The scope of this volume of Essays, contributed by seven different authors, is best described by the editor himself. He writes that the aim of the book is, 'to provide insight into problems presented by the mental growth of children from five years of age to the close of adolescence. It is also hoped that guidance too will be obtained in steering children through the difficulties encountered in these years when school life begins and presents to the child special stress'.

Any book of this kind is bound to suffer from a certain degree of redundancy and some lack of continuity, but apart from such inevitable drawbacks the book presents a very clear and interesting picture of the environmental influences, the main needs, and the most important problems of the nursery-child, the school-age child, and the adolescent.