"The great Megistias' tomb you here may view,Who slew the Medes, fresh from Spercheius fords;Well the wise seer the coming death foreknew,Yet scorn'd he to forsake his Spartan lords."
The names of the 300 were likewise engraven on a pillar at Sparta.
Lion, pillars, and inscriptions have all long since passed away, even the very spot itself has changed; new soil has been formed, and there are miles of solid ground between Mount Oeta and the gulf, so that the Hot Gates no longer exist. But more enduring than stone or brass—nay, than the very battle-field itself—has been the name of Leonidas. Two thousand three hundred years have sped since he braced himself to perish for his country's sake in that narrow, marshy coast road, under the brow of the wooded crags, with the sea by his side. Since that time how many hearts have glowed, how many arms have been nerved at the remembrance of the Pass of Thermopylae, and the defeat that was worth so much more than a victory!
". . . Forsooth he cometh unto you with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner; and, pretending no more, doth intend the winning of the mind from wickedness to virtue even as the child is often brought to take most wholesome things by hiding them in such others as have a pleasant taste. . . ."—Sir Philip Sidney,An Apologie for Poetrie.
". . . Forsooth he cometh unto you with a tale which holdeth children from play, and old men from the chimney corner; and, pretending no more, doth intend the winning of the mind from wickedness to virtue even as the child is often brought to take most wholesome things by hiding them in such others as have a pleasant taste. . . ."
—Sir Philip Sidney,An Apologie for Poetrie.
Children are such omnivorous readers that teachers and parents are constantly at their wit's end, not only in naming enough books to supply their demands, but in grouping these books according to the order of difficulty. Most public libraries can furnish such lists based upon their experience with children. In fact no modern public library can carry on its work successfully without an especially prepared librarian in charge of the books for children. The arrangement of any list by grades must at best be only approximate, but if done in the light of a wide experience may be of the greatest practical help to the young teacher or to the parent. The following list is one issued by the Chicago Public Library, and is used here through the great kindness of Miss Adah F. Whitcomb, supervisor of the children's room and director of the training class. Any well-selected collection for children will contain a large proportion of these titles, and the list is extended enough and varied enough to furnish attractive reading material for any young person. At need it may be supplemented by the more elaborate lists found in some of the guides mentioned in the General Bibliography (p. 2).
Banta, N. Moore, and Benson, Alpha B.,Brownie Primer.
Blaisdell, Mary Frances,Mother Goose Children.
Brooke, Leonard Leslie,Johnny Crow's Garden.
----,Johnny Crow's Party.
Buffum, Katharine G.,Mother Goose in Silhouettes.
Craik, Georgiana Marion,So-fat and Mew-mew.
Crane, Walter,Beauty and the Beast Picture Book.
----,Bluebeard's Picture Book.
----,Cinderella's Picture Book.
----,Goody Two Shoes Picture Book.
----,Mother Hubbard, Her Picture Book.
----,Red Riding Hood's Picture Book.
----,Song of Sixpence.
----,This Little Pig, His Picture Book.
----,Buckle My Shoe.
Fox, Florence Cornelia,The Indian Primer.
Gaynor, Mrs. Jessie Love, and Riley, Alice C. D.,Songs of the Child-World.
Greenaway, Kate,Under the Window.
Haaren, John Henry,Rhymes and Fables.
Howard, Frederick Ward,Banbury Cross Stories.
Lansing, Marion Florence,The Child's World Garden.
Le Fèvre, Felicité,The Cock, the Mouse, and the Little Red Hen.
Lucas, Edward Verrall,Four and Twenty Toilers.
Mother Goose,The Real Mother Goose(illus. by Blanche Fisher Wright).
Noyes, Marion,The Sunshine Primer.
Saxby, Lewis,Life of a Wooden Doll.
Seton, Ernest Thompson,Wild Animal Play for Children.
Skinner, A. M., and Lawrence, L. N.,Little Dramas for Primary Grades.
Smith, Elmer Boyd,Chicken World.
Varney, A. S.,The Robin Reader.
Welsh, Charles, (ed.),Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.
Wiltse, Sara E.,Folklore Stories and Proverbs.
Adelborg, Ottilia,Clean Peter and the Children of Grubbylea.
Æsopus,Fables(Dalkeith ed.).
Bannerman, Mrs. Helen,Story of Little Black Sambo.
Bass, Florence,Nature Stories for Young Readers: Animal Life.
----,Nature Stories for Young Readers: Plant Life.
Bryce, Catherine Turner,Stevenson Reader.
Burgess, Gelett,Goops, and How to Be Them.
----,More Goops, and How Not to Be Them.
Caldecott, Randolph,Come Lasses Picture Book.
----,Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book.
Coe, Ida,Story Hour Readers. Vols. 3, 4.
Cooke, Flora J.,Nature Myths and Stories for Little Children.
Craik, Georgiana Marion,Bow-wow and Mew-mew.
Crane, Walter,Baby's Own Æsop.
Deming, Therese Osterheld,Little Indian Folk.
----,Little Red People.
Dodge, Mary Mapes,Rhymes and Jingles.
Greenaway, Kate,Marigold Garden.
Haaren, John Henry,Songs and Stories.
Hix, Melvin,Once-upon-a-Time Stories.
Ivimey, John William,Three Blind Mice.
McCullough, Annie Willis,Little Stories for Little People.
Moore, Annie E.,Pennies and Plans.
Murray, Clara,The Child at Play.
Poulsson, Emilie,The Runaway Donkey and Other Rhymes.
----,Through the Farmyard Gate.
Smith, Elmer Boyd,Farm Book.
----,Santa Claus Book.
----,Seashore Book.
Smith, Gertrude,Lovable Tales of Janey and Josey and Joe.
----,Roggie and Reggie Stories.
Tileston, Mary Wilder Foote,Sugar and Spice and All That's Nice.
Tolman, Stella Webster Carroll,Around the World, Vol. 1.
Turpin, Edna Henry Lee,Classic Fables.
Weatherly, F. E.,The Book of Gnomes.
Aspinwall, Mrs. Alicia,Short Stories for Short People.
Bailey, Carolyn Sherwin,Boys and Girls of Colonial Days.
Brocks, Dorothy,Red Children.
Brooke, Leonard Leslie,Golden Goose Book.
Brown, Abbie Farwell,Christmas Angel.
----,Lonesomest Doll.
Browning, Robert,Pied Piper of Hamelin(illus. by Hope Dunlap).
Chisholm, Louey,Nursery Rhymes.
Deming, Mrs. Therese Osterheld,Children of the Wild.
----,Little Brothers of the West.
Dodge, Mrs. Mary Mapes,New Baby World.
Field, Eugene,Lullaby-land: Songs of Childhood.
Foulke, Elizabeth E.,Braided Straws.
----,Twilight Stories.
Francis, Joseph Greene,Book of Cheerful Cats and Other Animated Animals.
Gates, Mrs. Josephine Scribner,Story of Live Dolls.
Gerson, Virginia,Happy Heart Family.
Grimm, Jacob L. K., and Wilhelm, K.,Fairy Tales(Lucas ed.).
----,Fairy Tales(Wiltse ed.).
Haaren, John Henry,Fairy Life.
Lang, Andrew,Prince Darling, and Other Stories.
Lansing, Marion Florence,Rhymes and Stories.
McMurry, Mrs. Lida Brown,Classic Stories for the Little Ones.
Morley, Margaret Warner,Seed-Babies.
Peary, Mrs. Josephine Diebitsch,Snow Baby.
Perkins, Lucy Fitch,Dutch Twins.
----,Japanese Twins.
Pierson, Clara Dillingham,Among the Farmyard People.
Pyle, Katharine,Careless Jane, and Other Tales.
Shute, Katherine H.,Land of Song, Vol. 1.
Tappan, Eva March,Dixie Kitten.
----,Golden Goose.
Thorne-Thomsen, Mrs. Gudrun,East o' the Sun.
Trimmer, Mrs. Sarah K.,History of the Robins.
Valentine, Mrs. Laura Jewry,Aunt Louisa's Book of Fairy Tales.
Woodward, Alice B.,Peter Pan Picture Book.
Alden, Raymond Macdonald,Why the Chimes Rang.
Andersen, Hans Christian,Fairy Tales(Lucas ed.).
Barrie, James Matthew,Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
Brown, Abbie Farwell,John of the Woods.
Brown, Helen Dawes,Little Miss Phoebe Gay.
Browne, Frances,Granny's Wonderful Chair, and Its Tales of Fairy Times.
Campbell, Helen LeRoy,Story of Konrad, the Swiss Boy.
Carryl, Charles Edward,Davy and the Goblin.
Craik, Mrs. Dinah Maria,Adventures of a Brownie.
Crichton, Mrs. F. E.,Peep-in-the-World.
Drummond, Henry,Monkey That Would Not Kill.
Faulkner, Georgene,Italian Fairy Tales.
----,Russian Fairy Tales.
Grimm, Jacob L. K., and Wilhelm K.,Household Fairy Tales, tr. by L. Crane.
Hopkins, William John,Sandman: His Farm Stories.
Houghton, Mrs. Louise Seymour,Russian Grandmother's Wonder Tales.
Ingelow, Jean,Mopsa the Fairy.
Lang, Andrew,Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.
----,Nursery Rhyme Book.
----,Pretty Goldilocks.
----,Snow Man.
----,Snow Queen.
Lindsay, Maud, and Poulsson, Emilie,Joyous Travelers.
Lorenzini, Carlo,Adventures of Pinocchio.
Lucas, Edward Verrall,Book of Verses for Children.
Macdonald, George,Princess and the Goblin.
Morley, Margaret Warner,Donkey John of Toy Valley.
O'Shea, Michael Vincent,Old World Wonder Stories.
Paine, Albert Bigelow,How Mr. Dog Got Even.
----,How Mr. Rabbit Lost His Tail.
Peck, Harry Thurston,Adventures of Mabel.
Pierson, Mrs. Clara Dillingham,Three Little Millers.
Pyle, Katharine,As the Goose Flies.
----,Christmas Angel.
----,Counterpane Fairy.
Richards, Mrs. Laura E.,Joyous Story of Toto.
----,Toto's Merry Winter.
Schwartz, Julia Augusta,Five Little Strangers.
Scudder, Horace E.,Book of Fables.
----,Book of Folk Stories.
----,Children's Book.
Sègur, Sophie R. de,Story of a Donkey.
Thorne-Thomsen, Mrs. Gudrun,Birch and the Star.
Walker, Margaret Coulson,Lady Hollyhock and Her Friends.
Welsh, Charles,Fairy Tales Children Love.
Wette, A. H.,Hansel and Gretel(illus. in colors).
White, Eliza Orne,When Molly Was Six.
Williston, Teresa Peirce,Japanese Fairy Tales.
Zwilgmeyer, Dikken,Johnny Blossom.
Alden, William Livingston,Cruise of the Canoe Club.
----,Cruise of the "Ghost."
----,Moral Pirates.
Baldwin, James,Old Greek Stories.
Brown, Abbie Farwell,In the Days of Giants.
Burnett, Frances Hodgson,Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Caldwell, Frank,Wolf, the Storm Leader.
Coburn, Claire Martha,Our Little Swedish Cousin.
Colum, Padraic,Boy Who Knew What the Birds Said.
Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge,Alice in Wonderland.
Duncan, Norman,Adventures of Billy Topsail.
French, Allen,Story of Rolf and the Viking's Bow.
Golding, Vautier,Story of David Livingstone.
Gordy, Wilbur Fisk,American Leaders and Heroes.
Grinnell, George Bird,Jack among the Indians.
Hall, Jennie,Viking Tales.
Jacobs, Joseph,Celtic Fairy Tales.
----,English Fairy Tales.
Jenks, Albert Ernest,Childhood of Ji-shib, the Ojibway.
Kaler, James Otis,Mr. Stubbs' Brother.
----,Toby Tyler.
Kipling, Rudyard,Just-So Stories.
Lucas, Edward Verrall,Book of Verses for Children.
Mabie, Hamilton Wright,Norse Stories.
Mighels, Philip Verrill,Sunnyside Tad.
Olcott, Frances Jenkins,Fairies and Elves.
----,Arabian Nights.
Paine, Albert Bigelow,Arkansaw Bear.
Pendleton, Louis B.,In the Camp of the Creeks.
Pyle, Howard,Garden behind the Moon.
----,Story of King Arthur and His Knights.
----,Wonder Clock.
Pyle, Katharine,Nancy Rutledge.
Richards, Laura E.,Captain January.
Schultz, James Willard,With the Indians in the Rockies.
Seton, Ernest Thompson,Lives of the Hunted.
Spyri, Mrs. Johanna,Heidi.
Stockton, Frank R.,Fanciful Tales.
Stoddard, William Osborn,Little Smoke.
Tappan, Eva March,Robin Hood: His Book.
Thackeray, William Makepeace,Rose and the Ring.
Wesselhoeft, Lily F.,Sparrow, the Tramp.
Wiggin, Kate Douglas,Birds' Christmas Carol.
Wiggin, Kate Douglas, and Smith, Nora A.,Fairy Ring.
Wyss, Johann David,Swiss Family Robinson.
Zollinger, Gulielma,Widow O'Callaghan's Boys.
Alcott, Louisa M.,Eight Cousins.
----,Jack and Jill.
Baldwin, James,Story of the Golden Age.
----,Story of Roland.
----,Story of Siegfried.
Bennett, John,Barnaby Lee.
Bond, Alexander Russell,Pick, Shovel and Pluck.
Bostock, Frank Charles,Training of Wild Animals.
Brooks, Elbridge Streeter,Master of the Strong Hearts.
Brooks, Noah,Boy Emigrants(illus. ed.).
Browne, Belmore,Quest of the Golden Valley.
Burnett, Mrs. Frances Hodgson,Little Princess.
Crump, Irving,Boys' Book of Firemen.
Daviess, Marie Thompson,Phyllis.
Defoe, Daniel,Robinson Crusoe.
Dix, Beulah Marie,Merrylips.
Dodge, Mrs. Mary Mapes,Hans Brinker.
DuBois, Mary Constance,Lass of the Silver Sword.
Eggleston, George Cary,Last of the Flatboats.
Ford, Sewell.Horses Nine.
French, Allen,Story of Greltir the Strong.
----,Junior Cup.
Greene, Frances N., and Kirk, Dolly W.,With Spurs of Gold.
Greene, Homer,Blind Brother.
Gregor, Elmer Russell,Red Arrow.
Hamp, Sidford Frederick,Treasure of Mushroom Rock.
Hawkes, Clarence,Shaggycoat: the Biography of a Beaver.
Hudson, William Henry,Little Boy Lost.
Inman, Henry,Ranche on the Oxhide.
Irving, Washington,Rip Van Winkle.
Jacobs, Joseph,Indian Fairy Tales.
Johnston, William Allen,Deeds of Doing and Daring.
Kipling, Rudyard,Jungle Book.
Lang, Andrew,Red True Story Book.
Little, Francis,Camp Jolly.
Lothrop, Mrs. Harriet Mulford,Five Little Peppers.
Munroe, Kirk,Flamingo Feather.
Page, Thomas Nelson,Two Little Confederates.
Pyle, Katharine,Theodora.
Rankin, Mrs. Carroll Watson,Dandelion Cottage.
Roberts, Theodore,Red Feathers.
Seaman, Augusta Huiell,Boarded-up House.
Seawell, Molly Elliot,Little Jarvis.
Seton, Ernest Thompson,Wild Animals I Have Known.
Stockton, Frank R.,Bee-Man of Orn.
Stoddard, William Osborn,Red Mustang.
Swift, Jonathan,Gulliver's Travels.
Wade, Mrs. Mary Hazelton B.,Wonder Workers.
Wallace, Dillon,Arctic Stowaways.
Wesselhoeft, Mrs. Elizabeth Foster,Jack, the Fire Dog.
Adams, Joseph Henry,Harper's Indoor Book for Boys.Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys.
Alcott, Louisa M.,Jo's Boys.Old-fashioned Girl.Under the Lilacs.
Altsheler, Joseph Alexander,Forest Runners.Free Rangers.Young Trailers.
Barnes, James,Hero of Erie: Oliver Hazard Perry.Yankee Ships and Yankee Sailors.
Browne, Belmore,White Blanket.
Bullen, Frank Thomas,Cruise of the Cachalot.
Burton, Charles Pierce,The Boys of Bob's Hill.
Canavan, Michael Joseph,Ben Comee: a Tale of Roger's Rangers.
Day, Holman Francis,Eagle Badge.
Deland, Ellen Douglas,Oakleigh.
Dix, Beulah Marie,Little Captive Lad.
Dodge, Mrs. Mary Mapes,Donald and Dorothy.
Drysdale, William,Beach Patrol.Cadet Standish of the "St. Louis."Fast Mail.Young Supercargo.
Foa, Eugénie,Boy Life of Napoleon.
Garland, Hamlin,Long Trail.
Greene, Homer,Pickett's Gap.
Grey, Zane,Young Forester.Young Pitcher.
Grinnell, George Bird,Jack among the Indians.Jack in the Rockies.Jack, the Young Ranchman.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel,Grandfather's Chair.
Henley, William Ernest,Lyra Heroica: Book of Verse for Boys.
Hill, T.,Fighting a Fire.
Hough, Emerson,Young Alaskans.
Hughes, Thomas,Tom Brown's School Days.
Jackson, Mrs. Helen Hunt,Nellie's Silver Mine.
Jacobs, Caroline Emilia,Joan's Jolly Vacation.Joan of Juniper Inn.
Kieffer, Henry Martyn,Recollections of a Drummer-Boy.
Munroe, Kirk,At War with Pontiac.Cab and Caboose.
Pyle, Howard,Otto of the Silver Hand.
Quirk, Leslie W.,Baby Elton, Quarterback.
Roberts, Charles G. D.,Kindred of the Wild.
Seton, Ernest Thompson,Two Little Savages.
Stockton, Frank R.,Buccaneers and Pirates of Our Coast.
Stoddard, William Osborn,Red Patriot.White Cave.Lost Gold of the Montezumas.
Tolman, Albert Walter,Jim Spurling, Fisherman.
Tomlinson, Everett Titsworth,Search for Andrew Field.Three Colonial Boys.Red Chief. Marching against the Iroquois.
Wiggin, Kate Douglas,Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
Zollinger, Gulielma,Maggie McLanehan.
Adams, Andy,Wells Brothers: the Young Cattle Kings.
Ashmun, Margaret Eliza,Isabel Carlton's Year.
Barbour, Ralph Henry,Behind the Line.Crimson Sweater.
Beach, Edward Latimer,Annapolis First Classman.
Bennett, John,Master Skylark.
Catherwood, Mary Hartwell,Story of Tonty.
Cervantes-Saavedra M. de,Don Quixote.
Clemens, Samuel L.,Prince and the Pauper.
Coffin, Charles Carleton,Boys of '76.
Cooper, James Fenimore,Deerslayer.
Dana, Richard Henry,Two Years before the Mast.
Doubleday, Russell,Cattle-Ranch to College.
Driggs, Lawrence La Tourette,Adventures of Arnold Adair, American Ace.
Duncan, Norman,Adventures of Billy Topsail.
Eggleston, George Cary,Bale Marked Circle X.
French, Harry W.,The Lance of Kanana.
Gilbert, A.,More than Conquerors.
Gordon, Charles William,Glengarry School Days.
Goss, Warren Lee,Jed.
Hamp, Sidford Frederick,Dale and Fraser, Sheepmen.
Hill, Frederick Trevor,On the Trail of Grant and Lee.
Homer,Adventures of Odysseus. (Colum ed.).
Hughes, Rupert,Lakerim Athletic Club.
Johnston, Charles Haven L.,Famous Scouts.
Kipling, Rudyard,Captains Courageous.
London, Jack,Call of the Wild.
Macleod, Mary,Shakespeare Story Book.
Malory, Sir Thomas,Book of King Arthur and His Noble Knights.
Masefield, John,Martin Hyde.
Meigs, Cornelia,Master Simon's Garden.
Moffett, Cleveland,Careers of Danger and Daring.
Montgomery, Lucy Maud,Anne of Green Gables.
Nicolay, Helen,Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln.
Ollivant, Alfred,Bob, Son of Battle.
Parkman, Mary,Heroes of To-day.
Pendleton, Louis B.,King Tom and the Runaways.
Pyle, Howard,Men of Iron.Story of Jack Ballister's Fortunes.
Rice, Alice Caldwell H.,Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch.
Richards, Laura E.,Florence Nightingale.
Richmond, Grace L.,Round the Corner in Gay Street.
Roberts, Charles G. D.,Heart of the Ancient Wood.
Rolt-Wheeler, Francis William,Boy with the U. S. Foresters.
Schultz, James William,Quest of the Fish-Dog Skin.
Seaman, Augusta Huiell,Girl Next Door.
Singmaster, Elsie,Emmeline.
Tappan, Eva March,In the Days of Queen Elizabeth.
Thompson, Arthur Ripley,Gold-Seeking on the Dalton Trail.
Thompson, James Maurice,Alice of Old Vincennes.
Thurston, Ida Treadwell,Bishop's Shadow.
Trowbridge, John Townsend,Cudjo's Cave.
Verne, Jules,Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.
Verrill, Alpheus Hyatt,Marooned in the Forest.
Wallace, Dillon,Wilderness Castaways.
Wallace, Lewis,Ben Hur.
Waller, Mary Ella,Daughter of the Rich.
(A number in blackface type refers to a page on which appears a literary selection under the title, by the author, or from the book preceding the number. Book titles are in italics; selection titles and index topics in roman type; names of authors in capitals and small capitals; and first lines of nursery rhymes within quotation marks. SeeBibliographyfor authors and book titles not given in this Index.)