New-York tribune., 1910-12-10
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Old Favorites and New Candi-
dates for the Nursery.

OId taVOTlteS ana new VdHOi-
dates for the Nursery.
From year to year misguided but we'll
meaning friends of children undertake
to adopt the Bible to their mental ca
pacity by rewriting it. The result is to
rob the Book of Books Of its incompara-
Bile beauty and strength as literature
without making its message clearer or
more likely to sink into the memory
The two-the message and the word
are one The child mind is far more
receptive. far more elastic than we
know; it will respond to beauty ana
meaning where their deliberate simpll-
fication will leave it Indifferent Inc
Bible is not beyond them: all 1t needs
is certain amount of editing, in the
sense of judicious omission Of passages
This is what Mr.. Clifton Johnson has
done in The Narrative Bible CThe
Ba ker & Taylor Company. and the re-
suit is to be recommended to parents
The illustrations are Gustave Dores s.
Mr. Johnson employs in the main the
King James version. Mrs Eva March
Tappan used the revised version in An
Old, Old Story Book Houghton Mlf1lln
Company a collection of Old Testament
stories, edited with the same wise ap-
probation of the beauty Of the original
text and it's Observation-Disclosures by the
voung. These two books fulfil tlelr
mission. Mrs. Tappan's volume is illus
trated with reproductions of the works
of several prominent artists Inc
Story of Jesus Told for Children by
E. F. Jones IT. Y. Crowel Coz Is
perhaps best described as a series OF
Sunday school lessons by we'll
equipped teacher. the parallels being IN
terpreted. and circumstances of time
and place and history. of daily life, etc,
being embodied in the text which IN
the important passages, is that Of the
New Testament. IN "A BOOK OF the
Christ Child (the Century Company
Eleanor Hammond Broadus has gath
cred a number of the medieval legends
about the infant Christ that are practi-
caIIy unknown in Protestant countries,
and vet are so beautifully poetic in the
ingenious simplicity of their faith The
handsome volumes illustrations are
Christianity's treasure Of religious art
Mother Goose appears this year, as al
wavs. in numerous new editions, one of
them being in two volumes, "Old Mother
Goose Nursery Rhymes" and Mother
Goose Nursery Tales" (E. P. Dutton q
Coz, both pleasingly illustrated in bright
colors and bIack-and-white, the one by
2 Stuart Hardy, the other by A E.
Jackson. Attractive volumes, both. about
whose contents nothing that is new can
be said Both collections are compre-
hensive. In this same edition, collect
iveIy known as "Children's Classics.
anpear also Hans Andersen's Fairy
Tales" with colored and other illustra-
tons by Frank c. Pope, and Grimm S
Fairy Tales similarly adorned by
Charles Robinson; Defoe's Robinson
tCrusoe., adorned by Archibald Webb,
end the most successful Of its many imi-
| tations. the Swiss Family Robinson,
which has already nearly a century of
popularity behind it. Each volume has
an introduction by the general editor Of
! the series, Mr. Walter Jerrold. An at
tractive, inexpensive edition of these
classics Outton). In larger form.
more eIaborately got up. printed on
coated paper. a translation of Hanf's 5
Fairy Tales" is issued by the same
publishers. It is illustrated by Arthur
| A. Dixon, who is more successful in col
ors than in the other medium.
/ The nursery goes a-travelling in four
new volumes of the Little People
Everywhere series, which is the joint
work of Eta BlaisdeH Mcdonald and
| Julia Dalrymple. Last year they told
! of Mexico. Japan. Italy and Ireland; this
season they issue tales of "Gerda IN
Sweden" Betty In Canada" Fritz in
Germany and Boris in Russia" Uit-
tie. Brown & Coz These pretty little
tales convey some general knowledge OF
the life. customs, geography and history
Of the countries dealt with. The illustra-
tions. from photographs. are excellent.
christmas in Austria, by Frances Bart
LETT. and christmas in Spain" by Sarah
Gertrude Pomeroy Dana Estes & Coz,
both illustrated by Bertha D. Hoxie, are
little stories of the universal holiday
spirit of childhood, the Austrian one TAX
ing the Young reader into the Hofbufs
ard the Emperor's family. Bella Woof
.'The Twins in Ceylon'' Dana Estes Il
Coz. packs considerable picturesque in
formation concerning Indian life IN a
somewhat longer story. The illustrd-
t;ons in colors and black and white are
hv an American. The authors NATIONAL
itv is betrayed by an American gentle
Woman who is ''skeered' by an elephant
That old English annual, Chatter