GIFT-BOOKS.
FAIRY.TALES, CHILDREN'S. ANNUALS, AND PICTURE. BOOKS.*
MR. CHARLES BAYNE, the editor of Little Folks, has given. us a good selection of fairy-stories, in My Book of Best Fairy Tales.' His preface, too, is interesting, relating as it does,. in simple language, the rise and growth of the folk-tale, of the. Arabian Nights, of Perrault's and Grimm's collections, and of Andersen's genius for story-telling. We would even go so far as to suggest to.-the young reader of this book that he should for once waive his• no doubt well-grounded objection. to. a. preface, and read. this one. We wish, however, that- Mr. Bayne had grouped. his stories, under such headings as " Old French. Stories," " Old English Stories," and so on. As it is, he. begins with " The Three Bears," and the other tales follow, without, as far as we can gather, any special sequence. But as ails or nearly all; our favourite stories axe here, we can wander throng's Fairyland very comfortably. Though the print is good. and the book is large, it is- not heavy; and, if this at first sight seems a small. merit, it becomes a real one when many of the stories. aro read at a sitting. Mr. Harry Rountree's full-page coloured illus- trations• are good. The expressions of the old. woman and of the • (1) My Rook of Best Fairy Toles. Selected* and Edited by Char/es C. Bayne. With 16. illustrations in Colour by Harry Rountree. Loudon : Cassell and CD. The Old Fairg Tales : Comprising Valentine and Orson and Jack, the Otant.Ritler, Pictured by- H. M. Brock. London ; P. Warne and Co. [28, ild; net.1.----(3)- The Ringdorn of the Winding Road, By Cornelia Meigs, Illustrated by Frances White. London : Macmillan and CO. [As. net.]— (4Y Mackie's Children's Annual. Londont. Dlaakle and San. 13s. add- OPCorecirs Children's A ;ia.aa London : Cassell & Co. [3s.(14.1-----(5) Tho Child'' Owo Magazine. London': N. Warne and Co. ]ls. ; cloth boards, Is. Cs1.1— 17hStia Mors Rtassign, Picture Tales. By Valery Carrick. Translated by Nevill Forbes. Oxford.1 B, II, Blackwell. ids. net.]—(8) Old Friends and New FaMee.. Told by Alice 'Litwin Morris. Pictured. by Carton Moorepark. London; nod Sou. [is. net.]—(e).Josephine and her Dolls. Related
H, Credo*. Pictured by Honor O. Appleton. Same publishers.
00, net.1---(1.0) Little People. Rhymes, by R. II. Elkin, Illustrations Sr II. Wilicheek Le Mair, London: Augencr.
creatures in " The Cat began to mew and the Hen. to ;cackle " are very diverting ; while the frontispiece, showing the middle- sized bear complaining of the loss of some of her porridge, is quite delightful. There seems to be something peculiarly inspiring about the bear family, for illustrators rarely fail tcs do justice to their many and ample charms.
Under the title of The Old Fairy Tales° we find the stories of " Valentine and Orson" and "Jack the Giant-Killer," illustrated in black-and-white and in colour by Mr. H. M. Brock There is great scope here for t e depicting of frightful monsters, and the large pages of this book five them plenty of room to spread out their horrid shapes to full advantage. In other pictures the gentler side of Fairyland predominates, and we can, for instance, enjoy the gambols of the baby Orson and his kindly bears• without fearing the approach of toad or dragon: Every year brings us some good modern fairy-tales, and The Kingdom of the Winding Road,3 by Miss Cornelia Meigs, ie• worthy of a place in this pleasant comptuse. These stories are quiet, we. might even say pensive, in tone, and form a strong contrast to those of the roistering. Jacks and Giants- of the- last book. Here character is of more importance than, strength, and the monsters to be overcome are spiritual. rather than material. The stories are hung on the ribbon, of the winding road which runs through all the kingdoms of this Fairy- land, and on it wanders a beggar happily playing on —silver flute, who is the good genius of the princes and people of the land. " ' The winding road is, my kingdom,' he said, ' and is the way I shall follow always. . . . You can offer me no • wealth nor honours that will tempt me from my narrow realm, that stretches out and away across the world, and brings raw adventures at every turn."' The-pictures, black-andLwhite and - coloured, are by Frances White. The landscapes about. the winding road• are attractive, and carry us- back in fancy to those castle-crowned' hilltops or mountain streams and villages that may be seen out of a train window, but of which we never know- more, however much we resolve some day to step and explore them.
Blackie's Children's Annual' is as good as ever. The first, story, by Mr. Ian. Nay; tells of the adventures of some- children and their engaging young aunt during a seaside holiday in August, 1914. There are several long stories, one by Mrs. George Wemyss, and plenty of short tales, besides numbers of, illustra- tions in colour andblack-and- white. Cassell's Children's Annual) is for rather younger children, and in it also are plenty of capital- stories and bright pictures. There are a few allusions to the, war, such as- sending a parcel' to. Daddy, which can be easily understood' by little children. The Child's. Own Magazine° is, compared' to' the two last mentioned, a- plain-looking little volume, but its pages are full of interest to children. To. begin with, it has an exciting serial story called " The Cousins. from London " ; then there are puzzles, letters to. the editor, Sunday evening talks; interspersed with short stories and verses for younger children s It has a brightly coloured cover and frontis. piece, and numbers of black-and-white illustrations.
Still More Russian, Picture Tales 7 is full of amusing and charm- . ing things. The cock is the only creature• who- has . his wits
• about him, while the peasants and- the beasts- and birds of the • country fall in and. out of adventures and strange predicaments in haphazard fashion. This bird likes to make himself useful, and when a fire broke out in a friend's house we can see him bringing a ladder and singing this song Ting-a-ling home, ting.a-ling home !
We'll' put out the fire in the little goat's home The lively and spirited translations are by Mr. Ne'vill Ferbee, and the black-and-white illustrations by Miss Valery Cierrick.
Children who like fables will enjoy Old Friends' and- New Fables,8 by, Miss Alice Talwin Morris. No paltering with nursery morality is countenanced here. The conduct of birds, beasts, and children all points to the moral which is plliinly ancl• em- phatically set out at the end of each fable. It is a handsome volume, printed in. large type with wide margins, and Mr. Carton Moorepark's coloured illustrations are mountedi on brown pages: Josephine andher Dolls 9 is a very pretty picture-book for IMO, girls. In it Mrs. Credo& tells us how the dolls insisted on ' sharing in the clangs of war, by becoming soldiers and nurses, and of other adventures into which they lead Josephine. Miss- Honor Appleton's illustrations exactly suit this. little story, with their soft colouring. and okat outlines.
We are glad to welcome another volume of Miss. Willebeek
to Mair's attractive pictures in Little People,10 a collection of verses for children by R. H. Elkin. We seem here to look at the world with the eyes of a child, for Miss Le Mair shows us the things of daily life, in house or garden, adorned with a grace which they do not generally assume for ordinary grown-up people. She is peculiarly happy in drawing the diverse characters of toys, as in " My Wonderful Horses." In her treatment of " The Big Bells " she gives us a pleasant sense of space and air, as she also does in the next picture, " Baby and the Hare."
In Flippity the Runaway the joys and anxieties of the keeping of pet rabbits are amusingly " pictured and related " by Angusine Macgregor, and published by Messrs. Mackie and Son at Is. --From the same publishers we have The Story-of-the-House- that-Jack-Built (2s.), "pictured " by Frank Adams with much animation, in colour and in black-and-white. " The Cat that Killed the Rat" is a fine beast, but if we wanted to be hyper- critical we might say that his jaw in the full-page coloured picture is more pointed than that of the cats of our acquaintance. The black-and-white drawing on the opposite page, however, admirably portrays the cat enjoying a moment of meditative repose, after a substantial but wholesome meal.—In The Children in Japan (George Harrap and Co., Is. net) Mr. Willie Pogany shows us this country in clear and pretty pictures, interspersed by rhymes and a thread of story by Grace Bartruse. ----Messrs. Gale and Polden have published some brightly coloured picture-books at ls. each, in which the characters in the stories are nearly all animals, and perform wonderful antics of various sorts. Sir Francis Duck, Adventurer ; Bunkum Brown, Bandit; The Animals' Circus, and Little Robin Hood are the titles of these books.—Wee Jenny Mouse, by Ernest Aris (same publishers and price), is another pretty picture-book, small enough to be squeezed into a stocking.—For children who like verses there are three little picture-books by Richard Waylett (same publishers, 2s. 6d.), in which naughty boys and comic policemen play a large part. The titles are A Basket of Plums, elfixed Pickles, and A Box of Crackers.—Messrs. Gale and Polden have also sent us Peeps at Our Soldiers (ls.), another stocking book, and three shaped toy, books in which the Army and Navy are described in very simple terms. Now that we are accustomed to khaki uniforms, the bright red of Our Foot Soldiers is a little startling, but will no doubt be preferred in the nursery to more sober colours. The names of the other books of this set are Our Guns and Men and Our Warships.—The British Army Painting Book (same publishers) is another gaily coloured production. It contains notes on the different uniforms, and some highly practical hints on the mixing and matching of colours.— Messrs. Dean's " Rag Books " are as delightful as ever. They range from the large and very soft Beasties and Birdies at 5s., a fine A to Z at 3s. 6d., an Old English Nursery Rhymes, Japanned by Yoshio Markino, at 2s. 6d. (note, the character and " go in these real Japanese faces and figures), down to Daffy Down Dilly and The Empire Train Book at 6d. each. These are all in the bright colours we associate with this excellent series ; while the little book of The Lord's Prayer (6d.), designed by A. Ander- son, is printed in sepia.
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