Evening star., 1937-11-13
By NC. r.

Y YEAR after year Children's Book
" Week rolls around, bringing to
the otherwise cheerful reviewer
4 = depressing reminder Of her
abysmal ignorance Of q matter called
pedagogy" Surely, she says to her
self as these annual crises occur and re-
occur, surely am not Doing My Duty
BY My Public. Ought not . good critic
be able, in the approved drill sergeant
fashion Of the day, to regiment chill
drens literature into Classif1cations?
Ought not such a good critic be able
to list the new fairy tales and picture
books into some such categories as
these:
l. Books suitable for babies who
suffer from q split personality.
2. Books suitable for infants with
an 10 denoting something or other.
3. Books suitable for little boys with
mother complexes.
4. Books suitable for little gels with
father dittos.
S. Books which will offer Junior q
wholesome substitute for that instinc-
tive self-expression q his which other
wise asserts itself by throwing rocks
at the neighbors' cats.
6. Books which will direct Sisters
normal output of energy toward con-
Germ for wiping the dishes.
7. Books artfully designed to per-
suade the younger generation, without
destroying individuality, that it is un-
Ucn1acnnoa m o,,f int ha 81
in front Of speeding automobiles.
8. And Other Nonsense.
Ought not good critic be able to
arrange some such Really Construc-
tive basis for classifying the work of
those very excellent artists who today
write and illustrate volumes for chill
dren? Well. as far as this good critic
thousand times NO! Not though
Children's Book Week does correspond
to National Cheese Week with an in
escapable suggestiveness.
No. this critic finds Children's Book
Week time of irresponsible and
thoroughly enjoyable relaxation. She
gathers up the juveniles which have
accumulated on her shelves, spreads
them out over the floor. goes down on
her hands and knees and starts SAM
pling. This volume about the little
pig now-it may have a fine Char
acter Building twang to it somewhere.
But the critics delight is in the gay
and dainty pictures and her admira-
tions is for the great skill used in fit
ting text and pictures together to pro-
duce shrewdly calculated effect. The
little pig may be the very acme Of in
citement toward inculcation of cor
relation Of coordination of develop
ment of the habits of thrift, spinach
and hatred of ice cream cones. Yes.
it may. What the reviewer likes, how
ever, is the little pigs pictures. So on
that light-minded basis she offers her
estimate Of some of the juveniles of
1897.
a MONG the picture books, then, let
it be said that the most delectable
of all. in the aforesaid light-minded
writer's opinion, is the volume recently
concocted by Dr.. Seuss, he who car
toons fantastic inventions for doing
simple things in the most difficult
manner possible. DR., Seuss calls this
volume And to Think That 1 Saw it
on Mulberry Street." and it is grand.
1t tells the story of little boy whose
papa demanded that he remember and
report what he had seen on the way
home from school. Obviously this par
ent was pedagogical-minded himself
and earnestly believed that the best
interests of his child required incite-
ment toward inculcation of correlation
OF coordination of something or other
But his conscientious efforts to bring
such estimable results about only en-
barraSsed his son, who. very senSibly,
realized that there was nothing par
ticular to be seen along Mulberry street
and no reason for looking for anything.
either. However, in order to oblige
his father. he set his mind to imac-
lining what might happen on that
familiar thoroughfare, and it all makes
delicious book. Pedagogues or scien-
tific book statesmen may inform you
for what mental age it is most suitable.
If that turns out to be five, then the
reviewer is five herself. For she got
real fun out OF DR.. Seuss' volume VAN
guard Press is the publisher.
After it, running it good second,
comes Monro Leafs and Ludwig Be-
melmans' Noodle" published by the
Viking Press Noodle" is a little
dachshund who wished he was diff
ferent shape because when he dug
very deep he was so long back and
forth and so short up and down that
the dirt he kicked up with his front
paws would hit him in the tummy"
He had some adventures with the dog
fairy as a result of this wish, and in
the end demonstrated what an emf
nently sensible little canine he was.
Noodle" is not as good as "Ferdi-
nand," which was Mr.. Leafs preceding
volume, Illustrated by Robert Lawson,
but it is pretty good even so. 1t
seems to stand high among the juve-
niles of recent appearance.
A ND yet another picture book which
afforded the reviewer considerable
fun is Phil Stong's High Water" with
illustrations by Kurt Wiese. Mr.. Stong
Is the author of the delightful "Honk
the Moose" of two seasons ago and in
High Water" he seems to have done
1t again. High Water" is the story
OF the efforts OF three Iowa farm boys
and their friend, the. hired man, to
move Mexico, pet burro, out of the
way of the rising Des Moines River.
Mexico had a habit of thinking, it
seems, and when he thought he re-
fused to do anything else. He was
thinking as the flood waters rose. and
greatly resented being hustled to
safety. Mr.. Wieses pictures are a
fine job and the text is delightful.
Grown-ups ought to like this story,
while children ought to find it simply
breathless. The publisher is Dodd,
Mead g. Co.
THE Strange Adventures of Myrtle
| the Turtle" also deserves to come in