Evening star., 1924-12-21
A Merry Christmas in Books

the world, and the things that are not
seen except by those, who like him
have the gift of inner sight.
X
BILLY MINK. (Thornton W. Bur
CESS; Little, Brown & Coz Billy Mink
deserves a place by hlmself-so he gets
around the Smiling Pond. He was
sorry. So was the Pond. Billy went
| away, over to the farmers woodpile
| full of good places for Billy to stay
in-when he wasn't chasing the band
| of Robber Rats that came around the
| place. busy and gorgeous time
Billy had, for while. But he grew
homesick and finally ventured back
| to the Smiling Pond, strong in the
hope that those old traps had grown
tired of lying in wait and had gone
away. Nobody goes to bed without a
| minute or two in the company of
the Thornton Burgess folks. So, here
| is another chance for many good
nights.
We are coming on, getting older.
! So, our stories grow too, till some of
| them look like real history books.
| They are not a bit like them. They
are juicier and much more alive. Here
A CHILD's HISTORY OF THE
WORLD. (V. NJ. Hillyer: The Cen
| tury Coz A very fascinating thing that
takes us back to the beginning of
| things and comes along up where we
| are now in great big chunks of his
! tory that have no clutter of names
! and dates to tire and confuse US. I'm
sure any child will find this a very
| interesting journey to take with a
| Waywise man who seems to know
! just what children do find to enjoy III
the world around them.
THE COLONIAL TWINS IN VIR-
GINA. Lucy Fitch Perkins; Hough-
ton, Miftiin Company One in the
series of Twin" book, this one hav-
| ing to do with the life of boys and
| girls in colonial days in the great
State of Virginia. A fine picture of
the period, one calculated to interest
| readers who are drawing near to
| more formal history.
NICHOLAS. (Anne Carol Moore:
G.. p. Putnams' Sons) A Christmas
| story of Manhattan wherein a little
Dutch boy goes hunting for Christ
mas. In the company of st. Nicholas
and with good map of the things he
| wants to find he passes from one ad-
ventue to another in breathless
| tour Of discovery and enchantment
| X X *
THE ISLAND OF THE MIGHTY.
| Padraic Colum: The Macmillan Com
pany.) Here stories of King Arthur,
told as the old Gentle story tellers
used to give them. Padraic Columns
story opens when a youth rides into
the court of King Arthur. And this
youth strikes the keynote OF the
whole. For 1t is story of strength
and hope and high thoughts and brave
deeds Beautiful book.
THE BOOK OF SCOTLAND. (Sid-
ney Dark; George II. Doran Coz Sid
ney Dark is used to making books for
young readers. and older ones, too.
And you may in safety count on any
one of these books. So here, you
read of Mary of Scotland, of Bruce, of
Wallace, and those others who have
given to this land its own bitter
sweet flavor.
A GIRL OF THE PLAINS COUN-
TRY. (Alice MacGowan; Frederick k
A. Stokes Coz Just pure story this.
The story of a girl living on a ranch
in the great plains country OF Texas.
What she did day by day, mostly in
the saddle, how she came to know the
affairs of the ranch and how, finally,
it fell to her to carry on there, the
responsible head of the difficult busi-
ness-alf this will make you sit up,
IL you chance to be a girl, entirely
pleased with girls account Of herself.
X II
CREEPING JENNY AND OTHER
STORIES. (Kate Douglas Wiggin;
Houghton, MIff1in Company The
name of this author passes the book
itself right over into the hands Of
countless readers. Here is the same
bright spirit, the same vivid imag
ination. the same humor and the same
kindness, that without fail, animate
all the stories OF this beloved writer.
Stories OF New England, these, par
taking in part of the austere cast
of life in this quarter, but in
much larger part Of the sunny quail
ties of the author herself. a book
that will supplement the happiness
that lies in "Rebecca Of Sunnybrook
Farm" and in all the other stories by
Kate Douglas Wiggin.