A. L. A. ANNOTATED LISTS--Books for Boys and Girls. A Selected List
Compiled by Caroline M. Hewins, Librarian of the Hartford Public
Library. 1904. $0.15. A most judicious and literary standard.
A LIST OF BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR A CHILDREN’S LIBRARY--Compiled for
the Iowa Library Commission by Annie Carroll Moore, Supervisor
of Children’s Rooms in the New York City Public Library. Another
excellent and practical guide.
BOOKS FOR BOYS--Special Bulletin No. 6. January, 1906. The Chicago
Public Library. A generous selection for boys from twelve to
eighteen; an inclusive list, marked more by vigour than by
refinement of a fastidious nature.
FINGERPOSTS TO CHILDREN’S READING--Walter Taylor Field. McClurg, $1.00.
The book contains some practical suggestions about children and
their reading. The lists in the Appendix are open to criticism.
THE RIGHT READING FOR CHILDREN--Compiled by Charles Welsh. Heath.
Referring chiefly to Heath’s Home and School Classics.
STORY TELLING TO CHILDREN FROM NORSE MYTHOLOGY AND THE
NIBELUNGENLIED--References to Material on Selected Stories,
Together with an Annotated Reading List. Carnegie Library,
Pittsburgh. $0.20. Excellent.
STORY HOUR COURSES FOR CHILDREN FROM GREEK MYTHS, THE ILIAD, AND THE
ODYSSEY, as Conducted by the Children’s Department of the Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh. $0.05. An excellent guide.
A LIST OF GOOD STORIES TO TELL TO CHILDREN UNDER TWELVE YEARS OF AGE,
with a Brief Account of the Story Hour Conducted by the Children’s
Department, Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh. $0.05. The same Library
has issued:
ANNOTATED CATALOGUE OF BOOKS USED IN THE HOME LIBRARIES AND READING
CLUBS, conducted by the Children’s Department. $0.25.
BOOKS FOR CHILDREN--A List Compiled by Gertrude Wild Arnold. The Marion
Press, New York. 1905.
READING FOR THE YOUNG--Sargent. Houghton.
A CHILDREN’S LIBRARY--Selected by May H. Prentice and Effie L. Power,
in behalf of the Cleveland Normal School.
CATALOGUE OF BOOKS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARIES IN NEW YORK--Compiled by
Claude G. Leland. Marked by educational requirements, and graded.
A LIST OF BOOKS ON BIRDS for the General Reader and Students. Audubon
Society of the State of New York. Recommended by Mr. Frank M.
Chapman, of the New York Museum of Natural History. _Vide_
“Bird-Lore,” a magazine which Mr. Chapman edits.
CHILDREN’S REFERENCE LISTS--Cleveland Public Library. English History
for the Sixth Grade. The system here adopted is excellent, and
might be followed with advantage in other lines.
CHILDREN, SCHOOLS, AND LIBRARIES--A list, with abstracts, of some of
the more important contributions to the subject. Compiled by Marion
Dickinson in 1897; revised by Mary Medlicott in 1899. Springfield
Public Library. Springfield, Massachusetts. A very serviceable
pamphlet.
FIVE HUNDRED BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG--George E. Hardy. Scribner.
SOME ENGLISH CATALOGUES recommended by Miss Isabel Chadburn:
_a._ Catalogue of Books for Secondary Schools.
_b._ Prize List, Education Committee, London County Council. Graded.
_c._ Buckingham Palace Road Library. Mr. Pacy.
_d._ Cable Street, Stepney, E., Library. Mr. Roebuck.
_e._ Descriptive Handbook to Juvenile Literature. Finsbury Public
Libraries, Mr. Cannons.
_f._ Group of Books for Schools. Librarian of the Cardiff Library.
Mr. Ballinger.
As far as nature books are concerned, it will be found that local
differences have to be observed; yet, though the British and American
writers are bound to these limitations, they are none the less alike
in their scope--to furnish the juvenile readers with a ready reference
guide to objects around them. In the present instance, the list which
has been compiled, voted upon, and arranged, may suit the English
child as well as the American child, although certain local inclusions
need to be balanced by the substitution of English counterparts. The
American school story, _per se_, will never supplant its English
predecessor in “Tom Brown at Rugby,” or even “The Crofton Boys.”
The American library shelves are stacked with the English make of
book. And it must be acknowledged that, in point of scholarship, the
English classics, given a library and literary _format_, surpass the
school-book shape in every way. In this connection, it is well to heed
the warning of Miss Moore:
“The choice of editions is not based upon extended comparative work.
[What is said of her list applies as well to the present one.] It
represents merely the editions which have come to my notice, some
of them being quite unsatisfactory. This is an era of educational
publications and, while many of these are admirably adapted to their
purpose, we have need to be constantly on our guard not to overstock
children’s libraries with books which have no artistic merit as to
cover or general make-up, and which therefore fail to make a definite
individual impression on the mind of the child and give to a children’s
library the general appearance of book-shelves devoted to supplementary
reading.”
Were this intended to be an exclusive list, many very rigourous
omissions would have been the result; but it is better to err upon the
generous side than to appeal to an exceptional taste. “A man’s reach
should exceed his grasp” is the Browning philosophy, but in the climb
upward the intermediate tendrils are necessary for holding on; nor must
they be removed until something is assured to take their place. The
removal of inferior books from the shelves will not remedy the matter,
unless existing circumstances are such as to meet the case.
Where it is possible, the least expensive edition has been adopted;
although it is often a fact that no choice has been given. A good
edition for a library is the most desirable, and those committees are
unwise which sacrifice quality for quantity. On the other hand, it is
unfortunate that a more suitable arrangement cannot exist, whereby the
artistic books, which, by reason of their decorative character, are
perforce expensive, could be offered at less exorbitant rates to an
institution of such social importance as a library.