Books About Children

To this section, which is suited more particularly for girls, belong a large number of stories of a very popular kind: stories describing the ordinary life of children of to-day, with such adventures as any of us can have near home. Years ago the favorites were—

The Fairchild Family	By	Mrs. Sherwood.
Sandford and Merton	"	Thomas Day.

But these are not read as they used to be, partly because taste has changed, and partly because so many other books can now be procured. But fifty and more years ago they were in every nursery library.

The Swiss Family Robinson,

the most famous family book of all, will be found in the adventure section, to which perhaps really belong

Feats on the Fiord,
The Settlers at Home,

by Harriet Martineau, although these two, and

The Crofton Boys

may be included here. Here also belong Maria Edgeworth's

Moral Tales for Young People.
The Parent's Assistant,

which, although their flavor is old-fashioned, are yet as interesting as ever they were.

Another writer whose popularity is no longer what it was is Jacob Abbott, the author of a number of fascinating stories of home life (on farms and in the country) in America in the middle of last century. The Franconia stories are these:—

Beechnut.
Wallace.
Madeline.
Caroline.
Mary Erskine.
Mary Bell.
Stuyvesant.
Agnes.

And this is the Rollo series, intended by Mr. Abbott for rather younger readers:—

The Little Scholar Learning to Talk.
Rollo Learning to Read.
Rollo at Play.
Rollo at Work.
Rollo at School.
Rollo's Vacation.

A list of other books, which come more or less rightly under the head of "Stories about Children" follows, the earlier ones being better suited to younger readers, and the later ones to older, the age aimed at in this chapter (and indeed in the whole book), ranging from five to fifteen.

By Kate Douglas Wiggin:—

Polly Oliver's Problem.
Timothy's Quest.

By Louisa M. Alcott:—

Little Women.
Good Wives.
Eight Cousins.
Rose in Bloom.
Spinning-Wheel Stories.
Little Men.
Jo's Boys.
An Old-Fashioned Girl.
Aunt Jo's Scrap Bag.
Comic Tragedies.

The Little Pepper Series, and the Elsie Books.

By Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett:—

Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Editha's Burglar.
The Captain's Youngest.
Sara Crew.

By Mrs. Whitney:—

We Girls.
Faith Gartney's Girlhood.
The Gayworthys.
Leslie Goldthwaite.

By Gelett Burgess:—

Goops, and How to be Them.
More Goops, and How Not to be Them.
Goop Tales.
The Lively City o'Ligg.
The Burgess Nonsense Book.

This section is necessarily more incomplete than any of the others, since it is impossible to keep pace with the great number of stories of this kind which are published every Christmas. But a few more may be added:—

Stories Told to a Child	By	Jean Ingelow.
The Lost Child	"	Henry Kingsley.
Helen's Babies	"	John Habberton.
The Treasure-Seekers	"	E. Nesbit.
Holiday House	"	Catherine Sinclair.
Deeds of Daring done by Girls	"	N. Hudson Moore.
Children of Other Days	"	"
Paleface and Redskin	"	F. Anstey.
The Silver Skates	"	M. M. Dodge.
Molly and Olly	"	Mrs. Humphry Ward.
Sweetheart Travelers	"	S. R. Crockett.
Sir Toady Crusoe	"	"
Sir Toady Lion	"	"
No Relations	"	Hector Malot.
Jogging 'Round the World	"	Edith Dunham.
A Little Daughter of the Revolution	"	Agnes Sage.
A Little Colonial Dame	"	"
The House of the Red Fox	"	Miriam Byrne.
The Would-be Witch	"	"
Little Barefoot	From the German of Auerbach.
Indian Boys and Girls	By	Alice Haines.
Japanese Child Life	"	"
Little Japs at Home	"	"
Jap Boys and Girls	"	"
According to Grandma	"	"
When Grandma was Little	"	"
What Grandma Says	"	"

Here also belong many of the stories of Miss Yonge, and we might perhaps place Uncle Tom's Cabin here too.