The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-11-14


be conducted in New York city with
elaborate exhibits of the finest Illus
trated books for Juveniles In all book
and publishing houses, In department
stores. libraries, schools, churches,
women's clubs. Celebrated authors Of
juvenile fiction will talk to the chill
dren ut school and before orgsniza-
lions The special treat win be
movie for children, staged and pre-
scented at Garden City, Long Island, by
John Martin, who will explain why
a Children's Book Week"
Many writer's of children's books to-
day write down TO children instead OF
up to Them" said Miss Edith Ballinger
Price, herself one of the youngest
modern writer's Of juvenile fiction,
commenting upon the slogan, More
books in the home with which Chill
dren's Book Week will be nationally
launched.
II should change that to Better
books and more of them wherever
there are children" she continued
earnestly. My own childhood reading
explains this girl, who is hardly more
than a child, was so skilfully super
vised by my mother that 1 never knew
It; If I had I'm sire / would have
baked. Whenever 1 was ready for
certain kind of book, there it was, in
the most inviting spot on the library
table, in front of the fire, begging me
to come and make friends with it."
Seated at her desk, which, by the
way, looks like a carpenters table,
with its rulers, cardboards, measuring
Instrumentation she illustrates all her
own stories-logs and planned boards
fitting in with the rude simplicity of
her studio, Miss Price was uneasily
lingering the pages of a note book,
which we suspect, from later CONVERSE
ton, must have been the draft of her
first novel for grownups. For Miss
Price, who is all of twenty and wrote
her first book, BLUE Magic" when she
was eighteeR has had three books for
Juveniles published as well as short
stories for older folks in the Century
and other magazines. Miss Price con-
fesses that BLUE Magic" was born in
the middle of the night, and she hoped
right out of bed and wrote down her
inspiration as fast as it came.
do you write about real boys and
girls or make believe children?"
Both" replied this bob haired, shyly
smiling authoress, still so near to
childhood that her memories are not
yet blurred. Some of the children /
really know and play with OCCASION
ally right now, others are the kind of
children should like to know"
What kind of books did you read
as a little girl?"
"Oh, what all other children read
fairy tales, Mrs. Burnett's and Mrs.
Wiggins's stories, and then Little
Women of course; and certainly /
wanted To be like 10; every girl does.
I remember that / always wished, in
Reading Little Lord Fauntleroy' that
the authoress had let me discover her
herus noble character and great gen.
erosity myself instead of shouting it
at me on almost every page That is
why I'm amused now and pleased nat
uraly with the letters from the little
st. Nicholas readers of BLUE Magic"
who write that they just hate Fen's
mother because she leaves HIM, a poor
little crippled son. to he put to bed by
a maid while she runs off to a party.
And she never understands when he's
had an exciting adventure-she just
pats his head and says: You are fever
ish, Fen. Better 20 TO bed You see,
! don't have TO tell children that Fen's
mother is Indifferent to him-they
feel It.
children sense things even more
quickly than grownups and are not
taken In by any pot boiler series which
Jumps together a lot of marionettes-
call them Tom or Bob or Jim-and
drags them through motor boat. air.
plane and other adventures here and
abroad They know when Tom isn't
real, even though they envy him his
adventures. l believe that sincerity is
the quality most necessary in books
for children"
From rosy checked, white haired
Miss Amy Blanchard. who has writ
ten childrens books for two genera
tons and whom we found seated by
n window full Of plants in her
cosW, old fashioned Nineteenth street
apartment filled with whatnots and
doilies and cupboards full Of dear old
blue dishes Of decades long past we
learned that modern juvenile fiction
is fun OF motor boats. airplanes. base
bail, football tennis and Scouts be-
cause our lives are filled with such
things
There weren't so many things
notice 7 say things and not people
70 write about when Louisa Alcott
was a girl" smiled Miss Blanchard,
though ] dare say we need an Alcott
10 create the modern 10 wonder
how she would handle the Girl Scouts.
Camp Fire Girls and other community
tendencies among the youth Of to-
dayl I've been studying these Girl
Scouts for my now books at the pri-
vate schools Of New York--on. yes.
the Scouts have invaded the finishing
schoolsand | find them the most
wholesome influence against snobblsh-
ness and idlcness that we have. The
Scouts take care Of that youthful SEN
timentalism in boys and Girls that
had It's outlet IN my childhood in the
Susy and Prudy books and the wide
Wide world series which swallowed.
while our parents were singing such
d. .ff z =. a. rfa-