Papers and Proceedings of the Twenty-Third General Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Waukesha, Wisconsin, July 4-10, 1901
Science
Papers and Proceedings of the Twenty-Third General Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Waukesha, Wisconsin, July 4-10, 1901
American Library Association; Library science -- Congresses
The lists made by James M. Sawin, of Providence, are good and
suggestive, but better for older than younger children, including,
however, for beginners in reading some excellent old favorites like Mrs.
Follen's "Twilight stories," and for children a little older a book that
ought to be in print, Paul de Musset's "Mr. Wind and Madam Rain."
The Milwaukee list for children under 10 is good for the most part, but
includes "Dear daughter Dorothy" and "Editha's burglar."
Mrs. Whitney's list of "Books not usually selected by young people"
(first published in the _Bulletin of Bibliography_) is for the most part
beyond the grammar-school age, including such books as Sismondi's
"Literature of the south of Europe" and Ragozin's "Vedic India." It is
unclassified, good and not too American.
The Buffalo Public Library lists are the best that I have found,
thoroughly practical, well chosen, and in the pamphlet entitled
"Classroom libraries for public schools" well graded as far as one can
judge. The grading of schools varies so much in different cities that it
is impossible unless one knows exactly what "four" or "eight" or "nine"
represents to say whether books are suitable for it. A list of this kind
cannot be made without a thorough understanding between librarian and
teachers, a thorough knowledge of the condition of the schools and the
home-life of the children on the part of the librarian, and a knowledge
of books on the part of the teachers.
The graded and annotated list from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is
for teachers, not children, and has many suggestive notes, but will bear
weeding.
Many lists are almost entirely American, and seem at first sight narrow
and one-sided. A little thought and knowledge of the conditions under
which they are made shows the cause of this apparent fault. City lists
are made for schools which are full of children of newly-arrived
emigrants, whose first desire, as soon as they can read English at all,
is to know something of the great free country to which they have come.
It is to supply this demand that many simple United States histories and
historical stories relating to this country have been put upon the
market in the last five years, almost to the exclusion of other books of
the kind. Teachers and librarians should remember in making lists that
there are other countries in the world, and good histories of them, like
Longmans' "Ship" series.
The books suggested by public library commissions are usually published
in this country, partly for the reasons that it is easier to find them,
that they are cheaper than imported books, and that they are in demand
in small libraries. The New York State Library lists are of this kind,
and the books for children are carefully chosen as far as they can be
from this country alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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