The New York herald., 1920-12-05
Exploring the Young Mind

ROADS TO CHILDHOOD. Views and
Reviews of Children's Books BY Annie
Carroll Moore: George H. Doran Co.
One encouraging thing about the
intensely earnest people who write
about books for children. nowadays, Is
their humility, tempered with honest
ardor for their important work; time
was when the subject, If treated at
all by writer's, was handled as Dr.
Creakle handled his cane. and humil-
ity had no place at all in their lay
ing down of the law and laying on
of the rod for obJectors. But the
modern child has become a definitely
alarming figure in the world-com-
posite of guided and unguided self
expression" with a native instinct
(Which seems completely modern yet
Is old as the hills) to take nobody's
say so about anything, but to dis
cover the world in books quite on his
own hook. Yet the modern child is,
of course, not specially different In
himself from the child of earlier gen.
erations; the difference Is in the pres
ent state of the world-Falstaff
oyster opened by the strong. sharp
knife of progress" and events, and
lying temptingly supine before the
child. Hence the necessity, now pret-
ty plainly perceived, Of doing all man
can do to keep him from getting his
fingers pinched too hard by the shells.
One of the pioneer explorers Of
modern times in this continually un-
discovered country Is Annie Carroll
Moore whose imposing title Is "Su-
pervisor Of Work with Children in the
New York Public Library; and she
has responded to many requests by
making a concise and well arranged
volume from "the results of her study
and experience in such form as to be
readily utilized by parents, teachers,
writer's and illustrators of children's
books" Her book will not only be of
value TO the parents and teachers and
the postulants, but 1t may well pro-
vide q model for other explorers OF
this insufficiently charted country, the
mind Of childhood. Her title Is an
excellent key to her method; the
Roads to Childhood in which she
shows the way are the tracks which
will become the most main travelled"
and deservedly so.
The book consists of practical and
straightforward talk about the books
best suited to various sorts Of children
at various ages and stages of develop
ment; and she provides lists OF books
to this end But the authority of the
book lies in the inherent wisdom and
discrimination of her preferences for
~ nbi1dran will want
to read; and she finds far too many
books in existence which have been
made on a stock last and sent out for
children to take and read and good
enough for YOU" And such books
are utterly useless in crowded world
Here are some of Miss Moore's char
acteristic paragraphs:
Literature great literature - can
be trusted to do its own work, and one
who hopes for large returns should
make no unsought recommendations.
Too many books have been killed for
young readers by overzealous recon-
mendations."
1T is plain that neither an age limit
nor a series limit will ever command
the service Of writer's who have the
imagination, the wisdom, the sincerity,
the charm and the distinction of style
which are essential qualifications OF
the successful writer of books for
young people. Ono, If not both, of two
things is sure to happen. The novel
will recover its sense of youth-it Is
written in the history of the novel
that II must-or the writer for young
people must enlarge the boundaries by
escaping from the series and the age
limit when entering the competition
to write the real thing for the teens"
""Tom Browns School Days often
requires introduction and judicious
amount of skipping, but l have never
known boy who really read 1t not to
like 1t. l often read 1t In conjunction
with 'Huckleberry Finn, another
sharp contrast provocative of many
questions concerning the nature OF
boys who lived in the same era, for
Mark Twain places Huck on the Mis-
sissippi at about the same period that
Thomas Hughes entered Rugby"
"Rereading Seventeen, in the light
of it's growing popularity with girls of
Is and 16, j am struck by its peculiar
value for girls Of that age and older.
Life is touched by perspective, as well
as tinged with humor. Where is there
such another mother in book as Mrs.
Baxter"
Robinson Crusoe, after two hun
dred years, is more read than ever
1t was. Older boys are deeply i'm
pressed when told that it is the first
humanized adventure story. Many of
them have read 1t when they were
younger as II IL were history or biog-
raphy."
Between Robinson Crusoe' and
Treasure Island lie one hundred and