The test of an exciting story is it good to read aloud?

THE gulf between the books children like to read and the sort of literature child psychologists say is good for them, probably accounts for the increasing illiteracy of school-leavers. I have never yet come across a young child who did not like to listen to. and then read for himself, as soon as possible, Enid Blyton's Noddy stories. According to some pundits. Noddy is ex. tremely bad for little psyches; but there cannot seem much point in learning to read at all, if the reward is a diet of milk and water.
However much we may regret it, children like stories about witches and magic and animals and scary things generally.
Parents and relatives buying books for Christmas presents will, of course, have their own ideas about what is suitable, and there is a large selection of all types for all tastes and ages available this year.
Animals are al way s favourite, and elephants more favourite than most with the very young. Barbar is the King of the Elephants, and two books about him — Barber and That Rascal Arthur, and Barbar's Castle by Laurent de Brunhoff (Methuen 75p each) are innocuous little stories with few words and lots of coloured pictures which manage to include Barbar and his family in every sort of fun situation, from wearing suits of armour to flying in aeroplanes.
Rather less whimsy is Hogglespi ke by Patricia Drew (Chatto, Boyd and Oliver £1.25). Hogglespike is a hedgehog who goes to sleep in a flower pot and gets a prize at a flower show. Beautiful pictures — perhaps too much so for the very young.
The Little Red Engine Goes Carolling by Diana Ross (Faber £1.20) is a proper Christmas book. Rather more text, but coloured pictures on every page. The engine takes the choir on a round of carol singing, and eight popular carols, with one-finger music, are included in the text.
Three books published by Hamish Hamilton—Moose by Michael Foreman, Peppino by Ursina Ziegler (both £1.25) and Zoo Doings by Jack Prelutsky (£1). In spite of Michael Foreman's reputation, I cannot get enthusiastic about the first, although its characters are animals. Peppin°, however, is the son of a travelling magician, and when the latter has to go to hospital, he uses his initiative to make a living. My five-year-old niece enjoyed this one.
"Zoo Doings" is a series of short poems on large pictures. I found it difficult to determine what age group the book is intended for. The author's friends may all have poetic children.
The test of a good story for children may well be whether adults enjoy reading it to them. (This is certainly true of Noddy.) Meal One by Ivor Cutler (Heinemann £1.10) falls into this category, too. Both story and pictures are just crazy, and when I read it aloud to an assembled group of children from five to fifteen, we all shouted with laughter.
The biggest output of children's books seems, as always, to be from Collins, and in the age category under review we have,. first, Clanky the Mechanical Boy by Mahood (£1.05). The story is about Sam Siggs who worked in a boring factory making boring cars. His wife suggested he should make a mechanical man to do the boring jobs — but Clanky didn't like boring jobs either. A book with a social message, probably, but quite fun.
Even better is Natasha's New Doll by Frank Francis (£1.25). A good story with a plot and a witch and snow and the sort of pictures children of this age draw themselves or would like to.
Petali and Gurigoo by Francois Raoul-Duval (95p) is about a jungle boy and a snake, and is a modern fable to explain how the birds in the jungle obtained all their bright plumage.
Slightly more sophisticated, but suitable for the five to eights, is Arlo the Dandy Lion by Morris Lurie (Collins £1.25). About a lion who became a dandy, it has rather more text than the books previously mentioned. Another book which would be no chore to read aloud.
Richard Scarry's Great Big Air Book (l.25) imparts basic knowledge about why birds and aeroplanes can fly without seeming to do anything of the sort. Open the large, gaily coloured pages anywhere, and it looks like a section from a comic, with lots of animals in human clothes having the time
of their lives in all sorts of situations to do with the air. Every page is, in fact, worth ten minutes' study, just to take it all in. Excellent value, I call this.
Still with Collins, and moving slightly up the age scale to the 8-10s, we have Minnie by Annette Macarthur Onslow (£1.25). Minnie is a cat, and this is her story, excellently written by an award-winning author.
This publisher has put out two books of traditional fairy tales. Fairy Tales and Fables, edited by Eve Morel (£1.25), is most suitable for the 5-8 group; large size, but with plenty of text and pictures. At the Stroke of Midnight is a book of traditional tales retold by Helen Cresswell (£1.95), in smaller size, and fewer pictures — though still well illustrated. The first story in each book is
"Little Red Riding Hood," and the difference in the intended readership is indicated by the first sentence of each. Eve Morel's version starts: "Once upon a time there lived a little girl who had a pretty red cape with a bright red hood." While Helen Cresswell starts: "Once upon a time there were a little girl whose father was a woodcutter in a great forest."
Tooni the Elephant Boy by Astrid Bergman Sucksdorff (£1.05) is written to link together a series of excellent coloured photographs about a little boy living in a village in Assam, his family, the elephants and his life generally. An excellent production.
The Bishop and the Devi; by Ian Serraillier (Kaye & Ward £1.05) is a prose poem with pictures telling the story of a bishop who, presented with a large bell by the Pope, had to transport it over the Alps. He was waylaid by the devil, who offered to help him in return for his soul. Might interest any intelligent child from eight to 16.
Stories for Fight-Year-Olds, edited by Sara and Stephen Corrin (Faber £1.25) is a collection of stories about heroes and heroic deeds — from "Little Claus and Big Claus," "Jason and the Golden fleece," to "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." Thurber, Dickens and Nesbit are included, and there are several traditional stories.
Two books from Methuen, both at 75p and intended for the eight-year-olds or thereabouts, are "proper books"; that is, mostly story with pictures only every now and then to illustrate a point. The Wild Boy in the Bush is really intended to be read aloud, and is adult inadvertently introduces a magic potion onto the
scene.
There is not quite such a large selection of books for the older child. Starting with the boys, there are few from ten upwards who would not be glad to receive The Rolls and Royce Story by Bryan Morgan (Collins £1.50). Well written, produced and illustrated, it traces the ups and downs of the most famous partnership in the world from the turn of the century to the astonishing turn of events in 1971.
Goalkeepers are Different by Brian Glanville (Hamish Hamilton £1) tells a story with a football setting, by a man who has himself been involved. Ronnie Blake is spotted by a scout, accepted as an apprentice by the club, and the story follows his rise to be a talented goalkeeper, with a Cup Final as the climax.
Richard Parker made his name with "A Valley Full of Pipers," and The Old Powder Line (Victor Gollancz £1.20) is a story for boys which will enhance his reputation. The hero (a boy of course) goes onto a small country station to spot trains. He is directed to a platform at which a steam train is due to stop, though he knows there have been no steam trains on the line for years.
The story develops into a time fantasy which can be enjoyed by boys from 12 to 82.
For the thoughtful 14 plus boy The Year of the Stranger will make an appeal. Written by Allan Campbell McLean and 'published by Collins (£1.25) it is an adult story of a boy caught in a mesh of adventure and intrigue in the Isle of Skye in the last century. The living was hard, and the punishment planned for a poaching tinker terrible. A well-written and exciting story of a type not found often today.
For girls there is A Spanish Adventure by Pat Smythe (Cassell £1.25). It is about a boy and girl who receive ad invitation to visit Spain, and of course it is about horses. But woven into it is a lot of information about life in Spain, and the children are shown such things as the making of sherry and rounding up bulls for the ring. There is plenty of adventure when they get mixed up with a film company and a gang of toughs. M.J.