The Land of Seals. By J. M. Scott. (Hodder and

Stoughton. 6s.) Perri. By Felix Salten. (Cape. 5s.) Salem the Mouse-Deer. By A. Hillman and Walter W. Skeat. (Macmillan. 7s. 6d.) Puppy and the Cat Hodge. By Lorna Lewis. (Collins. is.) Lad. By Lady Kitty Ritson. (Black. 5s.) Mumfie's Magic Box. By Katharine Tozer. (Murray. 5s.) Little Elephant Comes to Town. By Doris Estcourt. (Oxford University Press. 3s. 6d.)

Furlong Farm. By Eleanor Helme. (Country Life. 75. 6d.) Country Holiday. By E. L. Grant Watson. (Nelson. 5s.) Mustard, Pepper and Salt. By Alison Uttley. (Faber and Faber. 5s.) educational side, this, perhaps, but well enough done. The book moves fast and is full of interest.

From the numerous school stories one stands out. It is one of Mr. Gunby Hadath's many virtues that he always chooses a situation which would be immediate and real to his characters. Major and Minor deals with the sufferings of a boy who goes to a public school in the belief that his brother is an athlete and a blood, and discovers that he is nobody at al!, His predicament, a disq-essingly real one, is handled with all this practised writer's under- standing. He no more needs detailed commendation than

does " Bartimeus," whose new book, Under Sealed Orders, is one of the very best he has done. Like Mr. Hadath, Bartimeus's strength lies in characterisation and in inti- mate knowledge of the life he describes. Parents and guardians should mark this

book with an extra large star.

In the days when I was a school librarian, the favourite author was always Mr. Wade- house. After him came books dealing with aviation, railways, and how to make things. Railways Today will be gladly received in any boy's library. It Is business-like, full of facts, and well illustrated. It

of which, by a fluke, I have a little knowledge.

Two books follow which are quite first-class. Last year Miss Streatfeild and Mr. Stephen Spurrier went tenting with Bertram Mills's circus. Mr. Spurrier fell ill, and was unable to complete the sketches he had made, but his rough drawing> give an uncannily vivid impression of the life of a travelling circus. Miss Streatfeild's text is just as lively, and her characters sound and smell of the ring. In a charming fore- word, she suggests that the book is too old for a boy of seven.

I Wonder ?

The Turf-Cutter's Donkey was a hard book to follow, but Miss Lynch has done it. King of the Tinkers is a grand story of a little boy named Mihael who -lived - in a

stone cabin in the West of Ireland. The king of the tinkers, an attractive rogue, steals Mihael's nine hens and his white cock, Paudeen. Mihael sets off in pursuit, and his adven- tures make the book. Miss Lloyd's illustrations are spirited and unusual.

Mrs. Williams-Ellis pays children the compliment of being sure that they are interested in serious subjects honestly ,Next come the animal books. Mi. Felix Salten, whose deer Bambi is, I hear, to become an international character, now de- votes his attention to a squirrel.- The human characters and the forest are; as Mr. Beverley Nichols properly points out, " seen; smelt, heard and recorded through the brain of an animal. Never once is it [the story] marred by

From " Niki Takes a (Michael Joseph. 3s. •6d.)

the false note of a human voice. . . ." .The comment is apt, and I cannot better it. Salam, the Mouse-Deer is a collection of Malayan folk-tales. The small animal which is its- hero makes up for his lack of size by his astuteness. Miss Lorna Lewis' Puppy and the Cat Hodge is perfect for younger children, and Lad, the Border collie, should make plenty of friends among those a little older. His adventure with the bull shows his mettle, and many others show his sagacity.

Of the fabulous animals, Mumfie is as good as ever this year, and the scores of pictures which illustrate his adventures are even better. I prefer him so Miss Estcourt's little elephant, which is, however, an endearing little beast, most happily served by his illustrator. The picture of him showering the ducks is a gem.

Another beautifully illustrated book is Furlong Farm, which I should have enjoyed better if I had not suspected it of an

occasional desire to improve me. Still, childien will put up with a lot of this for the sake of authentic detail, and the country stuff in these cages is country stuff all right. So is

E. L. Grant Watson's Country Holiday. Here the emphasis is on wild rather than domestic animals, with excursions into botany and archaeology. That sounds forbidding. The book is nothing of the kind ; I am constrained to use categories for lack of space.

Last of all, a book for the very young, in which Alison Uttley uses all her skill and charm in fairy-tale and fantasy.

These eulogies may seem to contradict what I said at the beginning, but, for every book picked out by my colleague and myself; half a dozen remain on the shelves. Those here noticed are, as I said before, the cream of a rather dubious j ugfu L