The senior year in high school of a charming, bright and very human girl is the theme of this story—her girlish ambitions, her occupations, her amusements, her sacrifices and her triumphs. The scene is laid in Jefferson, a college town of the Middle West, and in addition to the Carleton family—Professor Carleton absorbed in his work but fond of his children; his wife, who is Isabel’s close friend and a wise one, and Isabel’s sister—there are introduced a number of happy young people whom Miss Ashmun characterizes with real insight into boy and girl nature. Among these friends of Isabel is Rodney Fox, and while the story closes with Isabel’s graduation from high school and her preparation for a trip abroad, there is the suggestion that in time this friendship, which has gone through the years, will ripen into something deeper. Miss Ashmun has well succeeded in her purpose, which was to write a story that would appeal to the girl in her teens. THE THREE PEARLS By J. W. FORTESQUE A fairy story of unusual charm is this, having to do with three pearls worn in a royal crown. Good luck goes with them so long as they are honored; ill fortune comes when they are dishonored. The possibilities of this theme are many and the author has made much of them. The tale is rich in imagination, in color and in that kind of fairy adventure which has delighted children and grown-ups for aeons past. The illustrations are by Alice B. Woodward. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE THE KEY TO BETSY’S HEART By SARAH NOBLE IVES This is the story of Betsy and her dog. Betsy is a little country girl who, after her mother’s death is taken into the family of her Aunt Kate, a wise and charming person whose duty it is to bring Betsy up properly, while Betsy in turn has to bring up Van, a fox terrier. It is the dog, of course, that proves to be the key to the shy girl’s heart—an extraordinarily nice “pup” whose education is carried on simultaneously with Betsy’s, only along different lines. Both as a dog story and as a girl story The Key to Betsy’s Heart is eminently satisfying, and it is safe to conjecture that there will be many little girls in real life and a few elders, too, who will be delighted with it. KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE By SIR THOMAS MALORY Edited by Clifton Johnson. With illustrations in color and in black and white by Rodney Thomson.