This Second Reader, like the two preceding books of the Aldine Series,
combines material and method in such a way that the former does not
suffer, while the latter gains by the combination. That is, the
subject-matter of the book, both the text and the illustrations, is just
as suitable and just as interesting as it could be made were there no
such thing as method; indeed, the sole sign of method, as one reads the
book, is the parenthesis about certain words preceding the stories. At
the same time, this subject-matter, both the text and the illustrations,
embodies in systematic arrangement the most effective principles of
mastering the mechanics of reading.
Children who have read thoroughly the preceding books of this Series
have acquired independence, the habit of self-reliance, and the power of
self-help to such a degree that they will be able to master this book
with little or no direct aid from the teacher. And when they have thus
mastered this book, they will be good readers. That is, so far as the
mechanics of reading is concerned, they will be able to read unaided
anything which they can understand; so far as the subject-matter is
concerned, they will be able to understand from the printed page anything
which they can understand through the spoken word. More than this, if
the teacher has contributed her part, most such children will have
realized the utility and tasted the real delights of reading to such an
extent that they will continue to read of their own accord; most of them
will also be good oral readers, reading with appropriate expression and
genuine enthusiasm.
These statements are not mere predictions of the hoped-for results of
untried theories; they are simple, unexaggerated expressions of facts
which have been observed in the work of thousands of children of a score
of nationalities.
To secure such results a complete mastery and intelligent observation is
necessary of the principles and plans described in the authors’ _Manual
for Teachers_, entitled “Learning to Read.”
The authors gratefully acknowledge their indebtedness to Miss Marie Van
Vorst for the use of “Three of us Know” and “The Sandman”; to Mrs. Emily
Huntington Miller for “The Bluebird”; to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin &
Co. for the use of the poem “Discontented,” by Sarah Orne Jewett, and
“Calling the Violet,” by Lucy Larcom; to Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons
for “The Wind,” by Robert Louis Stevenson.