_Do you know what your children read?_ Do you watch as carefully the food of mind and spirit as you do that of the body? Do you show an interest in the books they plan to draw from the public library? Can you guide them intelligently when they ask for suggestions of interesting books? Do you know the healthful, suitable ones? § 5. PROMOTION OF THE READING INTEREST The Sunday school might aid greatly in promoting the habit of selecting and reading good books. Children often come home from day school clamoring for some book which the teacher has recommended as interesting and valuable. The Sunday-school teacher's recommendation would also carry weight. In every church, whether there exists a Sunday-school library or not, there ought to be a library or book committee which would watch for the right reading for the different grades and would cause the titles of good books to be placed on a bulletin board. Further, such a committee might very well place a copy of the book selected in the teacher's hand in order that the teacher might call the attention of the class directly to it. Of course the range of selection should be as wide as the world of books and should include fiction, romance, song, and story.[20] Parents could do the same sort of thing. Why not talk up the best books we remember? As to those old-time books, we need to realize that tastes change. Perhaps they owed much of their interest to their vivid descriptions of contemporary life. Therefore we must commend the new books, those that belong to the children's own days, too. This can be done, provided we really know the books, not by saying, "We should like you to read _Sandford and Merton_," but rather, "There is a capital story in _Captains Courageous_; have any of you read it?" Leave the matter there, or, at most, go only far enough to stimulate interest. I. References for Study St. John, _Stories and Story Telling_, chaps. i-v. Eaton & Mains, $0.50. Forbush, _The Coming Generation_, chap. viii. Appleton, $1.50 Winchester, "Good and Bad Books in the Home," in _The Bible in Practical Life_, p. 38. Religious Education Association, $2.50. II. Further Reading Partridge, _Story Telling in School and Home_. Sturgis & Walton, $1.25. H.W. Mabie, _Books and Culture_. Dodd, Mead & Co., $1.25. III. Methods and Materials ON STORY-TELLING E.P. St. John, _Stories and Story Telling_. Eaton & Mains, $0.50. Wyche, _Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them_. Newson & Co., $1.00. L.S. Houghton, _Telling Bible Stories_. Scribner, $1.25. Bryant, _How to Tell Stories for Children_. Houghton Mifflin Co., $1.00. E.M. and G.E. Partridge, _Story Telling in School and Home_. Sturgis & Walton, $1.25. DIRECTING CHILDREN'S READING IN THE HOME Macy, _A Children's Guide to Reading_. Baker & Taylor Co., $1.25. Field, _Finger Posts to Children's Reading_. McClurg, $1.00.