Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-08-04

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on textbooks: Erick Berry is
dinavia with a notebook full
Of sketches and possible plots.
Some Of these travellers
come home with portfolios of
material for nonfiction titles,
like the Challenge books ed
tied by Patricia LAUDER.
Others produce adventure
and mystery stories with au-
thentic regional background.
Boys and girls welcome any
good story which is worth
reading for its own sake. If
1t happens to be laid in Paris,
or London, or Tokyo. all the
better.
Few story-tellers are as
well-prepared as Claire HUI
Chef Bishop to write q chill
dren's book about Paris.
Born in France. she has spent
many years in the United
States as librarian and story
teller. Her talent for humor
and suspense are well DEM
onStrated in TOTO'S TRI-
UMPH Viking. $2.50). the
story Of a Partisan family.
Pampered Pet in Paris
Toto is q parrot, the PAM
pered pet OF Mime. Champol-
lion, superintendent Of the
apartment house where MIC
olas and his family finally
manage to find a roof over
their heads instead of a leaky
tent. Just in time, too, for
Paris winters can be very
wet and cold.
Maman plans a special
treat to celebrate their good
fortune. Even though the
price Of leaks is Sky-high,
she prepares potato-and-leak
soup for dinner. Believe me,
with such soup. as the old
saying goes. / wouldn't call
the king my own cousin!"
But good fortune does not
last long. and Nicolas plays
a desperate game of hide
and-seek in an effort to help.
How a friendly tramp and a
parrots feather lead him
home again turns what might
have been a tragedy into q
comedy Of errors.
The Bad Hat
Madeline" by Ludwig
Bemelmans has been for so
long another Partisan favor
lite that 1t was a shock to me
to read his latest picture
book, MADELINE AND THE
BAD HAT viking. $500.
The illustrations are sophis-
ticated and funny, as usual,
but the story seems in poor
taste. A child's picture book
is no place to ridicule the
Spanish. or any other ma
tionality. And when the au-
thor confuses a vegetarian
with a humanitarian, he
shows himself careless as well
as prejudiced.
Secrets In Florence
Florence. Italy, comes on
very well this season on two
age levels: A picture book by
Lisl Well, l WISH. 1 WISH
Houghton. $2.5W and a
modern adventure for early
teens, THE GOLDEN DOORS
by Edward Fenton Double
day. $2.75). Both authors
include factual background
without spelling the pace of
their stories.
Il Wish. I Wish" centers
around a little girl and a
lost cat wearing a locket.
Gay pictures in black and
yellow show cats and kittens,
priests and policemen, in a
mao search for the cats mis-
tress through the markets
and museums of Florence.
THE Golden Doors" has
a vagabond hero. a music
loving Italian boy who rescues
two Americans from bore
dom. Their friendship is a
secret one, involving a stolen
painting and much eating of
Italian specialties, so wildly
described you want to lick
your mustache" too. No
wonder 1.-THE Golden Doors"
is one Of the few children's
books bought by Hollywood.
GOatbOy for Hire
Abdullah, the Arab village
boy, was always hungry, so
hungry that he finally Of
fered his services as goatboy
for a mere half penny a day.
Luckily. the Bedouin was a
fair master. in spite of his
ambition to own q flock Of
camels and a wife.
Katherine Eyre tells how
Dullah's own ambitions
change as he follows his
master through the long hot
miles to Bethlehem and helps
him rescue ancient treasure
Based on the Dead Sea
scrolls, CHILDREN OF