show a small boy and his kitten at play. From nap-time to supper Kitty gets determinedly into every 55 one of Bobby's activities. The appeal of the book will be in the familiarity of the activities; the writing is dull, but the combination of illustration and text ("Kitty is rid- ing on Bobby's head. Bobby is skating downhill.") will enable a child to turn the pages and "read" the book after it has been read aloud to him. Parents may feel that Bobby's solo expeditions are unsafe for boy and kitten since, for example, little Bobby, sans escort, wades off after the Kitty when the boat in which he has put it capsizes. R Chapin, Henry. The Remarkable Dolphin and What Makes Him So; illus. by 6-9 Richard D. Rice. Scott, 1962. 95p. $2.75. An interesting book, written in a competent style that has informality without popu- larization. Mr. Chapin's material is well-organized; illustrations are chiefly orna- mental, although there are a few anatomical diagrams. The behavior of the dolphin in captivity is described: reaction to capture, response to training, and the evidences of intelligence, humor, and affection shown by these animals. Some of the experimen- tal work in underwater surface friction or sonar, in which observation of dolphins has contributed knowledge, is discussed. Mr. Chapin describes some of the varied re- lated species, and he concludes with some of the legends about dolphins from ancient times, pointing out that in view of our present knowledge we may assume. these tales to be true at least in part. A bibliography and an index are appended. R Collins, Henry Hill. The Bird Watcher's Guide; illus. with photographs; line 5-8 drawings and cover by Richard Harker. Golden Press, 1961. 125p. Trade ed. $3.95; Library ed. $3.99 net. Not a field guide, but a most useful companion volume. The text gives a great deal of varied information for the bird-watcher: equipment of all kinds, the organization of trips, bird photography, the building of baths and houses, devices to attract birds, favorite foods, keeping lists and taking a census, etc. Some of the photographs are decorative only, but many give information that supplements the text, and the diagrams are excellent. Good reference lists are appended: a list of bird clubs, lists of banding agencies and wildlife conservation agencies, a divided bibliography, a list of state bird books, and bird club publications; the index uses boldface numbers for il- lustrated pages.

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