Annuals
THERE arc more precious books for children than annuals, but few are more comradely. Often they get badly treated. They are scrawled over with crayons. They are banged about till their backs come loose. Instead of reposing soberly on the bookshelves, they are huddled up among toys and paintboxes in an odd drawer. But all the same they are treasured—it would be a woeful day if one of them were lost.
And annuals still remain very much as they have been for twenty or thirty years. They come up every year like good old friends in a new suit. The fashions have changed a little. The" illustrations are simpler and brighter nowadays. Some of the more vigorous pictures jump to the eye straight away. There is less of the intricate care that used to be lavished upon then,. Complexity has been exchanged for liveliness ; and we cannot call it a change for the worse. If we look back at the illustrations of other days, we may suspect in our hearts that they were comparatively stiff, and sometimes even muddled.
Mrs. Strang's Annual for Baby (Oxford University Press, 3s. Oct. net) is a book of twelve full-page coloured pictures, with the minimum of letterpress. The Tiny Folk's Annual (Oxford University Press, 3s. 6d. net) contains much more reading ; and it would be hard to choose between this and Leading Strings (Wells Gardner. 2s. 6d.) The largest and most varied of the annuals for small children is The Wonder Book (Ward, Lock. Os.) ; it includes adventure stories, fairy tales, and the little -domestic incidents which please some children best of all. There is a greater proportion of fantasy in The Chummy 'Book (Nelson, 5s. net)—dwarfs and fairies, magic boots and magic feathers, ogres and talking_ donkeys. It is a good book for a fanciful child.
When we reach the annuals for older children, there is still more variety. Blackie's Children's Annual (5s. net) is full of charming tales : so, too, is Mrs. Strang's Annual for Children (Oxford University. Press. 5s. net). Besides the stories for boys and girls, The Jolly Book (Nelson, 5s. net) includes instructions for making model engines, bridges, barges and other pieces of handieraft. There are tricks and puzzles in The Busy Book (Nelson, 5s. net), and one of the tales that make it -attractive is a retelling of the legend of Cuchulain. The Sunshine Story Book (Blackie, 4s. net) is pleasant and gay : there are fairy stories of a king and
dragon, and both of them suffer from toothache ; this seems rather good measure in -this grave misfortune for a single book. Perhaps the editor has an especial sympathy for this malady.
But the annuals par excellence are those for growing young schoolboys. They are the volumes that grown-ups enjoy surreptitiously, reviving the excitements of their own youth.
Chief and most famoui are Chatterbox (Wells Gardner, 5s. net), and The Boy's Own Annual (" Boy's Own Paper,"
4 Bouverie Street, 12s. 6d. net). The-Boy's Own contains
nearly 800 pages, and a large amount of reading matter is packed into it. There are tales of the Stone Age, tales of the days of knighthood, the crusades, tales of modern war and peace. This annual should keep the most voracious reader quiet for a good while. And Chatterbox does not fall below
the standard-set in thepast. In addition there is the Chatterbox
Newsbox (Wells Gardner. 2s.), in which there is much useTul or amusing'information gathered together. We are' given, for example, the story of the largest pudding ever made ; a " plum duff-" of 900 lbs. made for advertisement by the inventor of The Persian Ink Powder in 1718. It took fourteen days to boil, but a hungry crowd disposed of it in a very short time.
Herbert Strang's Annual (Oxford. University Press, 5s. net) is a comparative newcomer ; it is now in its nineteenth year. Its contents are very well selected by an author practised in engaging the interest of boys. Its companion . volume is Mrs. Strang's Annual for Girls (Oxford University Press. 5s. net). . And we cannot end the list without mentioning The • Girl's Own Annual (4 Bouverie Street. 12s. 6d. net). It contains as much good housewifely advice as ever.
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