has also been a force, a movement, a trend-setter, and as early as 1950 he brought into being the Association of Tamil Writers for Children, and has served the cause of children’s literature in Tamil Nadu and all India in many significant ways. Valliappas MALARUM ULLAM-his first gettogether of 23 songs—came out in 1944, and with its simplicity of diction, elevating thoughts and rhythmical ease and adequacy proved an instant success. Walliappa had no doubt had his predecessors and pathfinders in poets like Subramania Bharati and Kavimani Desiga Vinayakam Pillai, and after the first taste of success, he pursued his vocation with seasoned expertise as well as sustained diligence. A fuller collection af MALARUM ULLAM- comprising 135 songs- appeared in 1954, and an equally sumptuous Second Series in 1961. Both volumes carried numerous illustrations, encouraging the child to shift from the visual to the audible, and to fusion the double appeal in the flowering sensibility-within. Then, in coming years, more and more choice reading—poetry, fiction, biography— for the expectant children, and now this latest, SIRIKKUM POOKKAL, an ensemble of longer and shorter pieces, and lively matching illustrations in black and white. It is the same tested vintage, '8 stimulating, and manna for the growing child. MALARUM ULLAM, Flowering Sensibility'; SIRIKKUM POOKKAL, Smiling Flowers '; buds, and blossoms, and flowers, and the splendour of xviii
