That the publication of a serious book of poems by a group middle school students requires courage and enterprise no one can Geny, as the editor of the bock—omitting, however, the word enter prise—says in his Preface, "Bamboo Shoots," a good name, bree sumably chosen because the' poems must be the first printed efforts of the young authors, is the of the work, @ "book of images! as it is called. All the poems cone tained were written by this group of students from the Shanghai American Sehcol, who have formed a special creative class under the direction of Mr. Bert B. Hansen, of the English Department of the School.
The poems, or rather images, are written in the modern style of free verse and some of them, though they are all very brief, enable one to Picture the subject instantly and clearly, in particular, three - among those under the heading of "Chinese Life," called the "Courtyard," "Country," and the third "the Temple," probably helped by the fact that the subjects appeal more to the reader because of their familiarity, are more outstanding in quality. more reason, therefore, why the reader should be left. to' find it out for himself or herself. Suffice it to say that the book is one which holds the attention of the reader through, out and that the delineation of the three principal characters, together with the two Ware children, is undoubtedly a work of art. They, stand out, dominating. all others, with possibly the exception of the one entrance of the family chauf-four who makes his sole appearance in the book through the medium of his letter to his master after the latter has left his wife and gone off with the secretary. "Hilda Ware" is well worth reading. Nees
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.