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This book contains a wealth of observations on children which the authors have made over many years when running clubs for children and adolescents, in child guidance work, and in many types of schools. It is written in clear, non-technical language. On the basis of their observations, the authors set out to demonstrate the teaching of psycho-analysis in general, and the work of Melanie Klein in particular, and to show how they used their analytical knowledge in understanding child behaviour. In the seven chapters of their book they describe the inner world of the child. The first chapter, 'The World in Black and White', shows the early persecutory anxieties of the child and its defences and attempts at integration into a real personality. The second chapter, dealing with the influence of the real world, gives examples of reparative traits, and shows how, on account of the interaction between phantasy and reality, the external world can help or hinder the child's development. Chapter III deals with the oral, and Chapter IV with the anal trends and their development. Chapter V is concerned with 'Genital Feelings and Phantasies'. In the chapter 'Phantasy in Middle Childhood', the authors deal with the latency period and the apparent paucity of phantasy in that stage of development. The longest chapter is the last; it is called 'The Living-Through of Phantasy'. Here the dramatization of phantasies in imagination, and creative activity is discussed, and their development in one child is traced.
The outstanding quality of the little book is the clarity of its exposition and the wealth of material through which the nature of phantasy and behaviour of children is demonstrated. The authors are well aware that these examples have their main value as demonstrations and are not meant to be evidence for the truth of the theories they explain. This evidence can be found only in actual analysis. An intelligent person accustomed to observe children will recognize in th