THE BITTERN'S NEST

The direction of this book is a baffler. It looks like an Easy Reading title, with its large type and page layout. Even the pictures- line drawings by the author- and the vocabulary mark it as intended for not older than second year reading. And yet the central character, Blair, has her twelfth birthday as the story opens- and before it ends, she has faced up to two difficult truths in human relations, not far from Charleston, and Blair's best friend, Debby, who had moved away two years before, comes back for a visit which proves too long for both children. The substance of a tender story is here; but any twelve year old would be repelled by what looks like a book for an eight year old little sister.