The BOOKSHELF begins with the dawn of intelligence in the child, and
goes with him through the morning of childhood, and into the noonday of
youth. It contains a complete stock of finger-plays, action-plays,
lullabies, and other entertaining and educational material enjoyable to
babies and little children; it reaches into and through the high-school
age. In fact, the BOOKSHELF, with its valuable scientific and
natural-history material, its information about inventions and
industries, and its literary treasures, is an asset to the library even
of an adult.
The BOOKSHELF is classified. In some libraries material upon an
unrelated variety of subjects may be found within the covers of a single
volume. This feature has been tried and found wanting. It means that
when the reader is on the trail of a given subject he never knows where
to look for it, and he is likely to have to hunt through several volumes
before he learns what he wants to know. The argument for an unclassified
library is that the child who is reading a story may happen at the end
of that story upon an article containing valuable information, and thus
be lured on to read it. Children are not so easily beguiled. The mental
distinction of being, as it were, forced to spring from one theme to
another certainly counterbalances any supposed advantage in the
scrapbook arrangement. "A place for everything, and everything in its
place," is as true an adage and as necessary to remember and to practise
to-day as it ever was.
In addition to classifying the contents of the BOOKSHELF, the Editors
have graded the material. Any collection that is purchased for a home
and leaves out the needs of the children of any given age is
disappointing to that home. There is also a Graded Index, which is an
enlargement upon the general plan.
On the very day of its birth a baby enters the child's garden of life.
In this beautiful place there are weeds as well as flowers, and father
and mother must guide the little adventurer so that only the good
flowers are developed, while the weeds are held in check and the
poisonous plants torn up and destroyed. Earnest parents feel this
responsibility very keenly. In "Fun and Thought for Little Folk" there
is a well-selected collection of jingles, stories, and play exercises
for babies up to about three or four years of age. It covers the
earliest informal education of a child, from finger-play days to the
alphabet period. It helps parents who wish to enjoy their little
children and who do not wish such enjoyment to be a mere matter of
chance. Trained kindergartners with the modern viewpoint had much to do
with this collection. Not only does it delight the little folk, but it
is also the first material for child-training.
Educators are making much nowadays of fairy stories and wonder-tales.
The imaginative man, they say, is the effective man, because he has the
mental vision which sees farther than the physical eye; and they urge
that all children should be the possessors of these nursery tales that
have made children happy for so many centuries. "Folk-lore, Fables, and
Fairy Tales" is the result of careful comparative study of all the
leading anthologies, with added research into sources that have not
otherwise been thoroughly explored.
The folk-lore of many races and times has been sifted, and wherever
necessary it has been retold so as to be suitable to modern tastes and
needs of modern children. Whatever was gruesome or morally undesirable
has been omitted, but the flavor and the language of the past have been
retained. Here are "Cinderella," "Tom Thumb," and all the other
favorites of our childhood days, together with the stories that are told
to the children in the four corners of the world. While these will be
read to our boys and girls before they are able to read for themselves,
they will turn back again and again to this department as they grow
older. There is perpetual youth in the tales evolved by a race in its
infancy.
From the fairy-tale and the folk-lore period, when beasts and trees and
all that is about them speak to them in words they can understand,
children develop into a stage where they want stories, or, as we say
when we are older, fiction. Both they and we mean tales that while
untrue yet would be possible of happening. At this age, also, children
desire to learn the habits of the animals they see on the farm, in the
zoo, and in the circus. The importance of giving children an early
acquaintance with good literature is unquestioned, but even the most
earnest parent has difficulty in making the selection, finding the
source in available form, and keeping out what is unworthy.
"Famous Tales and Nature Stories" has been made with care. Many of the
world's famous stories are collected here, and wherever possible they
are in the original language. The nature stories, about flowers and
trees, birds and insects, are not formal, but are planned to give the
child direct contact with nature and to assist the good habit of direct
and interested observation.
This division also includes a Primer and a First Reader, made according
to modern principles. Enough reading material is furnished in graded
form to enable the home teacher to help her little pupil master the
elements of reading, or the child will use it himself to supplement the
work of the teacher in school, if the mother is too busy with her other
tasks to permit her the enjoyment of teaching her child to read.
All modern kindergarten teaching to-day centers about the development of
the child's own impulses and interests. Of these the two most noticeable
are the tendency to play and the tendency to construct. Even if a mother
had no higher motive than to keep her little child out of mischief she
would welcome a treasury of devices that will always be at hand to
answer the question, "Mother, what shall I do now?" But most mothers
appreciate the value and importance of well directed play and work. In
"Things to Make and Things to Do" are given the directions for
elementary cooking, sewing, woodworking and other handicraft. Successful
teachers who are close to young children, and who kept home conditions
in mind in all their writing, prepared these sections. Educationally
they are sound, but, better than that, they are simple and explicit, and
within the reach of the resources of each home. Here, too, are the
suggestions for the directed and undirected play of the wee tots. The
material in this department, while complete in itself, will prepare the
way for and supplement all teaching in schools of these important
subjects. It is of the first importance that boys and girls recognize
the true nature of work and play. This department will help them in the
right direction.
As a child grows older he craves true stories. "Mother, did it really
happen?" "Father, was that make-believe or real?" These questions are
but the sign of mental and spiritual growing pains. If the child is
wisely aided, that poise which is so envied by the self-conscious person
will be his. The chief factor in poise is knowledge.
To be at home in many lands and times is the mark of a really educated
man or woman. Not all of us can actually travel, not all of us can have
the privilege of the acquaintance of the world's great men and women,
but it is within the reach of every one to-day to discover, through
picture and description, the world's most far-away lands, and in the
pages of books to have an intimate and inspiring acquaintance with the
heroes of the nations. If we wish our children to be fine types of men
and women, we must form their tastes in these large directions before
they are overwhelmed by what is so ephemeral and worthless in literature
and drama of the day.
"True Stories from Every Land" is prepared to catch the attention and to
hold the interest of young children. Foreign lands are studied not by
their boundaries and political affairs, but through the home life, the
customs, the sports, and the work of their children, their men, and
their women. The approach to history is made by biographies of some of
the most interesting heroes, and especially by accounts of the
adventurous pioneer days of America. The illustrations in this
department are multitudinous, graphic, up-to-date, and many of them
unusual. These stories will assist in home and school studies, because
they illustrate the history, customs, manners, and peoples of different
countries. They will help little children to learn how to read, and
incidentally teach them much that will help them to appreciate the
privilege and responsibility of being good Americans.
A good book of songs, familiar, tuneful, suitable to all occasions, and
graded to suit the differing tastes of separate members of the family,
is always welcome. The collection of "Famous Songs," edited by Winton
James Baltzell, is skillfully assembled from the best song-books
available, and it also contains many pieces of unusual charm not so
generally known. The songs for little children, for instance, are based
upon a list approved by our leading kindergartners. A novel feature is
that not only are the songs within range of children's voices, but many
of them have been arranged for instrumental use, and some for
folk-dancing.
In "Picture Stories" we have a delightful series of reproductions of
masterpieces of painting and sculpture of the world's great art eras.
Old masters and modern are well represented. The descriptions were
written for children, remembering their interest in the story-element in
pictures, and including inspiring details of the artists' lives. In the
other volumes are many more reproductions of masterpieces.
There are two volumes entitled "Nature and Outdoor Life"; the first one,
"Trees, Flowers, Amphibians, and Reptiles," begins with talks about
earth, air, and sky, the clouds and weather, the seasons, the ways of
bees and bugs and birds, illustrated with portraits of real children
busy in observing the things of nature. Then follow sections on Familiar
Flowers, Plant Life, Common Trees, and Reptiles and Amphibians, each
written by an expert on the subject, and all profusely illustrated with
photographs and drawings, many of the illustrations being in color. All
this material is written in an easy and familiar style and in a manner
to stimulate the right kind of curiosity. Children are encouraged to ask
questions, and are unconsciously led to observe and read for themselves.
Both this volume and its companion, "Birds, Animals, and Insects," help
boys and girls to find out many secrets of nature. In the second nature
series we begin with pets and domestic animals, and then study the wild
animals and birds of America. Next we learn of the ways of the birds and
animals in other lands, which we meet in the zoological gardens of our
own country. The volume closes with descriptions of the invertebrates.
The natural sciences are cared for in "Earth, Sea, and Sky." Each
division is more fascinating than the last, as it unfolds the world to
us. We all want to know, and ought to know, more about the sphere upon
which we live, its place in the universe, how it came to be peopled, and
what are some of the laws that govern its magnificent forces and
changes. This department is as interesting to old as to young, though it
will find a warm place in the hearts of the youths who are just getting
interested in physics, physiography, chemistry, and electricity.
An earlier volume covered the play and hand-work of little children. Our
young people are now ready for games more skillful and cooperative, and
handicraft more elaborate and involving a finer finish. "Games and
Handicraft" supplies this need. If we are going to have a more
interesting home life, if we are going to keep our boys and girls off
the streets and away (sometimes) from the movies, if we are going to
supplement the textbook work of the schools by the education of the
hands, we need adequate handbooks to guide us. Sometimes such books are
too vague to be practical. Here are working-drawings that are detailed
and exact. That these projects can be executed is evidenced by the
photographs of the finished work.
"Where can I get up-to-date, interesting and trustworthy descriptions of
modern inventions for my young folks?" How many times this question is
asked of book-store clerks by fathers! How often is a satisfactory
answer given? Often such books are not up to date; usually they are too
technical to be interesting; if they are interesting they are often
untrustworthy; and none of them covers more than a portion of the
ground. "Wonders of Invention" represents an earnest endeavor to meet
this wide need within the covers of a single volume. The Editors were
fortunate in obtaining for this department the cooperation of steamship
companies, great electrical concerns, concrete firms, inventors and
others "who know." The illustrations were selected individually, and add
to the value and interest of the text.