THE STOLEN SPRUCE.

. By Kenneth Andler'26. Illustrated by C. L. Hartman. ArielBooks, Pellegrini & Cudahy. 167 pp. $2.50.

This is a perfect story of the Youth's Companion variety, a type of story a bit rare in these days of Catchers in the Rye, hot rods, necking parties and such juvenilities, a story which in itself is the type that endures, namely, the struggle of a boy in his teens who attempts a man's job. There is nothing of the sophistication theme in it, nothing that suggests the "symbol" so much emphasized by a prevailing school of critics, it is the tale of a boy and his companion face to face with grim facts amid primitive surroundings in the wildest portion of the Maine woods, struggling against nature, unprincipled men and a set of forces which even few men would care to face.

It is simply a delight to find a good narrative in the tradition of such books as Huckleberry Finn and Treasure Island,,—I must say that all of us who write books for young people aim at such standards, a narrative in which a serious burden is placed on the backs of boys who must conduct themselves like men in order to win out.

As my editor on the Youth's Companion, Arthur Stanwood Pier, used to say, "the story reads." And that is something very important. It implies workmanship,. craft, the ability to maintain a lively interest and the selection of a few details from many which will give comprehensive impressions. The two boys, Tom and Mark, are well drawn, differentiated, characterized, drawn together in that bond of youth which does not exist in adults, something that Mark Twain knew only too well. The Stolen Spruce has a well ordered "suspense," a well drawn sequence, a perfectly convincing background not only of woods and swamps and wilds but of the men who live amidst such surroundings.

There is no age limit to a book such as this. I am quite positive that boys will like it and I really advise those who find themselves caught in the "frustration" literature of the day, to brush shadowy concepts aside - "I am quite sick of shadows," said the Lady of Shallott -and really barge out into a tale of adventure, heightened by the fact that the chief actors are boys who must meet the problems of adults, and that the action takes place in that land of romance, the Maine Woods.