THE LIONS FED THE TIGERS

A kneepants account of a year in the boyhood of Ian McAleenan in a small town in Canada during the depression years- when only the coffin factory whistle blew- this is quite unretouched and most disarming. For although Ian, and his friends Ely and Peebles and Dusty, live in the shadow of their parents' joblessness- and hopelessness in a town which is quite dead ever since his Uncle Rufus shut down his shoe factory, boys will be boys and they have their exciting escapades. They steal from the junk man Mooney and sell it right back; they prowl through the abandoned factory; Ian entertains a first blushing admiration for Adrienne and his pretty Latin teacher presents an awareness of livelier subjects; and finally, discounting their parents' advice, their belief in the impossible is rewarded when they go off to look for trout in a stream that's all fished out-and return with sixteen dozen. This test of faith- corroborated -- is enough for their elders, who finally convinces Ian's grandfather to invest what little money he has left to reopen Rufus' shoe factory.... Not important, but an appealing book for which one can easily acquire a special affection.