Don't buy "fads." Wait and see whether the book now so much lauded is heard of next year.
Don't buy the books that have fittingly been called "a-little-child-shall-lead-them" stories. Bill Nye described them as tales relating how a dear little boy, though but five and a half and crippled, took in back stairs to scrub, and supported his widowed mother, and sent his sister to college.
Don't buy "libraries." As sensibly let a man that has never seen you order for you a suit of clothes.
Don't buy "sets" and "series" and "sequels." Judge every book on its merits.
Don't buy the books of one publishing-house alone, however excellent, any more than you would fill your home with the works of only one painter.
Don't confine your choice merely to the "Sunday-school writers." Books that are not virile enough to attract and help folks outside the Sunday-school are not likely to prove very useful inside.
Don't buy by authors. "Aunt Mary's Candlestick," by Jemima Jones, may have been the greatest success of the year in your school; but that is no reason why you should load up with "Aunt Mary's Dust-brush" and "Aunt Mary's Needlecase" and "Aunt Mary's Dish-mop," by the same industrious author.
In fine, don't buy any book, no matter who is its publisher or author, or what its reputation, unless that particular book meets some particular need of your particular school.
And now, what shall we buy? Stories, of course, in delightful measure. The Sunday-school library has the highest authority for teaching in parables. And for these stories there are three requirements.
First, they must be attractive. What is the use of a book if it will not be read?