KATIE AND NAN GO TO SEA

By this time, Katie and Nan have at least reached the age of their readership. But this book, like Katie and Nan (1965, p. 678-J226) still suffers from the fact that the author's viewpoint is overbearingly adult and downward looking--a perspective that children won't like taking of themselves. Most of the story describes the adventures, and some minor but well-timed, all too familiar misadventures, of the two sisters and their family aboard their rebuilt fishing boat Dunkan. Here again, however, the seafaring orientation of the Scandinavians may not be quite effective with an American audience. The early chapters describe Mama's pregnancy and the arrival of twins, and the casual, frank discussion of Mama's condition and shape may be helpful for elder-sisters-to-be. Katie and Nan are healthy, active, robust types--sometimes annoyingly unglamorized and spoiled (for instance, Nan's petulance when her birthday proceedings are interrupted by the babys' birth) and the black and white illustrations by Eva Zetterlund make them look gross.