Except from the essay "Children's Books" by Ya'akov Fichman, dated
1934. (English translation by Murray Roston)
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Note by Sharona, Regelson's daughter: "An Anthology of Hebrew Essays" in two volumes is a collection of Hebrew essays in Entlish translation. I found an essay in Volume 1 by well-known author Ya'akov Fichman entitled "Children's Books”. In it Fichman deplores the standard of Hebrew literature written for children at the time (in the early 1930's). However he gives credit for the poetic contributions for the young by Shlonsky, Alterman, Leah Goldberg, Anda Pinkerfeld, Levin Kipnis and others.Then comes the following paragraph:
"We can see from this that Hebrew poetry for the young is by no means poor in quality, even though the prose leaves much to be desired. At present, it is the playground of younger untried writers, but there have been some very successful experiments in humorous prose. In the newspaper Davar Liyeladim, Nahum Guttman, an excellent artist, has brought to the world of the young an extraordinary freshness, supplementing the written word with his own drawings. Similarly, Smoli's Rain-children contains very interesting descriptions, and here too we find a knowledge and love of nature contributing greatly to his artistry. But if we are talking about sheer artistry, then we must mention in the first rank, Abraham Regelson's The Dolls' Journey to Israel – a book full of humour, packed with adventure, and written in a crisp, lively style. In fact, it is one of the best things that have been produced for children in the whole range of Hebrew literature."
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