Here is a collection of songs for children between the ages of four and eight, which fills a gap in our children's library where it is most sorely needed. Sound national education must begin with the child, and by the artistic methods that make knowledge attractive to him, refining his spirit and nourishing it with the lovely melody, the well-chosen word, and the simple idea suited to his mind. And Miss Rose Ghorayeb — by the abundance of her native sensibility, her long practice of artistic language, and her continual contact with children in their school life — has become able to give this side its finest expression.
She has divided the book into two parts: a first part devoted to children between four and six, set in the colloquial tongue or something near it — and a second part for children above six, set in a classical language or something near it.
In truth the author has succeeded in joining the sweet colloquial diction we use in our everyday life with the classical style that drapes over the language a mantle of dignity which colloquial styles cannot attain. And this, moreover, makes the book fit for pupils in any country of the Arab lands.
In every song of the book the child finds a dramatic surprise — as when she says, in the song of the bird, after describing it in its cage:
Where has that faithless one gone — he opened his door and flew away!
This surprise upon the child's mind — that the bird of whom he sings has flown — may well strike him harder than the surprise in the
life of “Oedipus” when he learned that the king he had killed, and on whose throne he had sat, was his father.
And in the song of autumn, after describing it in a graceful song, she ends by saying:
“The pinafore is done — off to school!”
The idea of school here, after the description of autumn, is a surprise for the child.
And in the song of winter, after describing ordinary things from the life of winter, she surprises the child by saying:
Grandfather tells his tale and we eat chestnuts
The idea of eating chestnuts here is a sweet surprise for the child — first because he understands it, and second because he loves it.
So much for the substance of the book. One thing remains, and that is the author's care to produce this book in a form befitting its artistic importance and its subject.
She has labored over its production in a delightful form, one that suggests to the child, as he holds it in his hands, the idea of beauty in elegance and simplicity. She engaged a specialist musician to set the pieces to music, and for the book's drawings, which are many, she likewise engaged a specialist. She spent generously on its production without any regard for material profit.
The authors of the 'Yesterday and Today Series,' Messrs. George Shahla and Shafiq Juha, are still bringing out this delightful historical series.
We noted in past issues the appearance of 'The Story of the Alphabet' and 'The Story of Numerals,' and here today is 'The Story of the Clock.'
The story of the clock is strange and wondrous, like the clock itself. It is in truth the story of man, from the day man began to know the value of time; and you will no doubt admire this man who began by harnessing the sun to tell the time, then went on to harness the animal, then fire, then water... until there came the clock man knows today, in its beauty and the precision and perfection of its workmanship.
The authors follow the history of the clock among all peoples from the dawn of history — from India, to Babylon, to China, to Egypt, to Greece, to the Arabs... down to the modern age. And the authors point out that the Arabs were the first to invent mechanical clocks, which the Franks then took from them.
This story is written in an easy, attractive style, within reach of all classes; its printing is elegant and graceful, with much taste and art in it, and the drawings smooth away many of the technical difficulties that would be hard for the reader to grasp. There is no doubt that the 'Yesterday and Today Series,' whose arrangement and printing our friend Mr. Shafiq Juha supervises, is the best that can be given to the public, in all its classes, in the way of historical and cultural reading. And as we await 'The Story of Flight,' which will appear shortly, we cannot but praise this delightful cultural effort.