Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), Tuesday 16 December 1947, page 6


BOOK RIVIEWS: I Tlii-^ëUnUMS

BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS IS ONLY a few

days away and perhaps you are thinking of buying a book as a present for some of your friends. Here are "summaries of copies now

available.

The Oyster and the Snail is a story in verse of Mr Snail's adven-tures When he decided to make the acquaintance of the occupant of the oyster shell.

He knocked on the shell and the

top slowly opened:

The inside of that oyster shell was

coloured pearly white;

It shone and sparkled in the sun,

and seemed all dazzling light;

While sitting in the centre, elad in

robes of misty grey,

A most attractive oyster smiled,

and bowed, and said "Good4ay."

This little book is brightly coloured, and would appeal to children of early school age.

Long Odds, by Eric Leyland, is a book with appeal for all boys who like excitement in the form of box-ing, horse racing, and general sport. The story concerns the Truscott twins, Henry and Tiny. The latter won the middleweight champion-ship of Broadwood, and helped to give the school the inter-college box-ing championship. Henry was more

concerned with horses, and their es- * capades with horses at point-to-point meetings make pleasant reading.

An unusual story with quite a share ol mystery and thrills is called The Spirit of Jem. Most probably the story is quite different from any you have read before, because it tells of happenings to three people - an elderly man in a bowler hat, a boy,

and a confident young man calle. The strange thing about the* people 'is that they all suffer ¡2 ^l5?-!"; tnin8-loss of memory. T|! plot thickens when a number of Z are discovered living in a cave « the seashore who have also forgotten who they are. Nobody can ansS the question as to why these peotikl have lost their memories. It is Sw gested that ,there is one person Z sponsible for this strange fact bli

nobody knows who he is

Another interesting feature in th» mystery is the problem of finding ¿u the owners of the mysterious shin that puts into the cove to unK? cargo in the middle of the night I A delightful book recently publia«)

MFHFSI tteLudey. MiskooTJ

little Eskimo boy who, when wato,

ng the icebergs go south St $J°' *_?' 2*e JuraPs int0 his fathaS little skin-boat, called a kayak i_j paddles out to a small iceberg shan*

very much like a canoe. UnííS ately as he climbs on to uti kai?a£ S«afcs awa.y' and he fads hff. self drifting southward with «Se el-

bergs. IW

Ws adventures, and the various animals he meets who help htaArrk the Seal, Morrug the WahT

Bsluga the Whale, and NyeuTE Snow Owl. are wonderful characters and the story holds the i_S3 throughout the pages. The draS

are excellent, and certainly the best we have seen for some time Thev give the right atmosphere for thV story. "ie

All the characters are pleasant personalities, with appeal to adults as well as children for whom the book

wes written. .