How the Heather Looks by Joan Bodger
     276 pp. Viking
     Reviewed 12/65
Many horn book. readers will remember an article in the February 1959 issue in which the author gave what she called an outline of a prospective "Children's Literary Tour of Great Britain." "Caldecott Country" in the June 1961 horn book told more about the tour. The trip has been described in detail in this book, subtitled "A Joyous Journey to the British Sources of Children's Books." It is truly a joyous journey, and for readers traveling vicariously, it will be a comfortable journey as well. The worry and inconveniences which inevitably accompany travel with young children evaporate with the telling about them, leaving a residue of gentle, sometimes wry humor. Planning the trip, Mrs. Bodger was often uneasy over the children's complete faith that all the places of their stories were real: the Enchanted Place at the Top of the Forest, the spot on the river where Ratty introduced Mole to the joys of " messing about in boats," the scenes so familiar to them in the Randolph Caldecott and Leslie Brooke picture books, the mountainside where Lucie in her pinny climbed to find Mrs. Tiggy-Wmkle's house — to say nothing of Sherwood Forest and Camelot. But as she read, refreshing her memory, she became more and more convinced that the children were right. " Most places in children's literature are real. We could find them if we searched. All we needed was faith. . . .This book, then, is the story of how lan and Lucy had the faith. It was left to the parents to arrange passage . . ." Not every quest was wholly successful, but they soon found that the searching was sometimes more exciting and even more important than the goal. The Bodgers accomplished the fulfillment of a dream that many have probably had, but for lack of opportunity or courage, have not realized. For anyone who loves Britain or English literature, especially , children's literature; for me it was one of the greatest pleasures of the publishing season. r. H. v.