Gertrude Weld Arnold

“ It is something if the flowers of American gossip are retained in similar stories, even if their atmosphere is retreating from all the hills. It is enough to know that we have for all our children the works of Louisa Alcott and Susan Coolidge; that they have Aldrich's Story of a Bad Boy and Mrs. Dodge's Hans Brinker and Miss Hale's Peterkin Papers and The William Henry Letters by Mrs. Diaz. We need not complain so long as our children can look inexhaustively across the ocean for Andrew Lang's latest fairy-book and Grimm's Household Stories as introduced to a new immortality by John Ruskin. ”

“ From centuries and peoples almost as different from those we know as the North and the South Poles are far apart, through the overthrows of dynasties and the movements of whole races of men, by the work of Arabian scholars when printing was unknown, and by the labors of Europeans almost in our own day, these stories have survived to transport us into a world of splendor and magic.--Introduction. ”

“ This little book, a revision of one privately printed a few years ago, has been prepared for home use, and for this reason the classification has been made according to the age, and not the school grade, of the child. But as children differ so greatly in capacity, it should be understood that in this respect the arrangement is only approximate. The endeavor has been made to choose those fairy tales which are most free from horrible happenings, and to omit all writings which tolerate unkindness to animals. Humorous books are designated by a star and the few sad ones by a circle. ”

“ He is usually so constituted that if he were to find a fairy every morning in his bread and milk at breakfast, it would not very much surprise him; while yet his appetite for the substantial food remains the same. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland seem nowhere very strange to him, while Chaucer and Spenser need only to be simply told, while Dana's Two Years Before the Mast and Hughes's Tom Brown's School Days at Rugby hold their own as well as Jack and the Bean-Stalk. Grown up people have their prejudices, but children have few or none. ”

“ Selma Lagerlöf, the foremost writer of Swedish fiction, in response to a commission to prepare a reader for the public schools, devoted three years to nature study, and to seeking out hitherto unpublished folk-lore and legends of the different provinces. The result, of which we have as yet only the first volume, is this remarkable book. Bad cruel Nils is transformed into an elf, and on the back of a goosey-gander, Thumbietot, as he is now called, visits distant regions, and learns kindness to his animal brothers. ”

“ This volume seems to the compiler of this List one of the few books on art which children will read (p. 148) with real enjoyment. It is not included with a view to having it take the place of a history of art, but to give a part of the information which old Vasari has handed down to us with such charm. The language is delightful, and we carry away some of the atmosphere of that sunny Italian period. It is a pity that we are not given illustrations photographed from the originals, instead of more or less modified drawings. ”

“ I prefer the little girls and boys ... that come as you call them, fair or dark, in green ribbons or blue. I like making cowslip fields grow and apple-trees bloom at a moment's notice. That is what it is, you see, to have gone through life with an enchanted land ever beside you.--Kate Greenaway to Ruskin. ”

“ While the text of this luxurious volume is dignified and somewhat archaic, children delight in reading it, nevertheless. There are many full-page illustrations.
Poetry, Collections Of Poetry And Prose, And Stories Adapted From Great Authors
But if he is a real classic, if his work belongs to the class of the very best (for this is the true and right meaning of the word classic, classical) , then the great thing for us is to feel and enjoy his work as deeply as ever we can, and to appreciate the wide difference between it and all work which has not the same high character. ”

“ Halliwell's Collection, from which this volume is abridged, no manuscript authority goes further back than the reign of Henry VIII, though King Arthur and Robin Hood are mentioned.... Thus our old nursery rhymes are smooth stones from the book of time, worn round by constant friction of tongues long silent. ”

“ The story of the frog who was transformed into the handsome prince is as immortal as childhood. May we all remember the King's command to his daughter: "He who helped you in the time of your trouble must not now be despised." ”

“ Consult the taste of your child in selecting or guiding his reading.... Let the boys and girls choose for themselves within certain limits, only trying to guide them to the best books upon the subject of their interest, whatever that may be. ”

“ There is not one of the stories we can yet afford to lose. For we find, as we arrange the allegory and romance, and the real, historic bits, in a way to suit our wiser time, that the lessons they hold are as true for us as they were for the childlike people who cherished them a thousand years ago."
The lives and legends of Saint George, Saint Denis, Saint Nicholas, Saint Elizabeth, and others less well known in the great brotherhood of (p. 117) all lands, are told with dignity and simplicity. ”

“ A plain and easy guide to the knowledge of the constellations, showing, in twelve maps, the position for the United States of the principal star groups night after night throughout the year, with introduction and a separate explanation of each map.--Title-page.
Stories
The books that charmed us in youth recall the delight ever afterwards; we are hardly persuaded there are any like them, any deserving equally our affections. Fortunate if the best fall in our way during this susceptible and forming period of our lives. ”

“ There is no reason why history should not be made delightful, though it so often fails in this respect. This little book of Mrs. Mandell Creighton's, with its good maps, and illustrations, many of them from old prints, is truly interesting to children.
Gilman, Arthur. The Making of the American Nation.
Lothrop. .50
The (p. 118) term Making of the American Nation, as used in the title of the present volume, is intended to mean the process by which the loosely connected American communities outgrew their colonial condition of social and political life, and developed into a nation.--Preface. ”

“ It is said, in that earliest collection of English proverbs which was made by John Heywood, more than three hundred years ago, that "Children must learn to creep before they can go." This little book for which I am asked to write a brief preface is, so far as I can find out, the first consistent effort yet made towards teaching children to read on John Heywood's principle. It is safe to say that it is destined to carry light and joy into multitudes of households. ”

“ Doubleday has classified over five hundred flowers according to color, months of blooming, their preferred localities or habitats, and finally according to their proper families--by the classification adopted by the International Botanical Congress. Special attention has been given to the (p. 131) flowers' insect visitors. This large volume contains thirty-two pages of color plates, and forty-eight in black and white. Children learn so much from association with a book of this sort that it has been placed, because of the pictures, under a younger heading than the text alone would warrant. ”

“ Do we not most of us belong to the group "who at present know nothing or next to nothing of what is certainly one of the masterpieces of English literature"?
The tale of Spenser's great poem is simply related in acceptable prose.
Norton, C.E. (Editor) . Heart of Oak Books. Volume IV. Fairy Stories and Classic Tales.
Heath. .45
The imagination is the supreme intellectual faculty, and yet it is of all the one which receives least attention in our common systems of education.--Preface. ”

“ Thus excellent have been the changes: yet it is curious to observe on closer study that the two classes of books which represent the two extremes among the childish readers--Mother Hubbard and Shakespeare--may still be said to be the opposite poles between which the whole world of juvenile literature hangs suspended. A child needs to be supplied with a proper diet of fancy as well as of fact ”

“ And as those of us who are men and women look with reverent and smiling interest upon the outgrown garments, and books, and toys, of our childhood, even so I think must Christendom ever look upon these outgrown beliefs of an earlier day. ”

“ The baby's first book will naturally be a picture-book, for pictures appeal to him early, and with great force.... If we understood children better, we should realize this vitality which pictures have for them, and should be more careful to give them the best. ”

“ The very satisfactory illustrations are taken from photographs, and the major part of each book is devoted to interpretations of the pictures. This volume contains sixteen examples of Greek marbles, with an introduction, which includes other information, on some characteristics of Greek sculpture.
Greek sculpture can be sympathetically understood only by catching something of the spirit which produced it. One must shake off the centuries and regard life with the childlike simplicity of the young world: one must give imagination free rein.--Introduction. ”

“ Darton has so delightfully made real the times of Richard II, and has so well adapted the tales told by the immortal pilgrims, that we owe him a debt of thanks. I say we, for certainly we older people will enjoy them as much as our children. In retelling the tales in prose the editor has introduced material from Lydgate and others. Dr. Furnivall contributes an illuminating introduction, and Hugh Thomson's illustrations are, as usual, very satisfactory. ”

“ Although as a rule story-telling and science are best kept separate, their combination in this pleasant tale, written in the interest of bird-protection, can have only our hearty commendation. It arouses the interest of children not only by its style, but because there is such a fund of information about our birds. The volume contains twelve colored plates and thirty-six full-page illustrations in half-tone. ”

“ Margaret loved housekeeping, and the big people taught her on Saturday mornings how to take care of the house and its contents, how to launder, to market, et cetera. The directions, given in story form, are very clear and simple, and girls greatly enjoy the book. In fact, work becomes as joyful as play. ”

“ Nowhere in Europe, except in England, can one find the origin of so much that is deepest and best in our national life--including the highest jewel of civilization, religious liberty--as in Holland, as John Adams and Benjamin Franklin long ago confessed.--Preface. ”

“ An intelligent boy or girl of fourteen, with a real interest in the subject, will enjoy this fine work on the moths of North America north of Mexico, though it is written more from the standpoint of the student than are most of the series to which it belongs. ”

“ His voyage to Lilliput, his stay with the little people, and his adventures later among the giants of Brobdingnag, are classic. Written as a political satire, the narrative has served a gentler purpose than its original one. The littleness of the Lilliputians and the greatness of the giants appeal strongly to children. ”

“ We journey to the court of a native prince, travel through the bazaars, and visit village, jungle, and even the great Himalayas themselves. The book is particularly interesting, because India is less well known to young people than many other lands. ”

“ It is perhaps worth noting that a prominent Japanese merchant of Boston, when a boy in his native land, after reading the book, determined to seek his fortune in Franklin's country, and testifies to it as one of the chief factors in his successful career. This useful edition contains a sketch of the great man's life from the point where his own writing ends, drawn chiefly from his letters. There are notes and a chronological historical table.
Hart, A. B., and Elizabeth Stevens (Editors) . The Romance of the Civil War. ”

“ If a child could have but one story-book, a better choice could scarcely be made than this storehouse of fables, wonder tales, myths, songs, and ballads. Selections from Andersen, The Arabian Nights, Gulliver, and Munchausen, are included. There are many illustrations.
Trimmer, S. (K) . (p. 49) The History of the Robins.
Edited by E. E. Hale.
Heath. .20
Small people like to hear about this father and mother robin and their four babies. ”

“ There is no language in the world, we venture to believe, which contains children's songs expressive of more keen and tender affection.... This fact, more than any other, has stimulated us in the preparation of these rhymes.... The illustrations have all been prepared by the translator specially for this work. ”

“ This edition is chosen because of Monsieur Boutet de Monvel's charming small illustrations in color. There are from two to eight pictures on (p. 34) each page, accompanying the text, which is in verse.
As color appeals to the child before he has much notion of form, his first picture-book should be colored, and as his ideas of form develop slowly, his first pictures should be in outline, and unencumbered with detail. The French illustrator, Boutet de Monvel, has given us the ideal pictures for young children. ”

“ Shakespeare drew the materials for the plot of Macbeth from Holinshed's Chronicles of Englande, Scotlande, and Ireland.... The story of the drama is almost wholly apocryphal. The more authentic history is thus summarized by Sir Walter Scott: ... As a king, the tyrant so much exclaimed against was, in reality, a firm, just, and equitable prince.--Introduction. ”