THE DARK OF THE CAVE

This is a story built on a foundation of the best intentions, but with weak supports. It deals with the friendship of two 9 year old boys, one of whom is blind. Not until the very end, after a successful operation on Ronnie's cataracts, is it actually acknowledged that his friend Garth is a Negro, although it's not likely that many readers will be surprised by this revelation. Prior to this, the two rescue another neighborhood boy from a cave, who had always shown unreasonable hostility towards Garth. This unstated approach to race relations is a sound one. Unfortunately, however, the lack of any real adventure or strong characters simply focuses attention on the lesson which might have been more subtly realized.