Of books for young children we have received Popular Tales
of Childhood, by Walter Harts (Dean and Son), containing the old favourites, "Cinderella," "Pass in Boots," "Riding Hood," "Blue Beard," "Sleeping Beauty," and "Hop-o'-my-Thumb," "redrawn and rewritten to suit the youth of the present age." The youth. of the present age, we suppose, demands that "Riding Hood" should not be eaten by the wolf, and even demands that the wolf, instead of being knocked on the head, should be sold to the owner of a wild-beast show.—Punch and Judy, written by Frederic E. Weatherly, illus- trated by Patty Townsend (Marcus Ward and Co.)—Here we have a pretty story and some really charming little pictures. The humours of Punch have never been more gracefully represented.—The Christmas Box : Mabel's Dream of the Wild-beast Show, by E. A. Mason (James Clarke), has some nice drawings, and should interest the little ones.—Something Worth Knowing (Dean and Son) deals with the practical. From the same publishers we get Rustic and Domestic Life, from Pictures by Famous Painters, Collins, Poole, and Landseer being among the artists represented ; Pictures of English Country Life, from designs by Birket Foster ; and Far-Famet Pictures, by W. Hunt ; The Sailor's A B C and The Soldier's A B C, both of these last gay-coloured picture-books which, if the Council of the Trades Union, with their horror of militarism, will allow us, we should recommend for the nursery.—The Children's Picture Annual (Ward, Lock, and Co.) contains two stories, "How Birdie and Bobbie Kept House" and "Mother Mnmbleton's Slaves," of which, we may say, we prefer the former.—Little Toddles and his Playmates, by Mrs. M. J. Tilaley and Aunt Fanny (Dean and Son), has some gaily coloured pictures, of which the frontispiece is a favourable specimen, representing an old-fashioned country house.
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