CHILDREN'S BOOKS.*

Miss Li FEIIVER'S last book, Us and Our Donkey, is written in her well-known style. This mixture of grave and gay makes very pleasant reading, and is also true to life. The story is told by the eldest girl of a family of five children, and begins with the death of the mother in tragic circum- stances. The father is a poor curate, but he soon gets pre- ferment, and he and his sister and the children move to a country living. Then the fun begins. The children resolve to earn enough money to buy a donkey, and the wonderful plans and adventures connected with the earning of this money make capital reading. The characters of the children and the grown-up people are cleverly drawn, and the reader is soon on friendly terms with the whole family, from the rather dreamy and harassed but kind father to the famous donkey himself. The village and its inhabitants are amusingly described, and there is a vivid picture of the smelly delights of the general-shop. But life in the village was not all play, and a vein of serious teaching runs through the book. However mischievous the children are, they are always straightforward, and Denys, the eldest boy, behaves with great courage during a fire at a farmhouse.

Camping in the Forest will make its readers long to follow the example of the five children who spent some delightful days in the "wild woods" of England, presumably in the New Forest. Their parents stayed at home, and the campers were in the charge of an old soldier-servant, who entered into the adventure with zest. They took the usual camp outfit in a pony-cart, besides a few additional luxuries, such as mustard- and-cress seed, which one of the boys said would grow on damp flannel and " prevent scurvy," as he had noticed that they were not taking green vegetables. They had many small excitements, such as seeing a badger ; but towards the end of the book the two youngest boys lose themselves, and have to spend the night in a gipsy camp. Old John and the other children are of course filled with anxiety at their disappear- ance, but a benevolent gipsy brings them back in time to • (1) Us and Our Donkey. By Amy Le Feuvre. London, R.T.S. pal- t) Camping in the Forest. By Margaret Clayton. London : Ghetto and Wiudus. as. 81.]—(3) The Casa, of the Four Towers. By Netta Syrett. London : uckworth and Co. [2s. 6&[8—(4) The Twins in Ceylon. By Bella Sidney Woolf. Same publishers. is. 6d.]—(5) The Enchanted Wood. By S. 11. Ramer. Same publishers. . 6d.]—(6) The Man from the Moon. By Philip Carmichael. London: Grant Richards. [65.1—(7) King Blacksack and his Sword. By G. L. Stainer. London : Henry Prowde. [6s.]—(8) Son Riley Rabbit and Little Girl. By G. MacGowen Cooke. London : W. and R. Chambers. [2s. 6d.]—(9) Ginger and Pickles. By Beatrix Potter. London : F. Warne. [10.)—(10) The Story of Forget-me-not and Lily-of-the-Valley. By Maurice Baring. London : J. Nisbet and Co. yva;]—(11) Partridge's Children's Annual. London : S. W. Partridge and Co. 3s. 6d.] (12) Buster. Mary-Jane, and Pigs. By R. F. Outcault. London : . and R. Chambers. [3s. 6d. net.]—(13) The Ark that Glue Built. By C. A. Williams and G. A. Williams. Same publishers. [3s. 6d.]—(14) Familiar Nursery Jingles. Illustrated by E. F. Bette. Same publishers. Las. 6d.1

return to their parents on the appointed. day. Miss Clayton has illustrated her book with full-page coloured pictures, which small readers will describe as " pretty." Her literary style, however, is very good.

The scene of the next two stories on our list is neither England nor fairyland, and we are glad of the change. It would be a good thing if more children's books were written

about other countries, as it is enlarging to the mind to hear of strange but true manners and customs. The Castle of the Four Towers is in Italy, near Siena, and a little half-English girl whose mother is an Italian goes out to spend some months with her old aunt, Caterina Maria di Monte Cassino. The

simple life led by this Italian lady and her two old servants Nanina and Yana., in her fine old feudal castle, is charmingly described. Benedetta, the little girl, is taken to see the sights

of Siena, chief among them being the Patio, the horse-race and general festa held every August. A touch of romance is cleverly given to the story by Benedetta's faculty of

seeing and hearing Dino, a little boy who lived and died at the time of the Renaissance, and whose picture hangs in the castle. He is a charming child, and introduces Benedetta

to some of the strange and delightful animals she had seen represented at the Patio, among them being a fierce-looking but estimable dragon. The coloured pictures by Mr. Stephen Reid, and the black-and-white drawings by Mr. D. Andrews are good.

The Twins in Ceylon gives a vivid picture of the East from a child's point of view. The sfoly begins with a description

of the delights of a sea voyage, and the pleasure experienced by the twins of actually seeing the places they bad read of in their "jography " books. Ceylon itself was an enchanted land to them, and as their father and mother took them to stay with relations who also had children, their experiences and adventures were many and varied. They were taken to see a herd of elephants, among other things, and they had an uncomfortable feeling that "away in Ceylon under the palm-trees, you feel that the elephant is in his own country and that if he does not choose to have you there, he can just lift up one huge foot—and, well, you would be as flat as the flattest of pancakes." Then there was an adventure with a snake-charmer, and another when the children were nearly drowned, so altogether the hook is full of " movement." It is also plentifully illustrated by Mr. A. E. Jackson.

The Enchanted Wood is a story of four nice boys and girls who spent a few days in the company of a delightful elderly

fairy. The children happened to be left to their own devices for a time, and they luckily fell in with the friendly Pumper- nickel, who made them free of the woods and taught them many fairy accomplishments, such as the languages of the birds and beasts, and the faculty of growing small enough to float through a keyhole. Though most of the animals liked the old fairy, some of them bore him a grudge, and the children's dog ' Spider' was jealous of him and managed to tear up his magic cap ; so poor Pumpernickel has to disappear for ever in the last chapter. Mr. Harry Rountree's illustra- tions are excellent. We would particularly call the reader's attention to the ones facing pp. 58 and 80. The first of these, two birds flying against a filmy background of clouds, is very happy both as to colour and design; and the second, in which the old fairy is bolding a mouse in his arm, has more than a touch of pathos in it.

The Man from the Moon is quite a good mixture of nursery and fairyland. Deeds and Bubbles, the two children of the

book, are merry little people, with plenty of mischievous spirits, and the creatures in the fairy chapters are the orthodox Dragon, Princess, Frog, and Wooden Soldier, to say nothing of the Man from the Moon himself. The illus- trator, Mr. F. Watkins, has acquired some of Mr. Arthur Rackham's mannerisms without his fantastic charm.

" Strange Talee for Children " is the sub-title of King Blacksack and his Sword, and they are indeed remarkable.

Three little Princes, Pat, Kit, and Bob, are taken by the Princess " in charge" to spend a holiday at an enchanted castle. There they begin by destroying an aggravating kind of brownie, with the result that the queer creature's father, King Blacksack, pursues the boys in a spirit of revenge. Scanderbag Bill, the mischievous imp who was killed, left a book behind him full of interesting stories which the little Princes read whenever they were not circumventing the King's plots. In this way the author has managed to introduce plenty of variety, as whenever the adventures hang fire there is the book of short stories to take their place. Mr. C. W. Pilcher's black-and-white illustrations are not very interesting, but there are plenty of them.

In Son Riley Rabbit and Little Girl we are told how a wild grey mother rabbit and her baby made friends with a child. We gather from the " Explanation " at the beginning that they were creatures of the little girl's imagination, but they are none the less pleasant to read about. The scene is laid in America, and the local colour of " darkies," melon-patch, and chewing-gum furnishes a familiar background for a rabbit story. It is difficult to pick out any special peculiarity in this American child's book, but the contrast with English examples is clearly marked, and makes an agreeable variety. The pictures are from photographs. Some of them are more successful than others. We would particularly draw the reader's attention to the one called "Don't you wish you had overalls, Son Riley Rabbit ?"

Miss Potter's new book will be received with acclamation in the nursery. Her charming little volumes are too well known to need much comment, and we will only say that 'Ginger' and 'Pickles' are a cat and dog who keep a village shop, and who give unlimited credit to their customers. The illustrations are as good as the text.

Mr. Maurice Baring's Story of Forget-me-not and Lily-of- the- Valley is a charming little book. A good-natured lizard invites the spring and the summer flowers to meet at a ball, and the way the guests behave is described with delightful fancy and humour. Princess Forget-me-not was "civil and amiable to everybody, because she had been very strictly brought up by an old Hornet," till she met Prince Lily-of- the-Valley, when "she asked at once that be might be pre- sented to her," and they then spent the rest of the evening and the remainder of their lives together. The illustrations are very good, the colour being fresh and clear, and the flowers cleverly turned into people with a few light strokes.

Children are generally very fond of collections of stories, verses, and pictures, and Partridge's Annual is a good specimen of this kind of book. Among the contributors are Mrs. Quiller-Couch and Mrs. Molesworth, and some of Mr. Louis Wain's customary cats and dogs are to be found in its pages. There are also articles which will interest older children, such as "When Edison was a Boy," " How to Make a Magic Lantern," and " How to Paint Lantern Slides."

Buster, Mary-lane, and Tige may please some people by its high spirits and rollicking fun, but for our part we prefer quieter children's books. The illustrations are in a primitive style and the colours harsh. However, some of Buster's tricks are funny, and just retribution follows the mischief.

The idea of giving a child a picture-book that he can himself complete is a good one, and this "Noah's Ark" volume of the "Glue Series" is ingenious and amusing. There are eight backgrounds of scenes in colours, and as many pages of animals which have to be cut out and stuck in their places according to the directions, which are clearly expressed.

A good book of old nursery rhymes is always welcome, and Miss E. Franklin Betts has made an attractive little volume, with a number of illustrations. The full-page pictures in colour would be more pleasing if the children were not drawn on such a large scale. As it is, they are rather overpowering.