Miss Streatfeild's story of the vicissitudes of the Bell family in their Rectory in South-East London [The Bell Family] is based on a radio serial which has held its place in Children's Hour for four years. While the rather picaresque plot certainly provides a happy mixture of grave and gay and a mirror in which many ordinary families may see themselves, there is no doubt that it does suffer more than slightly from its origin as a script for dramatic presentation. There is no faltering in incident or climax but here and there the grafting in of character to replace the effect of voice and intonation is apparent and may detract from the book's value for a perceptive child. But no amount of patching can destroy the essential lovableness of Ginnie, the adolescent perplexity of Paul, the mildness of Jane, the matter-of-factness of Angus and the timeless loyalty...