from homer to hobbit: humor in books for adolescents · pdf filefrom homer to hobbit: humor in...

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For whatever reasons, there arc no Homer Prices, no Henry ijeeds, no Henry Hugginses created for the adolescent reader. There arc, of course, the timeless stories- even picture books - that belong to no particular age, only lo a particu· lar state of mind. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lear' s nonsense verse, or Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer do not belong lo any limited band of readers. Nor, among more recent classics, are these books of sheer delight the special province of the young: Robert Mc- Closkey's lentil, the story of the boy who couldn't sing and couldn't whistle but who came into his own on the harmonica; Munro Leaf's stories, with Robert Lawson's illus- trations, of Ferdinand, the bull who liked best of all to sit beneath the shade of a cork tree and smell the OCTOBER, 1988 From Homer to Hobbit: Humor in Books for Adolescents flowers, and Wee Gillis of the bag· pipes; Dr. Seuss' Horton, the ele· plant who was faithful 100 percent. So also, Mary Norton's Borrowcrs- Aficld, Afloat, and Aloft, Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows, and Robert Lawson's Ben and Ale and Mr. Revere and I can he enjoyed whenever and as often as one can put his hands on them. In hooks written especially for the teen-ager, however, laughter is not an outstanding ingredient. Perhaps il is not possible for a Homer or a Henry lo flourish during the adoles- cent years. Perhaps the adolescent himself would not welcome him. But he does neerl laughter in his life and one often wishes there were more books in which he could find it- hooks written especially for th<' younger adolescent reader. Julie N. Alm The tall talcs of our heritage have for many years provided amusement for the junior high school student as they have for the students in the upper elementary grades. Anne Mal· colmson's Yankee Doodlc'.s Walter Blair's Tall Tale America, Irwin Shapiro's Yankee TJ1under, and Esther Shephard's Paul Bunyan stories arc fast-moving, well-written pieces of folklore, full of rip-snort· ing whoppers. Among the just-for.fun books the junior high school students read ar!' Don Allison and Frank Hill's Tit!' Kid Who Batted 1000, the story of a 17-year-Oklahoma hoy who had a fantastic way with 11 bat, and Gem• Olson's The Red, Red Roadster, in which a high school English tenchn, Miss Tennessee Barberry, an Alfa Rom<>o Giulietta Sprint Spi· der a//icionado and turns school and 17

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Page 1: From Homer to Hobbit: Humor in Books for Adolescents · PDF fileFrom Homer to Hobbit: Humor in Books for Adolescents ... taining the large comic world, and lo the proud and angry Saroynns

For whatever reasons, there arc no Homer Prices, no Henry ijeeds, no Henry Hugginses created for the adolescent reader. There arc, of course, the timeless stories- even picture books - that belong to no particular age, only lo a particu· lar state of mind. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lear's nonsense verse, or Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer do not belong lo any limited band of readers. Nor, among more recent classics, are these books of sheer delight the special province of the young: Robert Mc­Closkey's lentil, the story of the boy who couldn't sing and couldn't whistle but who came into his own on the harmonica; Munro Leaf's stories, with Robert Lawson's illus­trations, of Ferdinand, the bull who liked best of all to sit beneath the shade of a cork tree and smell the

OCTOBER, 1988

From Homer to Hobbit: Humor in Books for Adolescents

flowers, and Wee Gillis of the bag· pipes; Dr. Seuss' Horton, the ele· plant who was faithful 100 percent. So also, Mary Norton's Borrowcrs­Aficld, Afloat, and Aloft, Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows, and Robert Lawson's Ben and Ale and Mr. Revere and I can he enjoyed whenever and as often as one can put his hands on them.

In hooks written especially for the teen-ager, however, laughter is not an outstanding ingredient. Perhaps il is not possible for a Homer or a Henry lo flourish during the adoles­cent years. Perhaps the adolescent himself would not welcome him. But he does neerl laughter in his life and one often wishes there were more books in which he could find it- hooks written especially for th<' younger adolescent reader.

Julie N. Alm

The tall talcs of our heritage have for many years provided amusement for the junior high school student as they have for the students in the upper elementary grades. Anne Mal· colmson's Yankee Doodlc'.s Cousin.~,

Walter Blair's Tall Tale America, Irwin Shapiro's Yankee TJ1under, and Esther Shephard's Paul Bunyan stories arc fast-moving, well-written pieces of folklore, full of rip-snort· ing whoppers.

Among the just-for.fun books the junior high school students read ar!' Don Allison and Frank Hill's Tit!' Kid Who Batted 1000, the story of a 17-year-Oklahoma hoy who had a fantastic way with 11 bat, and Gem• Olson's The Red, Red Roadster, in which a high school English tenchn, Miss Tennessee Barberry, becomP~

an Alfa Rom<>o Giulietta Sprint Spi· der a//icionado and turns school and

17

Page 2: From Homer to Hobbit: Humor in Books for Adolescents · PDF fileFrom Homer to Hobbit: Humor in Books for Adolescents ... taining the large comic world, and lo the proud and angry Saroynns

community upside down. Peggy Goodin's Clementine and Jessamyn West's Cress Delahanty arc warm, genuine stories or young adolescent girli-. In both novels, the heroines grow up- blue jeans to boy friends - and, while there is laughter, it is sympathetic laughter. Beverly Clea­ry, whose several books for the up· per elementary school years arc hilarious, has in Fifteen, written an early-teen story with many high· points of humor.

Science Fiction

Several writers of science fiction have the light touch. Robert Hein· lein, besides making life on Gany· mede or Luna or adventures through a time lock completely reasonablt• and exciting, gives lo his characters many moments or fun. Certainly Willis, Jim's constant companion in The Red l'la11et, is one of the most enchanting of all space creatures and utlerly hilarious in displaying his tape-recorder memory! In Poul An· clerson's The High Crusade, a group of fifteenth-century crusaders find themselves - via space rocket - in quite another galaxy, but, with the clear vision of the British colonial, they carry on. Gore Vidal's Visit to a Small l'lanct- in which a flying saucer lands on earth- and Hobert Nathan's The Weans, in \\hich Kenya scientists of the 1850's find traces of an old Western civilization, arc sophisticated humor for the older reader of science fiction.

James Summers, writing from the boys' point of view of the teen-age culture, tries, and succr1•ds at lca~t i;ome of the time, in supply a humor­ous nok. Som•• of Mary Stoh;' char· aclers, for example, Mrs. Armacost and her young son Johnny in To Tell Your love, have 11 real sense of the ridiculous. Emily ~eville, in It's like This, Cat, laces a fine story with humor.

Most of the humorous books avail-

18

able lo adolescents, however, were written for on adult audience but have been adopted by the teen-agers as their own nnd arc read more widely by thl•m probably than hy any other group. Among thc!--t' an• i-uch titles as Louise Baker's Out 011 a lim/1, Hildegarde Dolson's If,. Shook the Family Tree, Huth McKcnncy's AIJ' Sister Eileen, and Frank Gilbreth and Erncstint' Gilbreth Can•y's Cheaper by the Do:1•ri and /Jell1•s 011

Their Toes. The accounts of Hilde­garde's experiments with beauty mU<I or her feats in the chemistry lab, Eileen and the South American Navy, Father Gilbreth's demonstrations of the most efficient way lo take a bath, or the family's initiation of Ernei.· tine's beau from Saggy Aggy College urc memorable. Margart•! Scoggin's Chucklcbait and More Clwckl1•bait present selections from a scon• of rnterlaining ·hooks.

Two naturalists and writers, Bri· tain's Gerald Durrell and Canada's Farley Mowat, have written a variety of books, including two humorous reminiscences of their boyhoods: Durrell's My Family and Other Ani· mals recounts his family's fiVl' yt•ars on the island of Corfu; Farlt•y Mo­wat centers recollections of his Sas· katchewan youth in talcs of his cc· centric dog, Mutt, "tlw dog who wouldn' t be." Corndia Otis Skinner and Emily Kimbrough describe most enlertithiingly their first trip lo Europe in Our H1•arts IP'ere You11g

and Cay. Marooned nmong lh<' gar· goyles of Notre Dame, or lost in the Hampton Court maze in an English rain, or dancing with money bdts swinging wildly bem•ath thPir ilkirts, Cornelia and Emily arl' a lwady pair!

Belly MacDonald's side-splitting, ofll•n acid-tongued ( 1hn1· lllt'rt' law suits) accounts of life on a chicken ranch on the Olympic Peninsula told

in The Egg and I, her sojourn in a

sanitarium in The /'Lague and I, and her life among emplop.•rs of many kinds in Anybody Can Do At1Jllii11g add up to muny hours of pll•asun·. William Saro) an dedicaks My J\ame

Is Aram, a book of "pll·asant ml•m· orics," to an "ugly lillle city con­taining the large comic world, and lo the proud and angry Saroynns containing all humanity."

Aflult Novel&­Teen-Age Aurlience

A number of novels, 11g11in written originally for an adult audience, have found continuing popularity with teen-agers - Margery Sharp's Clur1y Braum, the lady plumber, and Paul Gallico's story of the London char who saved her money to buy a Paris original, J\lrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris', Giovanni Guarcschi's amusing adventun·s of Don Camillo, the slur· dy lillle Italian priest, who carrit·s on a running battle with the town mayor.

Leonard Wibberley's engaging ap· plication of the formula Lose-a· War­to-the-U n i tc d-States - Put-the-Econ· omy-Back-in·Order in Tlic Mous1• That Roared won many delighted readers and led lo the sequels, 81•· ware of the Mouse and T/ie Mouse on tlie A/0011. In a similar vein, Vern Sneider's Teahouse of tlic August Moon, the story of the "conquered" Okinawans, continm•s to captivate readers. lls hero, Sakini, is surely one of tlw world's most charming rascals.

Leonard Q. Hoss' The t.ducatio11 of Hyman Kapla11, wrillen almost :~o years ago, still draws guffaws with Mr. Kaplan's adv1•ntures with Julius Scissor and Jawdgu Vashington in Mr. Pocklwcl's night school class in English. In 1959, Tlir Return o/ lly· man Kaplan (undrr Lt•o Rosten) added mart' lair,; of thr indomitahl1• Mr. Kaplan.

Richnrd Armour's light-hearted and irreverent essays are-in appro-

EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

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prialc doscs- inval11ahl1· in high !'chool classt:s. His parodi1°!' of Molry Dick and Silas illcrrtwr, among others, in The Clu.~.~ics R1•classif frd (" ' Call mt• lshmal'l, '-he had lll'\' l'r

likl·d the name Ht•rman" and "Bui when his bt•sl f rit•ncl !'lok• !'om1' money from the clcacon, plantt•d t'\'i­dt•ncc to make the blamt• fall on Silas, and then married Silas's girl, his milk of human kimlnt•ss lost somt• of its bultt•rfal C'Onll•nt" ) an• wt•l­comc antidoll'S for tht• man• knowl­l'<lgcahle students. Shakespeart• emerges in somewhat clifferml form in T11•isl1•d Tales from Sliakespl'arc, and Armour's views of history in It All Started willi Columbus (aml Europa a11d Marx ) arc, at the least, startling. Drug Stori• Days is another of the personal rcminislenct•s in a humorous vein.

Collectiom oj Poetry Among collections of poetry, tlwrt•

is much to appeal lo the adolt-scenl rcadt•r, though his is often notorious· ly allergic to poetry. If he can o\W· come his uncertainties about poetry - and this is often a good means­he can have a good time with \'ersl'. in the lives and times of ar<'hy and mehitabel by Don l\forquis, arcl1y (who was once a frt•t• wrsc poet whose soul, afll>r death, went into the body of a cockroach) writl'S of his friends mehitabel, who was onc1• clt•opalra, thirsty king tul, who ... "if I had my life lo live ovt'r again I would give dignity the regal razz and hire myself out lo work in a brewt>ry," and warty hi iggt•ns, the toad who considt•rs himst•lf thr ct·n· ler of tilt' univt>rsl'. Rut archy's in­tt>rests art' for-n·aching : his axioms, 11rotesls, and songs an• lop-notch humorous commentary.

Ogden Nash has many volumes of sophisticated, humorous wrse that dt>lighls both young and not-so· young. Everyone But Tltee a11d Mc and /'"rrnl.f K1•1•p Out: Elderly

OCTOBER, 1111

Poems for You11gerly Re"dcrs arc 1\10 such collcdion~. Phyllis McGin­/1•y's Tlw Lov1• L1•twrs of l'ltyllis McCi11h·y and Tim1·s Tlirct• and Wil­liam Col1·'s JI 11moro11s /'oNns for Cltildr1•11, \1 hich in spilt• of its titl1· has many wondnful pot'm,. for the oldPr 1t•1•n·nger, and Thi• Firi•sid1• /look of l/11morou.~ /'01•try are otlwr good collt•llions. Hichard Armour's "hi~h 11 ry !-pirits." a~ O~dcn .Nash puts ii. l1avl' product'd, in adclilion lo the irn•\•crent t'Ssays nolt•cl l'arl it•r, 1110 volumes of light \'t•rst', Liglil Armour und Nigltts with Armour.

Jamt·s Thurber is 0111· of America's ouMnnding humorists. Most high school students arc nt lt•ast expost•d (usually in litcratun· anthologies) lo some of his fabl1•s or to such n·minisccnces as "The Night the Bed F1•1l" or "Univnsity Days." While l>Omt• sludt•nls will perhaps t•njoy only his inimitable cartoons, others may begin lo appreciak hi!- genius. Fables for Our Time, illy Jr orld -a11d We/come to fl, My Lif c a11d /lard Times, Tlic IF011derful 0, and La11ter11s & La11ces nre some of the Thurber noVt'ls an<l collections of t'Ssays.

Some hooks of laughkr for tht> teen-aged n•nder 11e l1avc, but nol many. Americans, though they 1•ridc themst'lv1'5 on a st•nst• of humor, sct•m to pr<'for the spokl'n word as 1h1• vehicle-the jokt> or tht> phono· graph record. Sometimes it set•ms as if our very cuhurt> militates against the humorous books. , Books of "cheerful I unacy, daft and dt•lighl­f ul"- to use May Hill Arbuthnol's phrasl'- arr J>l'fhaps fine for chil­dren, hut must, along with olhrr childish things, he put asidt• in the !'erious business of growing up. There is, among many high school students, a very rt>al suspicion of fiction nnd frivolity- instillt>cl, per­haps unconsciously, by tht•ir eldns. Telling jokes is an acct>pled diver­sion; howevrr, rt'aclinir hooks that

merely t•nlerlain is something of a waste of time, a commodity Amer­icans value highly. This point Edwin Saurr reiterates ( E11glisli ir£ the Sec· ondary School. Hoh, 1961 ) in his discussion of literatun• in thr hil!h sc·hool:

American youngsters are the prod­uct of two dominant points of view, thr Puritan and the prng· matic, both hostile lo frivolity and timc·\\llsting, both suspicious of th1· indolence of fantasy and makc­bclicVt', both uncertain about the claims of the imagination.

i\ot all trachers and other adults, I am sure, share lhl'Se sentiments, but th1•rt• art• many- again perhaps un­consctously- who do. Tht>re are those 11ho indicate, sometimes with words, somclimt'S with the not-so-silt>nl lan­guage of the raist•d eyebrow or lht• shrugged shoulder, their disparngc­mt•nl of the student's choice of a book just for fun. There are adults who judge quality by the pound­and most books of humor do nol, on those scales, Wt>igh much.

Teen-Age Choicea We end, I think, on a happy note.

The adolescent is very much his own man. Teen-agers and young adults have in recent years responded deep­ly to Salinger's Catcher in tlte Rye, to Knowles' A Separate Peace, to Golding's lord of the Flies. Today the voice that seems to be coming through lo tht>m is that of J. R. H. Tolkien, a retired English don, whose trilogy, lord of tlrn Rings, and its " childrr n's hook" predecessor, Tlw Hob/,it, is anothl'r of thosj• amazing - and timt>lt>ss - comb inn· lions of adventure, fantasy, philoso-

phy, nnd gt•nllt• humor. It is hrarten­ing, to al ft•asl this lencht•r conecrn1•1I with young 1mople's reading, that th1• stories currt>ntly speaking loudly to th1• young aduh-are thost• of

small people, smaller than dwarves land they have no heard:; I but \'cry much larger than lilliputian,..

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• • • They are inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours (chiefly green and yel­low) ; wear no shoes, because their feet grow natural leathery soles and thick wnrm hair like the stuff on the heads (which is curly) ; have long clever brown fingers, good natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs (especially af­ter dinner, which they have twice n day when they can get it.)

With such an antidote to "the Puri­tan and the pragmetic," with the rise of Tolkien clubs and journals on high school and college campuses across the country, there has been, in some measure, n restoration of delight lo young people's reading.

Books Mentioned in the Article Allison, Don nnd Frank Hill. The Kid

Who Batted 1000. Garden City: Dou­ble and Co .. l1J5l.

Anderson, Poul. The High Cru.iadc. New York: Uoubledny nnd Co., 1960.

Armour, Richnrd. The Classics Reclassi­fied. New York: McGrnw·Hill Book Co.,

Inc., 1960. Armour, Richnrd. Drug Stare Days. New

York: l\lcGrnw-Hill Book Co., Im:., 11J51J.

Armour, Richard. It All Started with Columbus. New York: McGrnw-Hill Book Co .. lne., 1953.

Armour, Richnrd. It All Started with Eu· ro11a. New York. J\ltGrow-Hill Book Lo., Inc., 1955.

Armour, Richard. It All Started witlr Marx. New York: l\kGrow·Hill Book Co., Inc., 1958.

Armour, Richard Light Armour. New York: l\lcGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1954.

Armour, Richard. Nights with Armour. New York: l\lcGrnw·Hill Co., Inc., 1958.

Armour, Richard. Twisted Talcs from Shakespeare. New York: l\frGraw·Hill Book Co., Inc., 1957.

Boker, Louise. Out on a limb. New York: McGraw·Hill Book Co., Inc., 1946.

Blair, Walter. Tall Tale America. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc., 1944.

Carroll, Lewi~. Alice's Adventure in Won • derland. (1865). Dutton; Macmillan; Paperbock-8 editions a\·ailable.

Cleal)-, Be\'erly. Henry lluggin.t. Nt!w York: Wm. Morrow and Co., 1950.

Cleary, Be\·erly. Fi fteen. New Ynrk: Wm. Morrow and Co., 1956.

Cole, Willinm. The Fireside Book of Hu· morous Poetry. New Y nrk: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1959.

Cole, William. Humornu.i Poems for Chil­dren. New York : Harcourt, Brace nnd Worlil, 1955.

l>olson, Hildegarde. We Shook the Family Tree. New York: Random Hou..o;e, In'"• 1941.

20

Durrell, Gerald. Mr Family and Other Animals. New York : The Viking Press, Inc., 1957.

Gnllico, Paul. Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris. New York : Doubleday nnd Co., Inc., 1958.

Gilbreth, Frank and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. Cheaper fir the Dozen. New

York: Thomas Crowell, 1948. Gillireth, Frank nnd Ernestine Gilbreth

Carey. Belles un Their Toe.<. New York: Thomes Crowell, 1950.

Golding, William. lord of the Flies. New York: Coward·McCann, Inc., 1955.

Goodin, Peggy. Clementine. New York: E. P. Dullon, Int·., 1946.

Guoreschi, Giovanni. The Little World of Don Camillo. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Co., ln1-., 1951.

Heinlein, Robert. The /led Planet. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949.

Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Mocmillnn and Co., 1959.

Lawson, Robert. Ben and Mc. Boston: Li11le, Brown and Co., 1939.

Lawson, Robert. Mr. Rei·ere and I. Boston: Little Brown and Eo., 1953.

Leaf, Munro. The Story of Ferdinand. New York: The Viking Pn.'Ss, 1936.

Leaf, Munro. W cc Gillis. New York: The Viking Prl'SS, 1938.

Lear, Edwnnl. Nonsense Books, Boston: Liulc, Brown and Co., 1888.

l\ln1·Donold, Belly. The Ess and I. New York: J. P. Lippincoll, Inc., 1945.

l\lnrDonuld, Betty. Tlic Plague and I. New York: J . P. Li1111incott, Inc., 1948.

l\lurD011old, Belly. Anybody Can Do Any· thing. New \' ork : J . P. Lippincott, Inc., 1950.

l\kClo~key, Robert, llomcr Price. New York: The Viking Press, 1943.

l\lrCloskey, Robert. Lentil. New York: The Viking Press, 1940.

l\lcGinley, Phyllis. The love letters of Ph)'llis McGinley. New York: The Viking Press, 1954.

l\lfGinley, Phyllis. Times Three. New York : The Viking Press, 1960.

McKenney, Ruth. My Sister Eileen. New York: Harcourt, Braceand World, and World, Inc., 1952.

l\lalrolmson, Anne, Yankee Doodlc's Cou­sins. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1941.

Marquis, Don. the Lives and times of archy and mchitabel. Gnrden City, Doubleday and Com1111ny, Im-., 1937.

l\lownt, Farley. The Dog Who Wouldn't Be. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1957.

Nosh, Ogden. Everyone f1ut Thee tind Mc. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1962.

Nash, Ogden. Parents Keep Out. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1951.

Nathan, Rohcrt. The Wean.,. Nl'w York: Alfred Knopf, Int'. , 1960.

Ne\·ille, Emily. It's like This, Cm. New York: Hnrper and Row, 1963.

Norton, Mary. The Borrowers.. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1953.

Norton, Mary. The Borrowers Afield. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1955.

Norton, l\lary. The Borrowers Afloat. New York : Harcourt, Drare and World, 1959.

Norton, l\lnry. The Borrowers Aloft. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1961.

Olson, Gene. The Red, Red Roadster. New York : Macrae, Smith, 1962.

Robertson, Keith. llenry Reed, Inc. New York: The Viking Pres.s, 1958.

Ross, Leonard Q. The Education 11f II)'· man Kaplan. New York: Hnrcourt. Brnre and World, Jnr ., 1937.

Rosten, Leo. The Return of llyman Ka11-lan. New York : Harper and Row, 1957.

Solinger, J. D. Cmcher in the Rye. Boston : Little, Brown and Co., 1945.

Saroyan, William. My Name ls Arum. New York: Harrourt, Brae!' and World, 1940.

S1•op:gin, J\turgorct. Chuckiebait. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1945.

Scop:gin, Margaret. More Chucklebait. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1949.

Seuss, Dr. llorton llatchcs the Egg. New York: Random Hou~e. 1940.

Shapiro, Irwin. Yankee Thunder. NI'\\'

York: Julian Messner, 1944. Sharp, Margery. Cluny Brown. Boston:

Little, Drown and Co., 0 . P. Shephard, Esther, Paul Bunyan. New

York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1941.

Skinner, Cornelia Otis and Emily Kim· brough. Our llearts Were Young and Guy. New York: Dodd, l\lead, Inc., 1942.

Sneider, Vern. Tlie Teahouse of the Au­gust Aloan. New York : G. P. Putnnm's Sons, 1951.

Stolz, Mary. To Tell Your love. New York. Harper end Row, 1950.

Summers, Jomes. See, for example. The Shelter Trap. Philadelphia: Westmin­ster, 1962.

Thurber, Jam!'.s. Fables for Our Time. New York: Harper and Row, 1952.

Thurber, James. lanterns and Lances. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1961.

Thurber, James. My Li/c and Hard Times. New York: Harper and Row, 1933.

Thurber, Jnml!ll. My 11' orld-and W clcome to It . New York : Harcourt, Brace and World, 1937.

Thurber, James. The Wonderful 0. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit. Do~ton: Houghton Mifflin and Co., 1937.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings, 3 volumes-Part I, The Fellowship of the Ring; Part II, The Two Towers; Part III, The Return of th e Rins. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Co., 1954-56.

Twain, l\lark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. N"w York : E. P. Dutton, 1955.

Vidal, Gore. Vi.fit Ir> a Small Planet. Do~­ton: Little, Brown and Co., 1960.

West, Je.,•amyn. Cress Delahanty. New York: Harc·ourt, Rrare and World, 1945.

Wibherley, Leonard. The Afouse That Roared. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1955.

Wibberley, Leonerd. Beware of the Mouse. New York: G. P. Putnam's Son11, 1958.

Wibberley, Leonerd. The Mouse on the Moon. New York: William Morrow end Co., Inc., 1962.

EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES