THE PHOENIX AND THE CARPET

If you, too, were brought up on E. Nesbit — if you felt as though the Bastable children were personal friends, it would be hard for you to be objective about The Phoenix and the Carpet. But, frankly, it was with a sense of shock that I looked at the old-fashioned, and never attractive, illustrations by J.S. Goodall. The paper and general type layout seem to date with the pictures. And yet the magic of the story is still potent —fantasy done in realistic vein, and enchantment for the imaginative child. I'd hate to have missed it. But there's a hurdle to take in marketing it today.