Wednesday, January 29, 1958 From the Library Shelves CURTAIN GOING UP by Gladys Malyern (Julian Messner, Inc, New York), 82.95, The magic of the theatre can only be felt by one who has stood in the darkened wings awaiting their entrance, no matter how large or small the part is. The whole feeling of the theatre builds up to the anticipation that is felt just before stepping before the audience. At times, it seems a thankless job, but when one has ex- perienced the thrill of being onstage and believes in the theatre, there is a great deal of satisfaction in just belonging to this wonderful atmosphere. All this, Gladys Malvern has captured. in this story of Katharine Cornell's career. As a child, Katharine was sur- rounded with a family who loved the theatre and produced their own plays, but at this time she had no illusions of becoming an actress. Her decision along this line was formed when at the age of 11 she saw Maude Adams star in ‘‘Peter Pan.” A year later she was sitting at the back of her Dad’s theatre in Buffalo watching rehearsals. absorbing all she could. ‘The road to the top was not an easy one, and the would-be actress who believes that a per- former such as Miss Cornell is made overnight would do well to read this book and face up to the sacrifices, heartbreak and disappointments that confront the up and coming entertainer. The competition is great, the work hard, perseverance and determination are needed and some times one has to look hard to the glamor that some people think is attached to the life in the theatre. Anyone with the least interest Every little girl at some time of her‘ life dreams of becoming 2 ballerina, but few realize the training one must have to attain such atitle. In a town such as Williams Lake, where we have no practising dancing school, this book would be a wise choice for the young girl with a desire to learn the fundamentals of the dance. The first few pages are devoted to explaining ballet, QUESTIONS ANSWERED AT P-TA Diet of Comic Books Blamed For Reading Ability Lack OO many comic books’”’ was given as the reason for poor readers by principal Ron Friesen at last Tuesday’s elementary P-TA meeting. With an excellent library in town, Mr. Friesen felt that parents should urge-their children to establish good reading habits by reading The subject “reading”. was one of the main topics discussed during the ‘Question Box’ ‘| session which followed the busi- nesS“ineeting. Mr. Friesen ex- plained the system by which reading is taught, and Miss Doreen Hannah, first grade teacher, told briefly when and how the alphabet was introduced to her grade. Another question, “ When is the strap given?” brought the reply from vice-principal J. Kirk “Only as a last resort.” It was pointed out that only two such disciplinary actions had been necessary since September. On the system of marking, Mr. Friesen admitted that children good literature. are marked competitively, al- though they are not ranked as in former years. He pointed out that “competition can be dangerous in grade one,” but as the child progresses, competition is allowed to become gradually more of a factor. Although two of his teachers did not quite agree with him, Mr. Friesen averred that “parents should not teach or help children with homework,” as the teacher would not know whether a student needed help He amended this and said that it would be permissible to dic- tate drill questions, Tp a final question on the re- ilities of the School and the necessities for the be- ginner. From there, each ballet position, and steps are individu- ally named, explained and on the opposite page are photo- graphed. With the amount of skaters we have here, this book would be a great help to assist them in obtaining the poise and grace needed for the makings of a good figure skater. kk APACHE DESERT by L. P. Holmes (Doubleday and Co. Inc.), $2.50. The disgrace of a court mar- tial hung over Steve Cloyd when he accepted the job of wagon boss for the Ellison supply train. Although he was] , not at fault, Steve had been blamed for a mistake enacted by his superior and with a closed mguth he accepted his court martial and headed for the river | ‘™ town of Calumet. The Bllispn’s were a brother and sister team. They had obtained an army con- tract to deliver supplies across the dangeroys Apache desert to Be Staley. The Rillison's had everything at stake on the success ofthis trip and they unfortunately put their fafth?insthe villain