Through the Nose Nor a very engaging bunch of books
and most of them ridiculously overpriced. I hope parents will rebel and refuse to pay as much as fifteen bob a time for such trite offerings as these when there arc already so many exciting, sensibly- priced titles available in paperback. A new and welcome addition, incidentally,• is Very Good, Jeeves! by P.G. Wodehbuse (Peacock Books, 3s. 6d.), with a refreshingly .straightforward and useful introduCtion by Richard .Usborne.
On the'expensive side, there is, to begin with, Joking Apart, by John a Sheridan (Dent, 15s.), a batch of newspaper columns hopefully col- lected in book form. Mr. Sheridan, according, to the ,blurb. 'is famed for his Saturday articles in 1 he Irish Independent.' Very old-fashioned stuff, really, by the sunny kind of feller for whom the world moves too fast. Sub-sub-Leacock with innocuous drawings by Paul Noonan. Another coy and mindless hook is A Week of Stories or Tall Tales for Small People, by Alma Venables (Thomas Yoselolf, I 5s.). Cutie-pie pieces cloy- ingly told by an Uncle Tom French-Canadian farmer, Hertel Duchamps. .1 he sort of goo that turns intelligent children against literature and sensitive French-Canadians into separatists. There are some commonplace corncob-like illustrations by Frank Johnson, and the funniest thing about the book is the .blurb (' . .. one of the finest per- petrators of this kind of story since Mark Twain himself). Somewhat less objectionable but still ordinary is M for Mischief, by Richard Parker (Constable Young Books, 12s. 6d.). All about a magic stove in a summer-house, but surprises on a strictly ho-hum level and an epidemic of exclamation points. Then, if you're still with me. there's The Incredible Adventures of Pro- fessor Braneitawm, by Norman Hunter, with quaint appealing illustrations by W. Heath Robinson (Bodley Head. 15s.). Really rather
.lichd-ridden, The professor; for instanc:, is ibsent-minded. The colonel wears a monocle and he dirty revolutionist is bearded. Acceptable. but only just, for a child you don't care that deeply about.
Finally, there's Tont Sventon, Private Detect- ive, by Ake Holmberg, translated by Lilian Seaton (Methuen, 10s. 6d.). A funny detective story with a magic carpet. Shouldn't keep bright kids away from Burke's LOW or Perry Mason.
These books 'specially written for children' are not only prosaic • they're harmful. They could lead children to think all books are a bore.
MORDITAI MILER
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