Influence of world events upon children's books in the United States was slight, and showed chiefly by indirection, such as in the choice of subjects for stories of child life in foreign parts rather from South America or Canada than from overseas, and when the country was chosen from the continent of Europe, showing preference for one that was not on the invading side. The general tone of such stories, however, was gentle, peaceful and happy: sometimes the happiness was peculiarly touching to an older reader, as it depended upon reminiscence. Stories for young folks can choose their own time in history, and need not carry, like adult fiction, the burdens of today's troubles; this year they brought back our own pioneer past, and without pressing the point overmuch, reminded our children of our own traditions of fortitude and anonymous heroism. A somewhat belated recognition that our adult ideas on the nature of democracy were not clearly formulated led to a scurry of small books for young people in which attempts were made to define it. A generation of children brought up in untrammelled self-expression reached the teen age and rather pathetically demanded etiquette books, so that the appearance of manuals of polite behavior with provocative titles and illustrations meant to catch the eye of young people, was a minor feature of the year's publishing.
Prizes and Medals.
The strong influence for good exerted by the public libraries in the United States, and the contribution to this of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, make the award of these the chief feature of the year's prize-giving. The John Newbery Medal went to Daniel Boone, written and illustrated by James Daugherty; the Caldecott Medal, for excellence of illustrations, to Abraham Lincoln, a picture-book life with colored lithographs, written and illustrated by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. The Spring Festival Prizes offered each year by the New York Herald-Tribune have in four years succeeded in breaking the log-jam of publications just before Christmas, to secure more even distribution; this year they were won by That Mario, an amusing tale of a Filipino boy by Lucy Herndon Crockett in the class of books for young children, while for older young folks the award was to Cap'n Ezra, Privateer, by James D. Adams, an adventure story of the War of 1812. The prize of the Julia Ellsworth Ford Foundation, for the encouragement of works of the imagination, was given to Lucy Embury for a romantic story of ancient Ireland, The Listening Man.
Picture Books.
Picture books were less noticeable this year because the general level of illustration of juveniles has risen so high that what would once have been exceptional is now taken for granted. April's Kittens, by Claire Newberry, however, would have been outstanding in any year; this famous artist-author, whose specialty is irresistible kittens, gave us a book that is being collected by old as well as young; Lovina, text and pictures by Katharine Milhous, a story of Pennsylvania German life introducing traditional design and decoration in bright colors; Presents for Lupe, Dorothy Lothrop's colored lithographs of a South American squirrel; Punch and Judy adapted by Margaret Wise Brown from the traditional dialogue and accompanied with true showman's gay-colored pictures by Leonard Weisgard; The Great Geppy by William Pên du Bois, an absurd 'mystery' story about a horse with horizontal stripes; and Gustav Tenggren's Mother Goose, whose colored plates realized to the full the possibilities of these robust characters, are among the most popular of the illustrated juveniles. Animals Everywhere, by the d'Aulaires, a panorama of creatures the world over; Kersti and Saint Nicholas, by Hilda von Stockum, with charming domestic scenes from Holland; Happy Times in Czechoslovakia, by Libushka Battusek, with glowing pictures in characteristic hues and designs by Yanka Bures; Ludwig Bemelmans' Fifi, an extravaganza about a French poodle in Africa; Children of the Sea, Wilfrid Bronson's story and pictures of the friendship of a Nassau child and a dolphin; Rafly and the Honkebeest, by Rita Kissin and Charles Bracker, a racing giraffe in pictures that fly past; and Hercules, by Hardie Gramatky, story of an old-fashioned fire-engine in modified cartoon technique, also stand out among colored picture books. Among the black-and-whites front places were held by Lentil, Robert McCloskey's all-American small-town small boy with a passion for harmonica playing; the magnificent horse lithographs of C. W. Anderson in Deep Through the Heart, and the tender portraits of little-girlhood by Margot Austin, and of babyhood by Charlotte Becker. The most successful collaboration of author and artist was made by A Book for Jennifer, story by Alice Dalgliesh, pictures in black and white and color by Katharine Milhous, in which from cover and jacket to the last detail of story and pictures the atmosphere of child life in London in the days of Dr. Johnson was evoked and made charming; the story centered in the juvenile bookshop of John Newbery.
Typography.
A gratifying feature of the improvement of production in children's books is that it extends to typography as well as illustration. This was demonstrated in 1939 by the proportion of children's literature to be found among the carefully selected 'Fifty Best Books' of the year; the choice of this year's books has not been announced as this goes to press, but the Trade Book Clinic during 1940 has continually pointed out for commendation such children's books as Mario and the Chuna, by Esther Greenacre Hall; The Fair Adventure, by Elizabeth Janet Gray, a post-high-school story; A New Mexico Boy, by Helen L. Marshall; Young Hickory, by Stanley Young, a life of Andrew Jackson for the teens; Stories of the Gods and Heroes, by Sally Benson retelling myths from Bulfinch's Age of Fable; The Fair American, by Elizabeth Coatsworth, in old New England; Flipper, by Irma Simonton Black, the story of a sea lion; The Pleasant Pirate, by John B. L. Goodwin and Warren Chappel; Honorable Goat, by Helen Cory Bliss, a Chinese mission hospital's mascot; Hill Doctor, by Hubert Skidmore, a young man's struggle to save backwoods patients from their own ignorance; and a striking Little History of the United States by Mable Pyne, in which little children are given a condensed but comprehensive account of our national career with small, lively colored pictures for every few words of text, were also praised. Attention to good printing reached even a kind of book formerly more used than honored — the literal translation of a Latin text, Caesar's Gallic War, designed by Helen Gentry with spirited line drawings, by Fritz Kredel, was too dignified to be called a pony.
Big Road Walker, told by a colored raconteurs in the South to Eula G. Duncan and given creative illustrations by Fritz Kredel, was a contribution to our folklore that deserves a place, in the class of Uncle Remus; Pecos Bill and Lightning, by Leigh Peck, with bouncing drawings by Kurt Wiese, introduced this national hero to little boys. The American Mother Goose, by Ray Wood, gathered together counting-out and other chanted rhymes of our country, especially from the Middle West.
Historical Stories.
Stories of American history blending entertainment with reliability included the annual installment of Laura Ingalls Wilder's record of her own and her husband's childhood, The Long Winter, the whole forming an undertaking of high importance; Blueberry Corner, Lois Lenski's story of Connecticut in the forties; The Lost Locket, Ethel Parton's story of Newburyport, Mass., in the thirties; They Were Strong and Good, Robert Lawson's own family history presented with memorable strength and goodness; Clear for Action, by Stephen Meader, in 1812; Young Mac of Fort Vancouver, by Mary Jane Carr and Michel's Island, by Mabel Leigh Hunt, stories of voyageur and Indian life; Lock Her Through, by Erick Berry, its scene laid on the Erie Canal; The Brave Frontier, by Helen Fuller Orton, Schoharie in the Revolution; Call of the Mountain, by Cornelia Meigs about pioneer Vermont; Up the River to Danger, by Elizabeth Palmer, Indian uprisings in Minnesota during the Civil War; a junior novel of unusual insight, Without Valor, by Laura Long concerning Copperhead activity in an Indiana town during the Civil War; and Capitan, by Lucy H. Crockett, a mule's eye view of U.S. Army history since the outset of the Spanish-American War, are likewise notable.
Home Life.
There were stories of home and family life in the United States that could be preserved as source material for future historians. Greased Lightning, by Sterling North, will bring back a Fourth of July celebration in a small town, with its greased pig race and decorated floats. The Sea Is All Around, by Elizabeth Enright, winner of last year's Newbery Medal, continues the childhood of the young heroine of that story with her own colored illustrations. Elijah the Fishbite, by Agnes Sleigh Turnbull, and At the End of Nowhere, by Florence Crannell Means, show life in a Minister's family. Adventure North, by Kathrene Pinkerton, records some of the last trapping done by a family of city folks in the Canadian fur country. The Year of Jubilo, by Ruth Sawyer, concerns the process of growing-up; Champion's Choice, by John Tunis and the same author's The Kid from Tompkinsville are reliable sports-careers in tennis and in baseball; Iron Doctor by Agnes Danforth Hewes depicts a young diver's life; Aprilly Weather by Margaret Tomsen Raymond, portrays high school ambitions; and Blue Horizon, by Mary Wolfe Thompson tells about the complicated career of getting a start in interior decorating.
The most valuable historical stories of other lands were The White Isle, by Caroline Dale Snedeker, concerning Britain and the lands of the Gallic wars in the first Christian century; He Went with Christopher Columbus, by Louise Andrews Kent; Last Clash of Claymores, by Maribelle Cormac and William P. Alexander, a romance of the decline of the house of Stuart; Luck of Scotland, by Ivy Bolton, in the time of the Bruce; and Akka, Dwarf of Syracuse, by A. C. Vaughan, laid in the third century bc.
Biography.
Strong, sustained interest in biography for younger readers has developed along two lines. The first is the simple, copiously illustrated introduction, intended for children younger than those who have hitherto found biography readable; this was well represented by Boat Builder, by Clara I. Judson and Early American, by Mildred M. Pace, respectively Robert Fulton and Paul Revere; Tom Edison Finds Out, by the Lowitzes, a laughable picture-story for young children about Edison's early experiments; and the musical biographies of Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher, whose feature is inclusion of easily played short selections from the works of the composer represented: this year's was Edwin MacDowell and His Cabin in the Pines. The second development is the biography for a beginner of any age, usually having more pictures than an adult one, but taking pains not to 'write down' to an audience in the teens. To this class belongs May Lamberton Becker's Introducing Charles Dickens which on its appearance was favorably reviewed as an adult book as often as it was in the juvenile department; Nansen, a stately record by Anna Gertrude Hall, with Artzybasheff's decorations; River Boy, Isabel Proudfit's life of Mark Twain; The Gay Poet, by Jeannette Nolan, a life of Eugene Field; Leo Lerman's Leonardo da Vinci; and a historical series including Stanley Young's life of Andrew Jackson already mentioned, and Big Knife, the adventurous career of George Rogers Clarke, by the author of The Wabash in the Rivers of America books.
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