In recent literature, there have been many books of fiction dealing with the basic problem of a choice between traditional values and modern ways of life. There are also many books about a world of technology, sophistication, and complications of our society pushing out all that is traditional and part of a heritage.

A Ballad for Hogskin Hill is a fine addition to this category. The author, James Forman, has written many other books about crises of this century and ways of dealing with them. This particular story deals with a boy named David and his family, who are having their way of life threatened by the new strip-mining industry. The characterizations are excellent; they are enough to make the reader wish he were part of the story.

This is a good book for young adult collections because it offers a new setting and problem based on an old theme whose idea and question of traditional versus modern remains to be solved.