Syria and Palestine, France-The Crossroads of Europe, and A Visit to Asia. Format: (1) Picture stories. Sizes vary; cello-buck or flexo binding; medium weight paper; wide margins in most books; print clear but size varies; illustrated with photographs. (2) Unified social studies. Size 7% by 9 inches; cello-buck or flexo binding; paper rather thin but glossy and strong; margins wide; print large and clear; illustrated with photographs. Grade level: Upper elementary. Publisher and price: Follett Publishing Co. (1) Picture stories-60 cents each for cello-buck binding and 15 cents each for flexo binding. (2) Unified social studies-80 cents each for cello-buck binding and 35 cents each for flexo binding. Stories All Children Love Series. Content: This is a series of approximately 15 volumes. Among its titles are Heidi and other books by Johanna Spyri, "Carrots": Just a Little Boy, Pinocchio, and The Princess and Curdie and some other books by George Macdonald. Format: Size 54 by 84 inches; cloth binding; heavy paper; wide margins; print large and clear; colored illustrations. Grade level: Middle and upper elementary grades. Publisher and price: J. B. Lippincott Co.; $1 each. Tales for Children From Many Lands. Content: Well-known tales from many lands; some left in the original text and others retold. Approximately 20 titles, some of which are: Fables (La Fontaine), Fairy Tales (Perrault), Feats on the Fiord, King Arthur and His Round Table, and Water Babies. Illustrated by Herbert Cole, Grenville Fell, Charles Folkard, Arthur Rackham, the Robinsons, Margaret W. Tarrant, and other well-known artists. Format: Size 5 by 7 inches; cloth binding; medium weight paper; inner margins narrow; print rather small but clear; eight colored illustrations in each volume. Grade level: Upper elementary and junior high school. Publisher and price: E. P. Dutton & Co.; 49 cents each. Told to the Children Series. Content: Contains some of the greatest stories of all literature retold for The Washington Square Classics. Content: A series containing 19 children's classics, some of which are: Format: Size 51⁄2 by 8 inches; cloth binding; medium weight paper; Grade level: Upper elementary and junior high school. Windemere Series. Content: A series composed of 21 classics. Some of the titles are: Format: Size 6 by 9 inches; cloth binding; medium weight paper; Wonderland Series. Content: Consists of a few titles, including: Adventures of a Brownie, Grade level: Upper elementary and junior high school. Youth's Caravan of Books. Content: A series of more than 50 books that formerly sold for more than one dollar. The titles of some of them are: Chief of the Herd, Coming of the Dragon Ships, Heroes and Heroines (Farjeon), Girls Who Did, Robin on the Mountain, Shen of the Sea, Winnie the Pooh, and other titles by Milne. Illustrated by Else Hasselriis, Dorothy Lathrop, Howard Simon, Ernest Shepard, Hendrick Willem Van Loon, and other well-known artists. Format: Size 5% by 7 inches; cloth binding; medium weight paper; margins rather narrow; print large and clear; illustrated. Grade level: Elementary and junior high school. Publisher and price: E. P. Dutton & Co.; $1 each. Young Moderns Bookshelf. Content: A series of 46 books—some for boys, some for girls, and some for both boys and girls. Representative titles are: Land and Sea, Tales for Scouts and Scoutmasters, Magic for Everybody, Meredith's Ann, Navarre of the North, Pearl Diver, Prince Jan-St. Bernard, Star: the Story of an Indian Pony, and When Granny Was a Little Girl. Format: Size 54 by 74 inches; cloth binding; heavy paper; inner margins rather narrow; print clear; illustrated. Grade level: Upper elementary and junior high school. Young People's Library. Content: A collection of fiction for older boys and girls. Books in this series formerly sold from $1.75 to $2.50 a copy. Some of the titles are: As the Crow Flies, The Cousin from Clare, Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, Jacqueline of the Carrier Pigeons, and The Tiger Who Walks Alone. Format: Size varies; cloth binding; grade of paper varies; margins vary; Grade level: Upper elementary and junior high school. Publishers' Addresses for Series Listed: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 286-302 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. Follett Publishing Co., 1257 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., 14 West 49th St., Rockefeller Center, New York, N. Y. Grosset & Dunlap, Inc., 1140 Broadway, New York, N. Y. E. M. Hale & Co., 5193 Plankinton Arcade, Milwaukee, Wis. Harper & Brothers, 49 East 33d St., New York, N. Y. J. B. Lippincott Co., East Washington Square, Philadelphia, Pa. The Macmillan Co., 60 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. Macrae Smith Co., 1712 Ludlow St., Philadelphia, Pa. David McKay Co., 604–608 South Washington Square, Philadelphia, Pa. Rand McNally & Co., 536 South Clark St., Chicago, Ill. The Sun Dial Press, Inc., 14 West 49th St., New York, N. Y. Inexpensive Books Not in Series There are many desirable books not in series which should be given consideration by those responsible for the selection of inexpensive books. Some book lists, having the general approval of librarians and teachers, include both expensive and inexpensive editions of the same titles. The following State lists serve as illustrations: Florida. State Department of Public Instruction. Book selection in the elementary school. Tallahassee, Fla. The Department, 1939. 20 p. (Florida school bulletin. Vol. 1, No. 6. Jan. 1, 1939.) This publication includes a list of inexpensive editions for grades 1 to 3, which was formerly published by the Department in mimeographed form. Authors, publishers, and prices of the titles listed are indicated. Books are divided into six sections: Grades 1 and 2; Grades 3 and 4; Grades 5 and 6; Poetry; Helpful material for social-science units; and Supplementary readers. The section entitled Grades 5 and 6 is subdivided as follows: Fairy stories and hero tales; Mystery and adventure; Miscellaneous adventure stories; and Stories about girls. In the first three sections, reading difficulty is indicated by the symbols E (easy), A (average), and M (mature). Oregon. State Library. List of books for school libraries of the State of Oregon: Part I. Books for elementary schools. Salem, Oreg., State Library. 1936. 243 p. This list states that the latest and most durable editions have been selected, and that if one edition is expensive, a cheaper one is usually added. Titles, authors, publishers, series, editions, grades for which the books are thought suitable, publishers' prices and prices to Oregon schools, and annotations are given. Arrangement follows the Dewey decimal system of classification. Sometimes special lists of inexpensive books are published by educational and library agencies. A recent example is: Inexpensive Books for Children: Published at prices ranging from 10 cents to $1. Prepared for the Children's Book Committee of the Child Study Association of America by a subcommittee under the direction of its chairman, Grace G. Epstein. Child Study Association of America, 221 West 57th Street, New York, N. Y. Rev. 1938. 10 cents. (Mimeographed.) Books listed are divided into three groups as follows: For the youngest (up to 8); For the intermediate age (9 to 12); and Adult books suitable for 12 years and over. Each group is subdivided under headings, some of which are Picture books, Stories about animals, Biographical books, Adventure and romance, and Fairy tales and fanciful stories. 10-cent Books In this discussion consideration should be given to the books priced lowest in the scale. These are the 10-cent books which comprise many worth-while titles on a wide range of subjects. They are useful for centralized libraries and classroom collections in schools, for service in public libraries, and for home libraries of children whose parents wish to buy inexpensive books. Because of their inexpensive make-up these 10-cent books may be treated like pictures, charts, and other teaching aids, and not accessioned and cataloged as library books in the school library. Many of the 10-cent books are sold through such syndicated stores as W. T. Grant Co., S. S. Kresge Co., S. H. Kress and Co., McCrory Stores Corporation, G. C. Murphy Co., Neisner Brothers, J. J. Newberry Co., F. W. Woolworth Co., and others; they are also handled by some of the higher priced department stores and by drug stores. Some publishers of these books have been willing to sell directly to schools located in places in which there are no variety stores. How to know which 10-cent books are desirable is a question that is frequently asked by teachers, librarians, and parents who are contemplating purchases. In judging these books, the standards used in rating higher priced books should be used as far as possible, particularly with regard to content, size, and quality of type. Some examples of recent lists of such books that have been prepared by librarians and teachers follow: Good Ten-cent Books for Children. A selected list compiled by Alice Books classified as follows: Fairy tales, Poetry and Mother Goose, Science, Social studies, List of Inexpensive Titles. [Alabama] State department of education, All ten-cent material. No age, grade, or subject classification; not annotated. A Selected List of Ten-cent Books. By Eulah Mae Snider, librarian, and Grade placements of books for average readers are indicated in most of the annotations. Some Good Ten- and Fifteen-cent Books. Compiled by Mildred P. Harrington, School of Library Science, Louisiana State University. In Booklist, 32: 175-81, February 1936. Classified under "Picture Books and Easy Reading" and "For Older Children." Annotated Supersedes the compiler's "Seventy Good Ten-cent Books," published in the September 1933° issue of Booklist. Some Ten-cent Books Suitable for Primary Grades. By Dorothy M. Mathis. In Elementary English review, 15: 233-35, October 1938. An analysis of 160 books based upon criteria evolved by the author. Digest of master's thesis, Temple University. Book stock problem of variety stores.-According to information received at the Office of Education, it seems to be difficult in some places to obtain books on the recommended lists from the variety stores. In such cases it is suggested that teachers, librarians, parents, and other interested persons discuss the matter with the managers of the stores. Undoubtedly they will be glad to stock the titles needed if they are convinced there will be a demand for them. There are a number of examples showing how librarians and educators have succeeded in creating a demand for a better quality of books in local stores. Two that occurred a few years ago in two Southern States are worthy of repetition. The School Libraries' Consultant in the Alabama State Department of Education, with the collaboration of the Alabama School Journal, parent-teacher associations, and other local groups, succeeded in influencing managers of variety stores in that State to purchase the books recommended by the Consultant and published in the Journal. A similar project was carried on by the Supervisor of Schools of Halifax County, N. C., with like results. Lists of 10-cent books were compiled by county teachers under the supervision of the Supervisor, and conferences were held with managers of local stores. At these conferences worth-while inexpensive books were exhibited and discussed; approved lists of books were distributed; and catalogs were checked for the type of books needed by rural children.2 Another example comes from Oak Park, Ill. For a number of years the public library in that city has made a practice of procuring from a local store good 10- and 20-cent books and displaying them during Book Week at the main library and its branches. Finally the merchant invited the children's librarian to the store's book department on Saturday of Book Week for the purpose of recommending desirable books. This contact resulted in introducing the library to people who had not known it before, and in the children's librarian checking for the company the worth-while titles in its bookbuying list.3 Dunn, Fannie W. The reading problem in the rural schools. In Rural School Libraries. Washington, D. C., National Education Association, 1936. (Bulletin of the Department of Rural Education, February 1936) pp. 16-17. Ayres, Mary A. Cooperating with Woolworth's. Wilson Bulletin, 10: 606, May 1936. |