JOHN RUSKIN, Art Critic and Writer SIR WALTER SCOTT, Novelist and Poet ANNA SEWELL Novelist ROBERT W. SERVICE, Author of "The Spell of the Yukon" ERNEST THOMPSON SETON, Artist, Author, and Lecturer WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Poet and Dramatist PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY, Poet VILHJALMUR STEFANSSON, Arctic Explorer ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, Poet, Essayist, and Novelist ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, Poet MRS. GUDRUN THORNE-THOMSEN, Author of "East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon," and other Norwegian Folk Tales EVERETT TITSWORTH TOMLINSON, Ph.D., L.H.D., Author of "Three Young Continentals" CAROLYN WELLS, Author of "A Nonsense Anthology" and the "Marjorie" Books JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, Poet and Author LEONARD WOOD, Major-General, United States Army ORVILLE WRIGHT, Aviator and Inventor PARTIAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATORS _Examples of whose work appear in the_ BOYS AND GIRLS BOOKSHELF JOHN W. ALEXANDER F. S. CHURCH LUCY FITCH PERKINS ANNIE ANDERSON CLYDE O. DELAND HOWARD PYLE FLORENCE ANDERSON EDMUND DULAC ARTHUR RACKHAM CULMER BARNES RUTH HALLOCK FREDERICK REMINGTON FRANK L. BAUM FLORENCE HARRISON F. REUTERDAHL J. CARTER BEARD R. BRUCE HORSFALL HARRY ROUNTREE W. T. BENDA GEORGE W. JOY CARL RUNGIUS JOHN BENNETT E. W. KEMBLE EDMUND J. SAWYER ANNA WHELAN BETTS EMILIE BENSON KNIPE ERNEST THOMPSON SETON R. B. BIRCH CHARLES F. LESTER R. SHRADOR E. H. BLASHFIELD J. C. LEYENDECKER HAROLD SICHEL R. I. BRASHER H. MOORE HUGH SPENCER PAMELA VINTON BROWN H. A. OGDEN ALICE BARBER STEPHENS HARRISON CADY MONRO S. ORR FRANK STICK BESS BRUCE CLEVELAND MAXFIELD PARRISH SARA S. STILLWELL F. Y. CORY MALCOLM PATTERSON C. R. SWAN LILIAN A. COVEY E. C. PEIXOTTO ALBERTINE RANDALL WHEELAN GENERAL INTRODUCTION Books are as essentially a part of the home where boys and girls are growing into manhood and womanhood as any other part of the furnishings. Parents have no more right to starve a child's mind than they have his body. If a child is to take his place among the men and women of his time he needs to know the past out of which the present grew, and he needs to know what is going on in the world in which he lives. He needs tools for his brain as much as for his hands. All these things are found, and found only, in books. The child is helpless to provide himself with these necessaries for life. The majority of parents are eager that their children shall start early and right on that road which leads to honorable success. But it is impossible for any parent, by no matter how liberal an expenditure, to collect books that shall adequately cover all a child's needs and interests. This is the task of experts. INSTRUCTIVE PLAY