I. Book-lists Published by Libraries.

What principle of selection shall one adopt in making a book-list? No hard and fast rules can be framed, for what I may consider best may be rejected as second best by you. There is not a book-list issued that does not differ from the others in many essentials; in classification, in titles, and in purpose. Most of these lists are marked by a sincere effort on the part of librarians to direct a child’s reading along the best lines. But even though they may be suggestive and helpful, at the most they are passive and need to be supplemented by a personal knowledge of the books recommended. For, in the lists of history and biography, a compiler finds it necessary to adopt many volumes that are far from literary in the style of writing or in the manner of treatment. To-morrow these books may give place to others far superior and far more permanent in value.

The agreement between the lists, however, does show that there are numberless stories, legends, and the like, which are generally acceded to be desirable, as much because of their inherent freshness as because of the fact that they have stood the test of time. Rarely do the lists fail to mention them.

Notwithstanding, the recommendations issued by the libraries usually are sent forth, hedged around by exceptions and by indirect warnings. This is a healthful sign; it indicates that, however intent the maker of book-lists may be to offer the best, human nature is not all of the same calibre, and excellence is of an illusive character.

It is with some peculiar pleasure that I offer the list of books in this Appendix, protecting myself, and the committee that aided me, with excuses, and forestalling criticism by claiming that while the recommendations have been made to the best of several abilities, and in accord with no mean standards of selection—at the same time much has been included of necessity which will pass away in the years to come. This is not an exclusive list; the attempt has been made to have it a practical, workable list, for parents and teachers and librarians to consult, bringing to it their own personal judgment as to individual taste and development of the child under consideration. Such a term as “the child” has been used reluctantly, since there is no other term, more human, less mechanical, to take its place. Because of this dislike for a stereotyped grading of childhood, the reader will here find no indication as to age demands. The books have been mentioned with a generous range of from six to fifteen years.

Other lists will be found to include a fuller division of subjects. Notably in the historical sections, they will contain many more references than are here given. Our histories smack largely of the school-room; they do not differ so very much from each other as to excellence; they are very apt to agree in the zealousness with which they follow fact. If we decide to seek for general literary merit, we should avoid, as far as possible, the inclusion of what we know is not the case; of what we know is intended for the class-room.

And so, in order to supplement our method, which may be considered too narrow or too broad, the following table of available lists, which have been brought to my notice, is included:

BOOK-LISTS

A. L. A. Annotated Lists—Books for Boys and Girls. A Selected List Compiled by Caroline M. Hewins, Librarian of the Hartford Public Library. 1904. $0.15. A most judicious and literary standard.

A List of Books Recommended for a Children’s Library—Compiled for the Iowa Library Commission by Annie Carroll Moore, Supervisor of Children’s Rooms in the New York City Public Library. Another excellent and practical guide.

Books for Boys—Special Bulletin No. 6. January, 1906. The Chicago Public Library. A generous selection for boys from twelve to eighteen; an inclusive list, marked more by vigour than by refinement of a fastidious nature.

Fingerposts to Children’s Reading—Walter Taylor Field. McClurg, $1.00. The book contains some practical suggestions about children and their reading. The lists in the Appendix are open to criticism.

The Right Reading for Children—Compiled by Charles Welsh. Heath. Referring chiefly to Heath’s Home and School Classics.

Story telling to Children from Norse Mythology and the Nibelungenlied—References to Material on Selected Stories, Together with an Annotated Reading List. Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh. $0.20. Excellent.

Story Hour Courses for Children from Greek Myths, the Iliad, and the Odyssey, as Conducted by the Children’s Department of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. $0.05. An excellent guide.

A List of Good Stories to Tell to Children under Twelve Years of Age, with a Brief Account of the Story Hour Conducted by the Children’s Department, Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh. $0.05. The same Library has issued:

Annotated Catalogue of Books Used in the Home Libraries and Reading Clubs, conducted by the Children’s Department. $0.25.

Books for Children—A List Compiled by Gertrude Wild Arnold. The Marion Press, New York. 1905.

Reading for the Young—Sargent. Houghton.

A Children’s Library—Selected by May H. Prentice and Effie L. Power, in behalf of the Cleveland Normal School.

Catalogue of Books for Public School Libraries in New York—Compiled by Claude G. Leland. Marked by educational requirements, and graded.

A List of Books on Birds for the General Reader and Students. Audubon Society of the State of New York. Recommended by Mr. Frank M. Chapman, of the New York Museum of Natural History. Vide “Bird-Lore,” a magazine which Mr. Chapman edits.

Children’s Reference Lists—Cleveland Public Library. English History for the Sixth Grade. The system here adopted is excellent, and might be followed with advantage in other lines.

Children, Schools, and Libraries—A list, with abstracts, of some of the more important contributions to the subject. Compiled by Marion Dickinson in 1897; revised by Mary Medlicott in 1899. Springfield Public Library. Springfield, Massachusetts. A very serviceable pamphlet.

Five Hundred Books for the Young—George E. Hardy. Scribner.

Some English Catalogues recommended by Miss Isabel Chadburn:

  1. Catalogue of Books for Secondary Schools.
  2. Prize List, Education Committee, London County Council. Graded.
  3. Buckingham Palace Road Library. Mr. Pacy.
  4. Cable Street, Stepney, E., Library. Mr. Roebuck.
  5. Descriptive Handbook to Juvenile Literature. Finsbury Public Libraries, Mr. Cannons.
  6. Group of Books for Schools. Librarian of the Cardiff Library. Mr. Ballinger.

As far as nature books are concerned, it will be found that local differences have to be observed; yet, though the British and American writers are bound to these limitations, they are none the less alike in their scope—to furnish the juvenile readers with a ready reference guide to objects around them. In the present instance, the list which has been compiled, voted upon, and arranged, may suit the English child as well as the American child, although certain local inclusions need to be balanced by the substitution of English counterparts. The American school story, per se, will never supplant its English predecessor in “Tom Brown at Rugby,” or even “The Crofton Boys.” The American library shelves are stacked with the English make of book. And it must be acknowledged that, in point of scholarship, the English classics, given a library and literary format, surpass the school-book shape in every way. In this connection, it is well to heed the warning of Miss Moore:

“The choice of editions is not based upon extended comparative work. [What is said of her list applies as well to the present one.] It represents merely the editions which have come to my notice, some of them being quite unsatisfactory. This is an era of educational publications and, while many of these are admirably adapted to their purpose, we have need to be constantly on our guard not to overstock children’s libraries with books which have no artistic merit as to cover or general make-up, and which therefore fail to make a definite individual impression on the mind of the child and give to a children’s library the general appearance of book-shelves devoted to supplementary reading.”

Were this intended to be an exclusive list, many very rigourous omissions would have been the result; but it is better to err upon the generous side than to appeal to an exceptional taste. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp” is the Browning philosophy, but in the climb upward the intermediate tendrils are necessary for holding on; nor must they be removed until something is assured to take their place. The removal of inferior books from the shelves will not remedy the matter, unless existing circumstances are such as to meet the case.

Where it is possible, the least expensive edition has been adopted; although it is often a fact that no choice has been given. A good edition for a library is the most desirable, and those committees are unwise which sacrifice quality for quantity. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that a more suitable arrangement cannot exist, whereby the artistic books, which, by reason of their decorative character, are perforce expensive, could be offered at less exorbitant rates to an institution of such social importance as a library.