SNIPS AND SNAILS

Of universal appeal, this author's account, flip and glossy, maybe, of her term as first lady in a wealthy boys' school in Arizona. For she does write with understanding of the loneliness, the abandonment, the naughtiness and the personality quirks which beset her 8 and 9 year olds with sympathy and understanding; she does not condone the parents' long distance and dollar sign attentions; she is right in there fighting against the Head's snobbish and aloof treatment of both boys and staff; she makes excuses for the dullards and their brilliant counterparts; she is alert to the propulsions behind dorm and study hall upheavals; and her accounting of life at The Oaks, with her little Acorns, has its moving moments. Joe, another instructor, is her companion and champion, and his death, in saving a local boy, writes the end to this quite funny, quite discerning accounting. A wider appeal here than in Out On A Limb, and Party Line, her earlier and popular titles.