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THE librarian is always alive to cultural affairs whether in the realm of books themselves, or of music, art, or other activities which make life worth living. He is ever anxious to link them up with books by arranging exhibitions, musical recitals, dramatic reproductions, knowing that the encouragement of intellectual activity even in fields apparently remote from books all have their effect on reading.

THE value of encouraging reading and a love of books at an early age is now receiving more recognition among librarians. At a meeting of Children's Librarians held at the Annual Conference of the Library Association this summer it was the general opinion that librarians should provide a section of picture and easy reading books for the under‐nines. Too many librarians still refuse to recognise the needs of children under nine, and even fewer provide for the under‐sevens, though books for small children are more plentiful than those for older ones, and many are most artistically produced. Librarians and teachers should stop and consider the lot of children who come from bookless homes. In many cases their bookishness developed from their early introduction to books at home, and some are inclined to overlook the fact that not all children are so fortunate as to possess a family library. Of those who do, some mothers look upon books as untidy objects to be pushed away in cupboards, and regard reading as a waste of time, thus only the older and more determined children will develop an interest in reading under such adverse circumstances. They are encouraged by their school and public libraries and, if they are catered for, younger brothers and sisters will also become keen readers and have the foundations laid for a love of the best books which will make them discriminating readers in the future.

APART FROM FRANCE, Great Britain is one of the most centralised states of the Western European democracies; all roads lead to Whitehall and Westminster, and the pattern is repeated in town halls at the lower tier of local government. However, as a contrast, and perhaps as compensation for this centralism, British society has completely contradictory and counter‐vailing tendencies. At the grass roots Britain is a nation of associations, clubs, fellowships, societies and local organisaitions of various kinds. For the purposes of this article I will call them all societies. We are all familiar with national societies through G P Henderson and S P A Henderson's book, Directory of British associations (edition 6, cbd Research Ltd, Beckenham, Kent, 1980), but almost nothing is heard of their local equivalents. It is this phenomenon, and its implication for libraries, that I want to discuss.

Thousands of children, and many grown‐ups too, have at last had their patience rewarded by the appearance of another Arthur Ransome in the Swallows and Amazons series. There was general unhappiness last Christmas when there was no new tale, many children appearing to think that there must be something wrong and that Christmas would not, in fact, be Christmas without a Ransome. Much as authors dislike writing to order, Mr. Ransome would surely have been touched had he seen the disappointed faces. His readers now range from the under tens to the well‐over‐twenties, for the latter are still faithful to the favourite writer of their childhood. All ages will be delighted with Great Northern (Cape, 9/‐) in which the Walkers, Blacketts and Callums go sailing round the Hebrides with Captain Flint and have adventures appropriate to a Scottish setting. Dick's bird — watching activities start the children on the trail of the great northern diver in an effort to confirm an important scientific discovery. The figure of Mr. Jemmerling, the famous egg‐collector, looms dangerously near and he is not the only enemy to be avoided. In The Story of Migration (Harrap, 10/6) Mr. E. A. R. Ennion deals not only with birds but also with mammals, reptiles, fish and insects. The information is attractively presented and illustrated. A nature book for younger readers is J. M. Young's The Blue Bowl (Chambers, 7/6) which describes a country family, their pets (wild and tame) and the fascinating life of the countryside between Perth and Aberdeen. Another book for bright boys and girls is Roger Duvoisin's They put out to Sea (University of London Pr., 12/6) which tells how the world was discovered from the time of the earliest traders to the days of Magellan. This book is strikingly illustrated with line drawings on almost every page and double plates in bright colours; it includes sketch maps, a bibliography and an index. Boys interested in the sea can read of the everyday life of a cadet in the merchant navy in The First Tripper (O.U.P., 7/6) by Peter Dawlish. Interwoven among the adventures is much practical information for boys wanting to go to sea.

One hears sometimes of precocious children who can read before the average baby can talk, and this raises the interesting speculation as to when a child is old enough for books. Picture books and story‐telling undoubtedly make early appeal and educationists now consider book provision in nursery schools important in order to make the “under fives” book conscious before their schooling proper begins. More and more librarians now provide attractive A.B.C.'s such as Eileen Mayo's Nature's A.B.C. (Universal Text Books, Ltd., 6/‐) with its beautiful printing and illustrations; and gay picture books like Mary Shilla‐beer's We Visit the Zoo (Hutchinson, 4/6) in which there is just enough text to satisfy the young mind. Some librarians seem to have an objection to odd‐shaped books because of the shelving difficulty but the artist's requirements and the child's partiality for large‐size books should outweigh the slight inconvenience of arranging special shelving.

DO children know a good book when they see it? This question was debated at the Brighton Conference during the session on Work with Young People. Some delegates said “yes, children choose the best,” but others said “no” and instanced the craze for certain ephemeral authors. To some extent both sides were right, for much depends on the literary foundations laid in early days. Children who had good books in their homes, and had guidance at school and in the public library will pick out the best (with occasional lapses), while others often enough go for the second‐rate every time. Librarians are alive to this and accordingly provide the best picture and easy reading books from the presses and, incidentally, there seems to be a wider choice in this class of literature than for any other age group. On the informative side Harrap's have just published Hippo and Patches, attractively told and illustrated tales of a hippopotamus and her baby, and of a young giraffe, both written and illustrated by Joel Stolper (5/‐ each). Margaret M. Pearson's The Story of Australia (Harrap, 6/‐) gives the main facts of the discovery, early settlement and development of the continent in the form of a brightly illustrated story suitable for reading to the five‐to‐eight year olds. Mishka and the white Reindeer is a charmingly illustrated fairy tale by Alfred Wood (Dent, 6/‐) about a wood‐cutter whose friends were the creatures of the wild. The story is simply told and of the kind that children will read until they know it by heart. Mary Shillabeer's At First (Museum Press, 7/6) is an educational picture book designed to introduce children to the differences of sex by means of brightly coloured lithographs of animals and their offspring. They will love the gay pictures but whether they will lead “to the natural conclusion of the child's own relation to its parents” seems a bit doubtful considering the tender years the book is designed for. Other animal stories which will appeal to the youngest readers are Hester Wag‐staff's The Story of Fuzzy Wuzzy and Woolly Wonder (H. Hamilton, 6/‐), about two engaging bob tailed sheep dogs who play their part in the life of the town and win prizes in the Salvage Drive. The new method of illustration by colour photographs is used in The Friendly Adventures of Button and Mac, by Ursula Hourihane (O.U.P., 8/6), and the teddy bear and Scotch terrier heroes, their bedroom, their picnic with luncheon baskets, crockery, biscuits and all the minute detail children love, are attractively designed in colour, and in line drawings. The stories are designed for the six‐to‐ten year olds. The same age group and probably those a little older will enjoy the fancy in Frank Batchelor's Golden Journey (Newnes, 6/‐) in which a lean tabby, a musical hedgehog and an unaccomplished frog set off to find some money to comfort them in their old age, and the lesson they learn thereby. Another imaginative tale is The Flying House, written and illustrated by C. W. Hodges, about an inventor whose house is suddenly carried away by a balloon while he is showing it to two children. High up in the sky they come to a rocky island, encounter a witch and other strange things, but all ends well. For those who missed Walter de la Mare's The Dutch Cheese, The Scarecrow, and other stories there is now available his Collected Stories for Children (Faber, 10/6) containing these and many other tales, all illustrated by Irene Hawkins. The Brownie Scouts is a Polish children's classic by the late Mary Konopnicka, poetess, novelist and traveller; it is published by the Riverside Press at 10/6. It is in the old tradition of fairy tales with plenty of difficulties to overcome and with lively conversation giving it a modern touch. The brownie people depicted are a likeable lot and should become favourites.

Containing as it does many of the finest books published in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Garrison Library of Gibraltar is no ordinary services' library. Its founding was due to that perceptive Captain (later Colonel) John Drinkwater, author of one of the most famous histories of the Great Siege of Gibraltar which lasted from 1779–1783, the History of the late siege (Spilsbury, 1785). Having suffered from a lack of reading material during the siege, Colonel Drinkwater saw the need for a good circulating library and club as a means of saving the officers of the garrison from “having their minds enervated and vitiated by dissipitation”. His appeal for books, shortly after the seige, attracted nearly 500 gifts which enabled the library to open pending the arrival of the 674 volumes on order from London, there being no bookshop in Gibraltar at that time.

MODERN novels are not as profuse as Victorian ones in the description of libraries in the home. In the last century a library, or at least a study well lined with books, was a necessary proof of the social standing of the hero, but not always of his education. This is not so noticeable in present‐day fiction, perhaps because with the advent of universal education almost every family has its collection of books and consequently the possession of a library does not impress the ordinary reader. To‐day the library is all too frequently considered important only as the scene of some mystery or gruesome murder. There are, however, a few authors, such as Edith Wharton, who reveal their love of reading in their delightful descriptions of books.

IT is curious to note how many more books are written for boys than for girls. Considering the growing number of women writers, it might be expected that girls' books would predominate. It may be that women writers are canny enough to write with their eye on the boy reader knowing that while a totally feminine story will not attract boys, girls often read their brothers' books. Most of the children's classics appeal to both sexes—Peter Pan, Pinocchio, A Christmas Carol, Hans Brinker, The Wind in the Willows, and The Bastable Children, for example. Even the classics of adventure such as Treasure Island, and Robinson Crusoe, have their female devotees and therefore stand a greater chance of survival than books like Little Women, the Katy series, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. With the development of the “family story” popularised by E. Nesbit, there seems to have been a decline in the school story—at least among boys. Either they prefer natural tales of boys and girls together at home, or on holiday, or realistic adventures. A. S. Tring keeps a foot in all three camps, so to speak, with his tale of out‐of‐school activities, adventures and feuds between two day schools. His story entitled The Old Gang (O.U.P., 7/6) is told by the hero himself, in a racy style, and is amusingly illustrated by John Camp. Of the realistic adventure type is The Missing Legatee, by Wilfrid Robertson (O.U.P., 7/6), and it has its setting in the wilds of the Zambesi where the author himself has made expeditions, exploring and big game hunting. It satisfies the boy's demand for plenty of action and at the same time conforms to a good stylistic standard. Another tale of a search undertaken at great risk is David Gammon's Against the Golden Gods (Lutterworth, 5/‐) in which a seventeen year old boy goes out among the head hunters of Papua to rescue his captive father. Fog in the Channel, by Percy Woodcock (Nelson, 7/6) relates stirring adventures by sea, beginning with a collision in the fog when two schoolboys board a mysterious vessel supposed to be on secret service.

CHEKHOV'S SHORT STORIES reveal, above all, his observation and love of mankind. He depicts people as they are—good, bad, or a mixture of qualities and defects—never judging them or moralizing; he even seems to love them all equally and is, indeed, a kind of Russian Chaucer in the way he stands aside and observes. Cruelty is the only sin he condemns.