Evening star., 1936-11-14
By NC. r.
.HIS being Book week IL once
more behooves reviewers TO
turn attention To n suecial

L ="
advertise as books for the kiddies'
and which sedate librarians call sim.
ply "children's books"
The reviewer does not know
whether she is juvenile, or kiddie
or child, but suspects ANONYMOUSLY
that she has a dash Of all three, f0l
-confession-these books seem to hel
among the most felicitous Issued
While she hastens each week to clear
her shelves of the current output oi
works on economies and the coming
revolution and banking crises. she a.
lows such stories - those Of Puddle
the Baby Hippo and Billy Butter the
Goat TO remain in heaps about hel
once. And the reason Il. she admits
that she likes them. Indisputably
the quality Of ehildren's books Il high
today. The texts are often subtiy
good, while poor illustrations are the
great exception. Hence Book week
causes this writer no pain, but, on the
contrary, presents an opportunity for
criticiHng highly sensible works
| OF all the variety of Juveniles"
which come the reviewer prefers the
animal story. This may be due to the
fact that she possesses IN undevel-
oped mind; II 80 how admirably she
must reflect the minds Of your chill
dreni At any rate. next to going to
the circus or the ZOO, she Il most
delighted with . nice brightly col
ored volume Of animal stories.
Happily, these are in the majority.
Among the books for children now
on her shelves she finds no less than
seven animal tales Of high quality.
The one Of these which, IN her
opinion. ranks first Is Fierce Pace. :"
by Dhan Gopal Mukerji. with Illus
trations by the always delightful
Dorothy p. LAthrop. It Is the story
Of tiger cub and is published by
Z. p. Dutton Co.
IT WOULD be hard to find illustra-
tions more imaginative and ap-
pealing than those which appear in
this little volume. On looking for
some moments at the end papers
Of little Fierce Face himself, the
reviewer thoughtfully called DR.. Mann
to inquire II there were any way in
which a tiger kitten could be properly
reared in q small apartment. DR..
Mann said no.
Quite as enchanting Is sierra Rosa's
recent book The Adventures of
Lappy Cushion TAIL" with llustra-
tioas by Glenna LAtimer. also Dutton
publication. Lappy Cushion Tail Is
q baby rabbit who has an adventurous
young life, indeed. The humor Of
Glenna Latimer's Illustrations is Of o
gay. subtle kind which ought to please
anybody capable Of rejecting it, and
the frankly fantastic text should be
. delight to any child not an un-
Considerably realistic little brute.
"Keema Of the Monkey People" is
another animal story which has first
| rate text and Illustrations. The author
Is Walter J. Wilwerding and he has
also made the illustrations. The Mac
milan Co. is the publisher. Mr.. VIII
wording brings realism to his numer-
Gus drawings Of jungle beasts+alliga-
tors. balloons, tigers, blue monkeys and
such fauna-for he has lived in the
African country about which he writes
His pictures. indeed. have an almost
Photographic quality. His test is a
little ON the conventional side, how
ever; it tells of how Keema, after
escaping numerous perils, fought his
way to leadership Of the monkey troop
and one feels somehow that It is a
rather moral tale, simian Alger. as
it were. But Alger never injured any
one. it seems fairly safe to say.
CTIIL among Jungle creatures, but
In habitat far from the Jungle
land. is the story Of Puddle" a real
baby hippcpotamus, who was born in
the Chicago Geological Park. This
book is Illustrated by photographs, but
they are very ffne photographs indeed.
They catch all the engaging piggy
young innocence Of the baby monster
admirably. and, showing him in con-
trast to his vast mother, make quite
an appealing little brute Of him. The
story covers the first year Of his life.
The authors are Ruth Ann waring
and Helen Wells, who also made the
photographs. The publisher is Rand
McNaiiy & Co.
Then, not forgetting that the animal
which child tnstinctively loves best
Is perhaps the bear, we come to 1.-THE
Story Of Freginald." by Walter r.
Brooks, with Illustrations by Kurt
Weise and published by Alfred A.
Knopf. Freginaid Is an ingenious young
animal indeed. He joins the circus and
has some extremely good adventures
with the other members of the cast,
notably with Leo the lion. This text
Is more ambitious than is common
among animal stories. The book Is $50
pages long and really makes O tale Of
some development. Needless to say 1t
Is completely fanciful, q Wizard Of
Or sort Of thing. In terms Of the
animal kingdom. The illustrations
are satirically amusing.
Billy Butter" Is another highly en-
gaging annual, young goat which
attached himself to the Giovanni
family Of Telegraph Hill, San Fran
cisco. Billy owes his being to Berta
and Elmer Hader, who have presented
him to their public both in black and
white and In color The work Of these |
col1aborarors Is suffctentfy well known
not to require much description. Billy. |
sufice 1t to say, Is O worthy successor
to Spunky, and that Is praise. The
Macmillan Co. Is the publisher.
The last Of these pleasant works to
be mentioned here deserves special
commendation ia washing tonians'
notice, for It Is the work of WASH
ington author. It Is 'The Diary Of
Ducky Daddles," by Eunice NJ.
Obenschain, who makes her home IN
this city. "Ducky Daddles" was q
small duck, as you may have guessed.
and his life was spent in the environs
Of . Virginia harnyard- He kept . |
dairy Of the sights and happenings
of his Interesting life, and Mrs.
Obenschain seems to have translated