SOME RECENT BOOKS

“Story Telling in School and Home.” A Study in Educational Æsthetics. By Emelyn Newcomb Partridge and George Everett Partridge, Ph.D. Publishers, Sturgis & Walton Co., New York. Price, $1.25 net.

This is the fifth book that has appeared on story telling in the past half a dozen years. The authors have presented the psychological foundation and the æsthetic value of story telling in a most elaborate and convincing way. It is the first book that has been written by a psychologist, on the subject of story telling, and Dr. Partridge’s handling of the delicate, subtle, psychic forces that enter into literature and story telling is masterful; while Mrs. Partridge, with her practical experience as a story teller, contributes as much to the art as applied and exemplified in actual work of facing an audience of young people.

The study of the child on one hand and its fundamental needs, and the survey and analysis of sources from which we can draw material,—myth, fable, folklore, epic, and history on the other, is of immense value to all story tellers and all who teach young people even up to college entrance.

Part II of the book contains a dozen retold stories that have been put into shape by the oral telling, and are valuable both because of the form and their intrinsic worth. The book contains a number of illustrations, which add to its attractiveness, along with a bibliography and suggestions for reading. We cannot praise the book too highly. It is an inspiring book to read and a permanent contribution to the literature of story telling.

Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them.By Richard Thomas Wyche. Price $1.00. Newson & Company, New York.

“Story tellers were the first teachers,” says Mr. Wyche in his chapter on “The Origin of Story Telling.”

In an interesting way he throws light on what stories shall be told, the use of the story in the classroom and in formal work, the story in the Sunday-school, the library, the playground, and the social circle.

The author also discusses the fundamental needs of the child, the psychological principles involved, and the spiritual equipment needed in story telling.

For purposes of illustration the author uses “The Story of Beowulf,” “The Coming of Arthur,” and other “Great Stories.”

Games for the Playground, Home, School, and Gymnasium.By Jessie H. Bancroft. Price, $1.50 net. The Macmillan Company, New York.

Miss Bancroft’s book of games is a volume of over four hundred and sixty pages, with twenty-three illustrations. It contains, we should say, over two thousand games classified for Elementary schools from the first to the eighth year, for High schools, for playgrounds, for gymnasiums, for boys’ and girls’ summer camps, for house parties and country clubs, for children’s parties, and for the seashore. An excellent system of classification makes it possible to classify the games in many different ways, and thus easily find those suited to one’s needs.

As story telling and playing games are blood relations on the playground, this book is to be cordially commended as an interesting and valuable contribution to the Cause.

The Normal Child and Primary Education.By Arnold L. Gesell, Ph.D., and Beatrice Chandler Gesell, Ed.B. Price, $1.25. Ginn & Company, New York.

This work, the authors tell us, is chiefly the result of contact with eager minds of young women who were preparing to teach young children.

It will interest story tellers mainly because of its extensive analysis and discussion of the child in the educational relation.

“To achieve results in literature,” it is stated, “the children must have something more than a good story: they must have a good story teller—one with quick sympathies and an intuitive knowledge of her group; one who loves the old stories, who feels the pulse of humanity throbbing through them all; whose voice is clear, flexible, interpretative; whose language is simple, direct, pictorial; who enters into a dramatic situation; who has a keen sense of humor, who is willing to sow the seed and let it develop in its own good time.” “The Normal Child” is a most helpful, illuminating, and instructive book.

The Children’s Reading.By Frances Jenkins Olcott. Price, $1.25 net. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

Miss Olcott has given us a valuable book on children’s readings. She speaks as an authority from her many years’ experience as a librarian; therein is the chief value of her book. She knows the names and authors of many of the best books for young people, and gives many valuable lists of books. The very fact that she has had to deal with so many books from without as a librarian, has probably prevented her knowing so well the inside of the book,—seeing and living with its imagery, communing with its spirit and breathing its atmosphere until it gives up its deepest meaning. Any treatment of a story that helps one to visualize, to re-create, to breathe its atmosphere and live its spirit, ought to be valuable; the letter killeth, the spirit giveth life. However, her quotations from authors who have done that are many and valuable. The one on Homer’s Iliad, page 103, is especially good; but she barely mentions the Odyssey, the more interesting story to the young people. The book is conservative rather than original and creative.

Aldine First Language Book.For Grades Three and Four. By Catherine T. Bryce and Frank E. Spaulding. Price 48 cents.A Manual for Teachers.To accompany Aldine First Language Book. Price 60 cents. Newson & Company, New York.

Aldine First Language Book.For Grades Three and Four. By Catherine T. Bryce and Frank E. Spaulding. Price 48 cents.

A Manual for Teachers.To accompany Aldine First Language Book. Price 60 cents. Newson & Company, New York.

These two books, the Manual and the Pupil’s book accompanying it, the authors tell us have grown out of many years’ experiment in teaching “language” so called.

The work which the child is called upon to accomplish is, throughout the entire book, based on fables, myths, legends, stories of all kind, rhymes and poems, the delight of childhood, all of which are fully within the range of the child’s understanding and appreciation. The varieties of ways in which these materials are presented arouses the keen interest of the children, stimulates their thought, and quickens their whole mental life. They discuss freely, they dramatize, they reproduce orally and in writing, the work over into new forms, they live and love the contents of stories and poems. No one can read this pupil’s book without becoming impressed with the tremendous value of story telling as a direct instrument of education. The introduction of a comprehensive “Teacher’s Manual” into the class-room, explaining the work to the teacher step by step, seems to be a new and most serviceable idea.

Stories of Long Ago in the Philippines.By Dudley Odell McGovney, A.M. Price forty cents. World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York.The Story Readers’ Primer.By May Langdon White. Price thirty-six cents. World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York.

Stories of Long Ago in the Philippines.By Dudley Odell McGovney, A.M. Price forty cents. World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York.

The Story Readers’ Primer.By May Langdon White. Price thirty-six cents. World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York.

These little stories of ancient days in the Philippines contain such interesting selections as “The Sea and the Sky,” “The Bird and the Bamboo,” “The Good and the Evil Spirits,” “Naming the Islands,” and “Manila Long Ago.” These stories have a certain historic value and will be read with interest by children in the United States.

The Story Readers’ Primer tells of the every day experiences of two happy, healthy children, and makes effective use of the classic stories and poems.

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