The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-03
Juveniles.

The knack Of telling a story does not
desert Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett when
she addresses herself to children. She
strikes the right tone OF the fairy tale and
the sort OF nonsense that young ones en-
Joy in two pretty little books published
10y the Century Company. There is a
moral in Queen Silver Bell, . but II is not
rubbed in, and the story Of the little girl
that Matched the eggs, which follows, has
apecuiiarfy fudicrous touch. In SR&cketty-
Packetty House" the author seems 10 sit
down on the floor herself and play with
her dolls to her hearts content. The
coIored pictures in both volumes, by Harri-
son Cady, are dainty and funny and really
illustrate the text.
IL Is the story Of an imaginative little
dreamer that Mrs. Maud B~allington Booth
tells in Twilight Fairy Tales C. p. Put
mans Sons), and thu fairies he meets with
are always at hand for the right sort OF
child. He il a nice gentle boy for whom
the author has the kindest sympathy, but
he is not likely to be ready to meet the
battles OF life IL humdrum necessary duties
are shown to him 70 be 20 disagreeable.
The pictures are pleasant.
In the pleasant stories that make up
the Wonder-C Children Macmillans) Mr..
Charles j. Bellamy usually makes a good
start with the proper fairy material. He
does not seem to nave confidence, how
ever, that modern children will believe him
and winds up with rather material, matter
Of fact endings. The rewards In the realms
of fancy are always intangible; it seems
rather prosaic to turn them into this worlds
goods.
An admirable hero for a boys book is
Lieut.. William Gushing, who sank the Alber
marie, Of whom Miss Jessie Peabody Froth-
ingham tells in Running the Gantlet'
AppIetons). She writes a readable story
pitched in a high key Of enthusiasm that
detracts from artistic effect. The steady
praise OF every action and quality Of her
hero makes the marked feats OF gallantry
difficult to distinguish from every day
events. The conversations between naval
men are remarkable, IL instructive, and we
fear overmuch stress 10 put on ordinary
Incidents OF sea life. The authors enthu-
siasm. however, carries her story along.
TIT wickedness Of the bad boy in Western
towns is beyond description. II lands him
in Jail early in Mr.. Amos r. Wells's Donald
Barton" little, Brown and Company. Bad
as he is, however, he Is much more natural
NAAh IA BOOu IVY W NV OAbh3oAh-AAhAy
citizens Of his town. The only people with
sense in the community seem to be the
The theme OF jealousy between
boys carried to extremes is a little too COM
ruon in juvenile fiction.
The morals which Mr.. r. +. Outcault
appends to his Buster Brown series OF
caricatures are printed by themselves in
My Resolutions" Frederick A.. Stokes
Company. The point OF most Of them
is lost by the omission OF the pictorial
history OF the events that lead to the reso-
luton.
Though the characters are birds and
though the plot IL only an amplihcation OF
the nursery rhyme. why the Robins
Breast Is Red, by Emma Gellibrand (Flem-
ing II. Revell Company, IL really a senti-
mental love tale. Il may be humanized
orthodoxy carried to extremes. but it
reads more like a rather pretty fable.
Steadily Mr.. James Otis in one volume
after another leads American youth through
the history OF their country. In The
Minute Boys OF the Wyoming Valley" Dana
Estes and Company he deals with an IN
~hackneyed episode OF the Revolution and
IL able TO turn the strenuous fighting OF his
youthful heroes against Indians as well as
Tories.