THE SCRIBNER ANTHOLOGY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

by Anne--Ed. Diven ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1976

Forty-seven previously unpublished works for children, each too wobbly to stand alone, are brought together in the apparent belief that there is strength in numbers. Contributors include several solid professionals and at least one star--Arnold Lobel. He is represented by a pleasant little illustrated joke whose style suggests that it was conceived as an easy reader but deemed unworthy by the man who made an art form of the genre. The poems by May Swenson, Arnold Adoff, Nikki Giovanni, and others are similarly dismissible. Typical of the fiction, in turn, are a corny Christmas story by Natalie Savage Carlson, a silly mystery by Frank Bonham, and (possibly the best of the batch) a sentimental tale by Joan Aiken about a lonely postman who steals letters. Filler includes comic strips by Uri Shulevitz and Jose Aruego (which, larger in size and concept, might have been picture books), and--by less prominent contributors--a mildly amusing miniplay, a recipe, a maze, interviews with a beekeeper and a YFF young animator, and instructions for making photo-grams and Ukrainian Easter eggs or, when you're bored at table, doing napkin tricks. Of the lot, the only selection that would inspire us to lay down our napkin is Arnold Roth's lively, literate memoir of a classroom escapade in Ireland. And the wide diversity in terms of age appeal won't help place this. See review

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION