MORO BOY

An unsatisfactory blend of factual data, fantasy and what reads like a bit of hocus-pocus...Eight year old Alug, a Moro boy of Mindinao, has a most confusing adventure with a strange boy from the mountain regions- adventures which at the end seem almost to take on a dream quality. The search for the lost tribe of his new friend, the over-emotional attitude towards the older boy, the very adult understanding he shows for the new friend's strange behavior and his logical rationalizing of the boy's beliefs and customs, all seem unconvincing in any eight-year old. For this age group, the handling of a culture remote from our own should be simpler- or else more definitely subordinated to the plot than in this book, where interest lags.