IN LITERATURE A FOURTH READER BY ETTA AUSTIN BLAISDELL AND MARY FRANCES BLAISDELL 66 AUTHORS OF "CHILD LIFE," CHILD LIFE IN TALE AND PREFACE THIS book, the fourth of the Child Life Series, has been compiled for the purpose of giving children material from the best available literature, and through this material aiding them to acquire a taste for reading genuinely good books. Many of these selections are made from classic literature; all are of recognized value. As the name of the book implies, the selections are not made indiscriminately, but with the definite purpose of introducing the animate child to the child of fiction. Alice, Tom, Gluck, Cosette, Aladdin, Jackanapes, and Tiny Tim should be as familiar to boys and girls as are their playmates. What better can we do for the children than to give them these life-long friends! The poem entitled "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod," by Eugene Field, is used by permission of and by arrangement with Charles Scribner's Sons. 3 NOTE TO TEACHERS As soon as the children begin to read with fluency and understanding they begin to enjoy reading. This is the time to lead them to acquire a taste for good reading, but a carefully prepared book is of little use without the coöperation of the teacher. In order to interest boys and girls in the literature from which these selections are made, take books from the library for them to read and discuss, encourage home reading, and collect a few books as the beginning of a school library. Are not good books as valuable as good pictures? Interest yourself in the books your pupils are reading, suggest books for them to read, ask them to read aloud a short selection from a book they have read, teach them to find a good selection, ask them to learn quotations and short poems by heart, teach them to select quotations worth knowing; call attention to a fine description, to a thought well expressed; in fact, use every opportunity for leading the children to love the true, the good, and the beautiful in literature as well as in nature and art. 4 |