2 NOVEMBER 1901, Page 48

The Would-be-Goods. By E. Nesbit. (T. Fisher Unwin, Gs.) —We

strongly recommend this as a book to be read; at the same time, we would suggest that it should be read piece by piece. One wearies of the monotonous mischief into which these children get, though it is described with plenty of fun, and with a judicious admixture of boys' slang,—a tongue in which, for instance, you do not say " eaten " but "wolfed." But dip into the book anywhere, read a chapter, by preference aloud, and it will be found invariably entertaining. "The Beavers" would not be a bad specimen to begin with, but indeed you mull hardly go wrong.