Miss W. W. PLUMMER said:
I should much like to see tried Miss Sargent's plan for the story-hour,
_i. e._, the argument of the story being given first in the attendant's
own words, followed by a reading from some good version of the original,
with judicious skipping. If this has been tried anywhere, we should be
glad to know of it. We have given as a problem to our class of
children's librarians the selection of one or two books of Homer, of the
Odyssey preferably, to cut and edit for reading by or to children, and
have always found that what was left made an exceedingly interesting
story, that it seemed might be read just as it was. But, of course, such
an exercise would require an unusually good and very intelligent reader
to be a success.
_Fairy tales._
Belief, on the part of the author, at least while writing, is necessary
if one would preserve the true atmosphere of the fairy story and
communicate the right enjoyment to the child-readers. The fairy book in
which the author tries to be "smart" and is continually thrusting in his
own personality, is a failure. He must forget himself, leave the present
century, and for the time be as credulous as the child himself.
_Fiction._
The vulgarization of the child is one of the dangers we must avoid. What
if the boy's father does read the _New York Journal_ and the girl's
mother, when she reads anything, Laura Jean Libbey? It is our business,
as librarians for children, to see that by the time the child reaches
the same age he shall like something different and better. And how can
this be brought about if we let him steep himself in the smart,
sensational, vulgar and up-to-date children's books that naturally lead
to just such tastes in the adult?
We must also guard against false reasoning. Some authors whom we have
probably never questioned will have to go, if thus examined. I am
thinking, for instance, of a writer for girls who has been generally
accepted. I examined her last book, the story of a little girl and her
grandmother, apparently plain people, who moved into a summer village
alongside of a family of fashionable city people. The question with the
children of the fashionable family and their friends was whether they
should or should not make a friend of the new girl--she was nice, but
evidently not rich, not fashionable, not one of their kind. The counsel
of the minority prevailed, and the children, boys and girls of 15 or 16,
kindly admitted her to their circle, though not considering her their
equal. How they held their breath at thought of their nearness to a
great mistake when they found she belonged to a fine old family of
another city, and had great expectations from the quiet grandmother!
"See how it paid to be polite!" is the tacit morality of the book, which
is full of the spirit of snobbery while professing to teach the
opposite. It behooves us, therefore, to dip into books before purchasing
or recommending. Nothing will take the place of knowing the books we
handle and having our own opinion of them.
A thing we have to look out for is the intentional or unintentional
imitation of the names of well-received writers, _e.g._, the Marie
Louise Pool, author of "Chums," to whom Miss Taylor refers, is not the
Miss Pool who wrote "Roweny in Boston" and "Mrs. Keats Bradford," that
author having died two or three years ago. The person who uses the same
name, rightfully or wrongfully, writes very different and very inferior
books.
At the information desk we have made lists for various classes and types
of person--but very often have had to lay these aside and make a special
selection for the individual, after talking with him or her. This is as
true for children as for adults--the books that appeal to one person do
not appeal to another of seemingly the same type. Until the proper
relation be established between the child and the librarian, he cannot
be influenced very much in his choice of books. Sometimes this relation
may be established in five minutes, sometimes in a week, a month, or a
year; sometimes it seems impossible to do it, and some other personal
influence must be waited for.
People sometimes say that the children's own tastes in reading should be
our guide. This is true thus far: that if a child is reading books that
do not seem good for him in our judgment, we should find out what it is
_in_ these books that appeals to him; then look for the same thing in
books that are better written and lack the objectionable features, and
both librarian and child are satisfied. Children learn a great deal by
absorption, and if the children's librarian can give them the sort of
plot or incident they want and, at the same time, a book from which they
may absorb good English instead of bad, high ideals and a high code of
behavior instead of low ones, she has accomplished a great part of her
task.
_Science._
With regard to nature books for children, I am glad that Miss Holmes has
spoken frankly and pointed out to us the dangers we incur in rushing
into the purchase of a new kind of book without investigation. The
taking up of nature study and the study of art in the public schools has
meant a great pressure upon libraries for books which teachers and
pupils have heard of, but of the merits of which many of them as well as
ourselves are unable to judge. In order to have books enough to meet the
demand, our temptation is to buy entire series, every book we hear of in
these lines, whereas our best plan would be to get them for inspection
only, invite the inspection and criticism of some scientific person, or
some one conversant with art and its literature, and reject what they
condemn, putting in duplicates enough of the approved books to meet the
large demand. A thing we need to beware of is the stampede--the wild
rush to or away from a thing without reasoning, without stopping to
think, just because other libraries we know of are engaging in it. The
librarian needs at such times to keep cool, brace himself or herself
against the rush, and when the dust of the crowd is over think things
out and go ahead. And in these lines where special knowledge is
necessary do not let us think ourselves infallible or even altogether
competent; let us be humble enough to take advice and information from
those who have a real claim to know.
J. C. DANA said:
The papers we have heard read tell us that we can put no dependence on
book reviews; that the librarian must depend on herself. How can she do
it? There are no laws or rules or principles of book selection. Even if
there were, no librarian has time to read even hastily all the books for
children.
If she wishes to evaluate them in the light of any possible principles
she may have laid down, she finds the principles themselves very shaky.
Experience is our only guide. A friend of mine much interested in
psychology, and especially in the psychology of young people, and
especially, again, in the influence on young people of the books read
during the years 12 to 16, tells me that as a result of considerable
study of nickel-libraries and news-stand story papers of what we call a
poor kind, he thinks this literature is generally harmless; is perhaps
even helpful; is well above the intelligence of most of those who read
it; and is largely written by men and women who seriously wish to help
to bring light and joy into the world. If our general opinion about
these nickel-libraries is to be given a shock such as that, what may we
not expect as to other classes of books, of our judgment on which at
present we are quite as sure? It is distressing, the amount of work that
is being done in this country nowadays even by the librarians themselves
in their attempt, each by herself alone, to come to sound conclusions in
regard to the value of books for children. We don't care to read these
books. We read them when we are weary, we read too many of them. Our own
taste, if originally good, gets perverted; our point of view gets
prejudiced; and our opinions are of very little value when formed. Why
not try co-operation? I suggest that you appoint a committee to
formulate some scheme for securing the beginning of an evaluated list of
children's books; and that this committee see that at least a portion of
the scheme, enough to show us another year how it can be successfully
carried on, be completed before our next annual meeting. I would
suggest, for example, that this committee, in the first place, collect
from members of the Association sufficient money in voluntary
subscriptions to pay for postage, clerical work and printing, in
beginning the evaluated list; that they then appoint some person to set
in motion the machinery necessary for getting together a set of
evaluations. She would perhaps begin by selecting almost at random 500
story books for young people of the ages 10 to 14. This list she would
submit, in whole or in small sections, to as many active librarians who
are interested in children's literature, as she could get into
communication with. Having secured from them opinions, she would
tabulate the results of the reading of each book and compile from these
opinions a brief note. She would, perhaps, submit to us at the end of
the year a brief list, in type, with or without annotations, of story
books for children that are not good, another brief list of story books
for children that are good. Without going further into detail I think
you will see that in some such way as this, we can make the reading we
now do along these lines permanently helpful to one another. We can
perhaps in two or three years produce a foundation list of books for
young people on which we can depend; we can then continue the evaluating
process for other books as they appear from year to year.
H. C. WELLMAN directed attention to the economy which would result from
a printed list of juvenile books to be prepared and issued by the
Section of Children's Librarians and used as a catalog of the juvenile
collections in public libraries. Such a list should not only embody the
joint opinion of the best authorities, but should effect a saving of 90
per cent. in the work of preparing and the cost of printing separate
lists for each library. The joint lists, containing 500 or more titles,
could be set up with slugs, and revised and brought down to date in
frequent editions. Some simple notation could be adopted, and the
juvenile books in each library numbered to correspond. Then the list
could be purchased in quantities by the libraries and sold to their
borrowers at a cent apiece. The result would place within the reach of
even small libraries a juvenile list at an exceedingly low price, always
up-to-date, and of a quality and authority which should make it superior
to any similar lists ever issued.
A motion was made by Mr. PERRY that a committee of three be appointed to
take action on Mr. Dana's suggestion. The motion was carried and a
special committee consisting of Mr. Dana, Mr. Perry and Miss Browning
was appointed by the chair to act upon the suggestion at some general
meeting of the Association.[H]
In the absence of Miss H. H. STANLEY Mr. WELLMAN read Miss Stanley's
paper on