The Key West citizen., 1952-12-13

pS normally SOlcltOuS dDOut tnS
lWellbeing of the children. The
kbrother of the hero particularly Is
/ almost annoyingly eager to guide
his younger brother. If he fumnleS
the guidance ball, he certainly does
what any other brother might have
done under similar circumstances
unless he were genius of a scout
master or an experie nc d
lpSyehiatrist.
Revolt against parents and
teachers is a natural part of grow
! ing up. So are fancicS and certain
experiments in love and sex. These
lfic;ional children are exaggerated
case Of where both of these
impulses may lead. 1t probably will
be the hope of the adult reading
public nat real adolescents are not
as depraved and delinquent in act
ions as all adoleScents seem to be
increasingly in modern fiction.
JUNIOR SELECTIONS
/ (WHEN THE MISSISSIPPI WAS
WILD by lie Grand, child's picture
book Tor ages to s, published by
Abingdon CokeSbury Press, New
York City, 46 pages).
Fasc ting fellows crowd
American folklore Davey Crock
EFT. Paul Bunyan. Rip Van Wrinkle,
the Yankee Pedlar.
One of the most colorful of all is
Mike Fink. the Mississippi boat
man. This child's book features
Mike and the frontier legend Of Old
AL, big alligator who lives in the
Mississippi river and makes the
storms from the Gulf of Mexico,
clean UP to Pigs Eye. Minnesota.
by thraShing the water with his
tail.
Nike Fink was the only riverman
who wasn't afraid of old AIS
storms. In fact he wasn't afraid of
anything. In those frontier days of
covered wagons he fought wildcats
and bears and Indians.
Settlers came to Mississippi and
they couldn't cross to go to the
west because of Old AL thrashing
the water with his tail and making
storms. They asked Nike Fink to
help them.
Mike Fink shouted, Il am half
horse and half wildcat. will fight
Old al and tie up his tail so he can't
thrash it around and make storms.
| viii do it so the west can get
settled.
Then Mike Fink whooped like an
Indian, jumped higher than the
trees and cracked his heels to-
gether one hundred and twenty
times before he came down. And
from that page on Mike goes on a
hunt for Old AL. And what hunt it
isl II runs thru big-print pages of
prose and illustrations of black,
white and green TO the last roaring
fight and climax.
taiISS FLORA MeFLIMSEY'S
BIRTHDAY. chiId's picture book
written and illustrated by Mariana,
ages 4 TO s, published BY Lothrop,
Lee and shepard Co., New York
,city.1
Flora MeFlimsey Is a little doll
who lives in a dolls house of a
small girl. In other slim volumes,
the author and illustrator has taken
Ter through short and pastel tales
about Christmas eve, an Easter
bonnet and the Baby New Year.
This latest Is about Miss Flora's
birthday. The story is all tangled
with pink birthday cakes and
parasols, fluffy feathe-ed hats and
Tuhy Putin birds who look a lot
like penguins.
II seems In the morning nobody
in the dolls house remembers II is
Miss FloFas birthday, not .he big
rag doll. Gigi the clown, Pook0o cat
or the little girl.
50 Hiss Flora takes her hat and
her gloves and goes away. She
floats out into the summer air on
ier parasol. And What happens 10
her through the hours Of the day
until the dusk when she fails ker.
plsink into the daisy field ID front Of
the dolls house IN the story.
AEd of course everything turns
out in the prettiest fashion, or The
children might find out too soon
that ell is not secure and safe