The story of how this material was secured was-for me- more interesting than the material itself. The author, knowing Samoan life as a visitor and scientist would know it, worked closely with a Samoan youth of unusual mental quickness to secure an authentic picture of the daily round of life of a boy growing up. At each point, his native collaborator checked the progress of his story, corrected not only facts, but interpretation and expression. The finished story reads like a somewhat halting but almost poetic rendition of the years in the life of a chief's son, his games, his playmates, his schooling, his love life, finally his marriage, parenthood, and achievement of man's estate. Of value chiefly to students of anthropology. (Kirkus Reviews)