One of the freshest and most delightful, because the most natural of the stories of the year for children, is “Little Miss Weezy,” by Penn Shirley.  It relates the oddities, the mischief, the adventures, and the misadventures of a tiny two-year-old maiden, full of life and spirit, and capable of the most unexpected freaks and pranks.  The book is full of humor, and is written with a delicate sympathy with the feelings of children, which will make it pleasing to children and parents alike.  Really good child literature is not over-plenty, despite the multitude of books that come daily from the press; and it is pleasing to welcome a new author whose first volume, like this one of Penn Shirley, adds promise of future good work to actual present merit.—­Boston Courier.

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SPECIMEN ILLUSTRATION FROM “LITTLE MISS WEEZY.”

[Illustration]

Copyright, 1886, by LEE & SHEPARD.

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LITTLE MISS WEEZY’S BROTHER

This is a good story for young children, bringing in the same characters as “Little Miss Weezy” of last year, and continuing the history of a very natural and wide-awake family of children.  The doings and the various “scrapes” of Kirke, the brother, form a prominent feature of the books, and are such as we may see any day in the school or home life of a well-cared-for and good-intentioned little boy.  There are several quite pleasing full-page illustrations.—­The Dial.

We should like to see the person who thinks it “easy enough to write for children,” attempt a book like the “Miss Weezy” stories.  Excepting Sophie May’s childish classics, we don’t know of anything published as bright as the sayings and doings of the little Louise and her friends.  Their pranks and capers are no more like Dotty Dimple’s than those of one bright child are like another’s, but they are just as “cute” as those of the little folks that play in your yard or around your neighbor’s doorsteps.—­Journal of Education.

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LITTLE MISS WEEZY’S SISTER

“It is one of the best of the series, and will please every child who reads it.  It is brought out just at the holiday time, and is brimful of good things.  Every character in it is true to nature and the doings of a bright lot of children, in which Miss Mary Rowe figures conspicuously, will entertain grown folks as well as little ones.”

It is a thoroughly clever and delightful story of child life, gracefully told, and charming in its blending of humor and pathos.  The children in the book are real children, and the pretty plot through which they move is fully in harmony with the characters.  The young ones will find it a storehouse of pleasant things pleasantly related, and a book that will appeal at once to their sentiments and sympathies.—­Boston Gazette.