Thursday, December 15, 2011

Search My Google Books Library with Key Words

I've got 4000+ books in my favorites at my Google bookshelf. All are geared toward education and learning, so if you browse with key terms, you'll get a nice long list of books to search. Only a small portion of these books have been listed here on this blog. You'll find one difference, I put all links here on my blog in HTML so that individual pages or illustrations can be printed.

You can do this yourself if you use the link for my Google bookshelf. Just choose the plain text version of the book(right hand corner of any page in the book), then change the link to HTML by deleting "text" and adding "html". Then you can right click on the images of the pages and save them to your computer.

Click here my Google bookshelf .

This link is also on my sidebar.

Virtual Homeschool Library

Many books categorized by subject and historical time periods. Click here. I'll add this to my sidebar.

HT to Sarah

Google Books Limiting Downloads

It seems Google Books is now limiting access to book downloads on some of their free books, some of which are listed here on this blog. If you have trouble finding a download here, let me know, and I will try to find one elsewhere.

Although Google Books has a greater variety of free public domain educational books, Project Gutenberg is much more liberal with their downloads(and less complicated). I may begin posting more books from Project Gutenberg, and steering away from Google Books, when possible.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

The Eclectic School Geometry/Google Books

Title The Eclectic School Geometry
Authors Evan Wilhelm Evans, James Jesse Burns
Publisher Amer. Book Co., 1884
Length 149 pages
Click here.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

A Kipling Primer/Google Books

This little book has been written in the hope that it may minister to an intelligent appreciation of Mr. Kipling's prose and poetry. The world has never before witnessed the spectacle of a collected edition of an author's works issued within a dozen years of the date on his earliest title-page. A body of criticism is bound to grow up around the writings of a genius so commanding and brilliant. If the Primer serve as an unpretentious forerunner of this literature, it asks nothing more...
Appended to the abstracts of stories and ballads, in Chapter Three, will be found, in many cases, brief criticisms from well-known authorities. These are included for their suggestiveness rather than for any value as final estimates. Indeed, the editor has been at no pains to add them to all or even to most of the outlines, nor has he in any case endeavored to harmonize them with one another. While in the main they are astute, and doubtless trustworthy, in many instances they will be found chiefly to illustrate the fact that opinions even of high authorities are merely personal estimates and frequently prove to be very wide of the mark.

Title A Kipling Primer
Author Frederic Lawrence Knowles
Publisher Brown and company, 1899
Length 219 pages
Click here.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Live Language Lessons, Book 3/Google Books

Title Live language Lessons, Book 3
Volume 3 of Live Language Lessons, Howard Driggs
Author Howard Driggs
Publisher The University Publishing Company, 1914
Click here.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

McGuffey's New First Eclectic Reader(1857 version)/Google Books


Title McGuffey's New First Eclectic Reader
Author William Holmes McGuffey
Publisher Sargent, Wilson, Hinkle & Co., 1857
Length 60 pages
Click here

Friday, October 14, 2011

Cookery for Little Girls/Project Gutenberg

COOKERY FOR
LITTLE GIRLS
BY
OLIVE HYDE FOSTER
NEW YORK
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
MCMX
Copyright, 1910,
By Duffield & Co.


Preface

This book has been prepared with the special purpose of assisting mothers throughout the country to train their small daughters in the art of cookery. Scarcely any child can be trusted to take a recipe and work alone, as the clearest directions need the watchful supervision of an experienced woman, who can detect the coming mistake and explain the reason for doing things in a certain way.

All children like to experiment in the kitchen, and instead of allowing them to become an annoyance, they should be so directed that their efforts will result in immediate help to the mother and prove invaluable life lessons to the little ones themselves. Nothing is really more pitiable than the helpless woman who, when occasion demands, finds herself unable to do ordinary cooking. And that young wife is blessed indeed who has been prepared for her duties in the home by a conscientious mother. Therefore let no woman think it too much trouble to teach her child the preparation of various kinds of food, impressing on her at the same time the dignity and importance of the work.

The following articles, though considerably lengthened and rearranged, were written at the request of the Editor, and ran for a year in Pictorial Review; and the encouraging letters they elicited from women and children everywhere, prompted this publication in book form. The intention has been not to make a complete manual of cookery, but instead to create interest in enough branches to enable an otherwise inexperienced person to successfully put together any good recipe. Thanks are also due for the use of material appearing in The Circle and Harper's Bazaar.
Olive Hyde Foster.


Click here.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Short Stories of the New America for High School(post WWI)/Project Gutenberg

SHORT STORIES OF THE
NEW AMERICA
INTERPRETING THE AMERICA OF THIS AGE TO
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS AND GIRLS

SELECTED AND EDITED BY
MARY A. LASELLE
OF THE NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS, HIGH SCHOOLS
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
1919

PREFACE

The purpose of this book of short stories of modern American life is twofold.

First, these narratives give an interpretation of certain great forces and movements in the life of this age. All the authors represented are especially qualified to describe with force and feeling some phase of contemporary life.

Thinking people everywhere realize that it is not enough to place before the pupils in the schools the bare facts in regard to community and national life. The heart must be warmed, the feelings must be stirred, before the will can be aroused to noble action in any great movement.

President Wilson has urged school officers to increase materially the time and attention devoted to instruction bearing directly upon the problems of community and national life. This was not a plea for the temporary enlargement of the school programme, appropriate merely to the period of the war, but a plea for the realization in public education of the new emphasis which the war has given to the ideals of democracy.

The first aim of this book, then, is to help to place clearly before young people the ideals of America through the medium of literature that will grip the attention and quicken the will to action.

Second, librarians have stated that there are very few compilations of modern short stories of interest and significance with which to meet the needs of young people who turn to the libraries for help in reading.

It is hoped that this book may be of real value in the schools, by clothing the dry bones of civics with significant and interesting material, and that it may also supply a need of the libraries and the homes for a book of live and valuable short stories.


Click here

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

A History of Art for Beginners and Students/Google Books

Title A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture
Author Clara Erskine Clement Waters
Publisher F.A. Stokes, 1887
Click here.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Stories of Old Kentucky/Project Gutenberg

Click here.

PREFACE

To be easily assimilated, our mental food, like our physical food, should be carefully chosen and attractively served.

The history of the "Dark and Bloody Ground" teems with adventure and patriotism. Its pages are filled with the great achievements, the heroic deeds, and the inspiring examples of the explorers, the settlers, and the founders of our state. In the belief that a knowledge of their struggles and conquests is food that is both instructive and inspiring, and with a knowledge that a text on history does not always attract, the author sets before the youth of Kentucky these stories of some of her great men.

This book is intended as both a supplementary reader and a text, for, though in story form, the chapters are arranged chronologically, and every fact recorded has been verified.

MARTHA GRASSHAM PURCELL.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Science for Beginners: An Introduction to the Method and Matter of Science New-world Science Series/Google Books

Title Science for Beginners: An Introduction to the Method and Matter of Science
New-world Science Series
Author Delos Fall
Publisher World Book Co., 1918
Length 388 pages
Click here.

From the Introduction:

The teacher is asked to keep in mind that the chief purpose of this book is not to give the pupils a large amount of information, but rather to introduce them to a method through the use of which they will acquire the habit of gaining information for themselves. The scientific method, by which is meant that methodical procedure which is more and more coming to be used in all lines of human activity, is most easily applied in the field of the natural sciences, and the pupil can best learn the method of the scientist by using the material with which the scientist works.

The author makes no apology for the constant use of the direct address. The book is a direct message to the user of it, and it is to be hoped that the teacher will encourage the idea that here is the boy's and the girl's own book.


Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Boy's Book of Heroes/Project Gutenberg

The Boy's Book of Heroes by Helena Peake

Contents:

HEREWARD—LAST OF THE SAXONS 1

THE CID 17

LOUIS IX., KING OF FRANCE 49

GUSTAVUS VASA, KING OF SWEDEN 82

BERTRAND DU GUESCLIN 110

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 144

THE CHEVALIER DE BAYARD 192

SIR MARTIN FROBISHER 225

SIR WALTER RALEIGH 242

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 257


Click here.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

The Natural Speller: Higher Grades(Early Middle School)/Google Books

There is no mention of grade, but it looks to be a speller for grades fifth through six, possibly through seventh grade.

Title The Natural Speller: Higher Grades
Authors Augustus Hill Kelley, Herbert Leonard Morse
Publisher C. Scribner's Sons, 1912
Length 153 pages

Click here.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Children's First Reader(more like third grade)/Google Books


This is an advanced first reader. It would probably suit a second grade level reader.
Title The Children's First
Author Ellen M. Cyr
Publisher Ginn & co., 1892
Click here

Saturday, September 10, 2011

The Sciences: A Reading Book for Children : Astronomy, Physics--Heat, Light, Sound, Electricity, Magnetism-Chemistry, Physiography, Meteorology

Title The Sciences: A Reading Book for Children : Astronomy, Physics--Heat, Light, Sound, Electricity, Magnetism-Chemistry, Physiography, Meteorology
Author Edward Singleton Holden
Publisher Ginn, 1902
Length 224 pages
Click here.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Bird Stories/Google Books

Title Bird stories
Author Edith Marion Patch
Publisher The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1921
Length 211 pages
Overview

That is the prize that has been offered for a nesting pair of Passenger Pigeons. No one has claimed the money yet, and it would be a great adventure, don't you think, to seek that nest? If you find it, you must not disturb it, you know, or take the eggs or the young, or frighten the father- or mother-bird; for the people who offered all that money did not want dead birds to stuff for a museum, but hoped that someone might tell them where there were live wild ones nesting.

You see the news had got about that the dove that is called Passenger Pigeon was lost. No one could believe this at first, because there had been go very many — more than a thousand, more than a million, more than a billion. How could more than a billion doves be lost?

They were such big birds, too — a foot and a half long from tip of beak to tip of tail, and sometimes even longer. Why, that is longer than the tame pigeons that walk about our city streets. How could doves as large as that be lost, so that no one could find a pair, not even for one thousand dollars to pay him for the time it took to hunt?

Their colors were so pretty — head and back a soft, soft blue; neck glistening with violet, red, and gold; underneath, a wonderful purple red fading into violet shades, and then into bluish white. Who would not like to seek, for the love of seeing so beautiful a bird, even though no one paid a reward in money?

Friday, September 2, 2011

Little Folks of North America/Project Gutenburg

Little Folks of North America, by Mary Hazelton Wade, 1909

CONTENTS:
I. Little Folks of Iceland 13
II. Little Folks of Greenland 26
III. Little Folks of Alaska 55
IV. Little Folks of Canada 80
V. Little Folks of Labrador 116
VI. Little Folks of Newfoundland 120
VII. Little Folks of the United States 128
VIII. Little Folks of Mexico 179
IX. Little Folks of Central America 206
X. Little Folks of the West Indies 214

Click here

Monday, August 29, 2011

The Squirrel's Pilgrim's Progress/Google Books

Title The Squirrel's Pilgrim's Progress: A Book for Boys and Girls
Author J. D. Williams
Illustrated by H. Wood
Publisher Laird & Lee, inc., 1915
Length 174 pages
Click here.

Excerpt:

Not far from the city of ants, Tiny halted to refresh himself with an acorn. "This country is delightful," he said to himself.

"A squirrel does not often see such a beautiful scene. He has little knowledge of the great world. I was discontented not long ago, but now I am happy. I am glad that I saw the ants and their city. They are very industrious creatures. All have much work to do, yet they do it willingly. They don't seem to wish to be idle. Ants never before were interesting to me, but now I admire them very much. You have taught me a lesson, friend ant." He sat still for a few moments gazing around him. Suddenly he saw a spider busy at work upon her country home. She wore a snuff-brown jacket dashed with purple, and her legs were striped like those of a tiger.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Indians and Pioneers: An Historical Reader for the Young/Google Books

The aim in writing for young readers these stories of "Indians and Pioneers," or "Earliest Days in America," has been to treat the history of America simply and briefly, yet with the regard for accuracy and the care in selection of material which are necessary in order to set forth the truth.

Two features in these stories are introduced, in the confident hope that they will be found both interesting and practical; one is the study of the glacial and rough stone periods, which is, of late, made more attractive and intelligible to young readers, because taught through "simplified mineralogy" and clay-modeling; the other feature is the large use of quotations [from the sources, giving the original wording and quaint spelling of the narratives of the European pioneers to America.


Title Indians and Pioneers: An Historical Reader for the Young
Authors Blanche Evans Hazard, Samuel Train Dutton
Length 266 pages

Click here.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Carpenter's geographical reader: Europe

Title Carpenter's geographical reader: Europe
Author Frank George Carpenter
Publisher American Book Co., 1912
Length 456 pages
Click here.
This book aims to give the children a plain and simple description of the countries of Europe as they are to-day. The method is by taking the little ones on a personally conducted tour over the continent. It is the children themselves who cross the Atlantic Ocean, steam over the Baltic and the Mediterranean seas and down the historic Rhine and the Danube. It is they who climb the Alps and stand on the North Cape watching the sun shine at midnight. It is they who go from city to city, from farm to farm, and factory to factory, seeing how the various peoples live and what they are doing in the work of the world. It is they who are admitted to the palaces, parliaments, and public offices where they learn how each nation is governed and something as to its civilization, commerce, and trade.

It is not intended that these travels should take the place of the school geographies, but that they should be used with such books as supplementary reading. As in the volumes describing similar tours in North America, South America, and Asia, the text-books on geography may be regarded as the skeleton and this reader as the flesh and blood which will clothe the dry bones and make the countries a living whole in the minds of the pupils.

A glance at the table of contents will give some idea of the scope and character of the work. The children, having crossed the Atlantic on one of the big ocean greyhounds, begin their tour in the United Kingdom. landing at Queenstown, they explore Ireland, visiting Cork, Killarney, Limerick, and Galway. They cross the bog lands and plains to Dublin, and thence go to the Giant's Causeway and Belfast, where they learn how linen is made. From Belfast, they sail to Glasgow, and after spending a while in the Lowlands or Industrial Scotland go to Edinburgh by the Trossachs. They make a hunting trip to the Highlands, and visit the homes of Robert Burns and Walter Scott before crossing the border to England...

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Real Things in Nature: A Reading Book of Science for American Boys and Girls/Google Books


Title Real Things in Nature: A Reading Book of Science for American Boys and Girls
Author Edward Singleton Holden
Publisher The Macmillan co., 1910
Length 443 pages

Click here

Saturday, August 6, 2011

A Syllabus(Outline) of United States History, 1492-1920

An outline originally intended for the first year college student.
Title A Syllabus of United States History, 1492-1920
Authors Homer Carey Hockett, Arthur Meier Schlesinger
Published 1921
Length 93 pages

Click here.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

An Introduction to Science

Title An Introduction to Science
Author Bertha May Clark
Publisher American Book Co., 1915
Original from Harvard University
Digitized Mar 9, 2007
Length 494 pages

Click here.


Laboratory Manual

Monday, August 1, 2011

Shore and Sea; or, Stories of Great Vikings and Sea Captains/Google Books


Title Shore and Sea; or, Stories of Great Vikings and Sea Captains
Author William Henry Davenport Adams
Publisher Hodder and Stoughton, 1883
Click here

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Landmarks of History/Google Books

Title Landmarks of History. Modern history: from the Reformation to the fall of Napoleon.
Author Charlotte Mary Yonge
Publisher Walter Smith, 1882
Click here


Title Landmarks of Recent History, 1770-1883
Author Charlotte Mary Yonge
Publisher Walter Smith, 1883
Click here


Title Questions on history, ancient, middle ages, and modern, to be answered from the Landmarks of History
Authors Mary Marsh HARRIS, Charlotte Mary Yonge
Published 1861
Click here

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Astronomy with an Opera-glass /Project Gutenburg


Astronomy with an Opera-glass
A Popular Introduction to the Study of the Starry Heavens with the Simplest of Optical Instruments
by Garrett Putman Services, 1890

"Being convinced that whoever will survey the heavens with a good opera-glass will feel repaid many fold for his time and labor, I have undertaken to point out some of the objects most worthy of attention, and some of the means of making acquaintance with the stars.

First, a word about the instrument to be used. Galileo made his famous discoveries with what was, in principle of construction, simply an opera-glass. This form of telescope was afterward abandoned because very high magnifying powers could not be employed with it, and the field of view was restricted. But, on account of its brilliant illumination of objects looked at, and its convenience of form, the opera-glass is still a valuable and, in some respects, unrivaled instrument of observation."

Click here.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Saint Nicholas Children's Magazine: Short Stories for July/Project Gutenberg


St. Nicholas v. 13 No. 9 July 1886 by Various
Contains historical and summer interest stories which are simple to copy and paste(HTML version) for printing.
Click here.

More issues here.

Monday, July 18, 2011

The Keepers of the Trail: A Story of the Great Woods/Google Books

Title The Keepers of the Trail: A Story of the Great Woods
Author Joseph Alexander Altsheler
Publisher Appleton, 1916
Length 323 pages

Click here.

Part of The Young Trailers Series

* The Young Trailers, a story of early Kentucky (1907)
* The Forest Runners, a story of the great war trail in early Kentucky (1908)
* The Keepers of the Trail, a story of the great woods (1916)
* The Eyes of the Woods, a story of the ancient wilderness (1917)
* The Free Rangers, a story of the early days along the Mississippi (1909)
* The Riflemen of the Ohio, a story of early days along "the beautiful river" (1910)
* The Scouts of the Valley, a story of Wyoming and the Chemung (1911)
* The Border Watch, a story of the great chief’s last stand (1912)

Historical children's fiction about frontier life in Kentucky.

I'll fill in links to the other books soon.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Gunpowder Treason And Other Stories for Boys/Project Gutenberg


Gunpowder Treason and Plot by Harold Avery, R. B. Townshend, and Fred Whishaw, 1901, Thomas Nelson & Sons.

Late elementary-middle school, exciting and adventurous short stories for boys. Click here.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern/Project Gutenberg

Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern by Hamilton Wright Mabie, 1846-1916.

"The plan of this Work is simple, and yet it is novel. In its distinctive features it differs from any compilation that has yet been made. Its main purpose is to present to American households a mass of good reading. But it goes much beyond this. For in selecting this reading it draws upon all literatures of all time and of every race, and thus becomes a conspectus of the thought and intellectual evolution of man from the beginning. Another and scarcely less important purpose is the interpretation of this literature in essays by scholars and authors competent to speak with authority."

Click here.

Remaining volumes here.

Friday, July 8, 2011

The Basket of Flowers/Google Books

Title The Basket of Flowers; or, Piety and Truth Triumphant
Authors Johann Christoph von Schmid, Mary Martha Sherwood
Editor Gregory Townsend Bedell
Published 1882
Click here.

Synopsis from Lamplighter Press(CBD):
"James, the king's gardener, teaches his 15-year-old daughter Mary all the principles of godliness through his flowers. She is falsely accused of stealing, banished from the village, and left homeless. Mary remembers her father's lessons and continues to trust her life to God's care. A remarkable tale of recompense and redemption."

Thursday, July 7, 2011


WORLD WAR STORIES BY
JOHN GILBERT THOMPSON
PRINCIPAL OF THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
FITCHBURG, MASS.AND INEZ BIGWOOD
INSTRUCTOR IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL FITCHBURG, MASS.
1918, by SILVER, BURDETT AND COMPANY


Preface:

"This volume of stories of the World War is prepared to meet this important need, and to set before the pupils the war's unparalleled deeds of heroism, with the aims and ideals which have inspired them, and which have led American youth to look upon the sacrifice of life as none too high a price to pay for the liberation of mankind.

It may be used as a reading book or as an historical reader for the upper grammar grades. While great care has been employed to secure accuracy of fact and to select material of permanent value, the stories are written in a manner that will appeal to children."

Click here.

Four American Naval Heroes Paul Jones, Admiral Farragut, Oliver H. Perry, Admiral Dewey/Project Gutenberg


Title: Four American Naval Heroes
Paul Jones, Admiral Farragut, Oliver H. Perry, Admiral Dewey

Author: Mabel Beebe

Commentator: James Baldwin

Click here.

Advice to Sunday School Children/Project Gutenberg

Click here.

Covers twelve topics:

1. Be early and constant in your attendance at School.
2. Be very attentive to instruction.
3. Be silent in your Class.
4. Be thankful to your Teachers.
5. Honour and obey your parents.
6. Love your Brothers and Sisters.
7. Reverence the Lord's day.
8. Read daily in the Bible.
9. Pray to God constantly.
10. Take a cheerful part in the praises of God.
11. Abhor Swearing.
12. Avoid bad company

The British Museum for Young People(Ancient History)/Other

Click here
Chapter 1 - Prehistoric Times pg 5-30
Chapter 2 - Britain--A Roman Province pg 31-44
Chapter 3 - Greece and the Greeks (pt 1) pg 45-57
Chapter 4 - Greece and the Greeks (pt 2) pg 58-74
Chapter 5 - Greece and the Greeks (pt 3) pg 75-92
Chapter 6 - Egypt (pt 1) pg 93-109
Chapter 7 - Egypt (pt 2) pg 110-125
Chapter 8 - Egypt (pt 3) pg 126-142
Chapter 9 - Babylonia and Assyria (pt 1) pg 143-157
Chapter 10 - Babylonia and Assyria (pt 2) pg 158-176
Chapter 11 - Babylonia and Assyria (pt 3) pg 177-188
Chapter 12 - How Britain Became England pg 189-212

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

John Muir's Our National Parks/Google Books


Title Our National Parks
Author John Muir
Publisher Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1901
Length 370 pages

Click here.

Pictured: President Theodore Roosevelt and Muir

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Golden Numbers: A Book of Verse for Youth/Google Books


Title Golden Numbers: A Book of Verse for Youth
Author Nora Archibald Smith
Compiled by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
Publisher Doubleday, Page & Co., 1902
Length 686 pages
See here.

Friday, June 17, 2011

American History: for Use in Secondary Schools/Google Books

Title American History: for Use in Secondary Schools
Author Roscoe Lewis Ashley
Publisher Macmillan, 1907
Length 557 pages
Click here.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Picture Readings/Google Books

Title Picture Readings: A Study of Paintings by the Great Masters
Author Edgar Packard
Publisher Public school publishing company, 1918
Length 135 pages

Click here.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Science for Beginners/Google Books


Title Science for Beginners: An Introduction to the Method and Matter of Science
New-world Science Series
Author Delos Fall
Publisher World Book Co., 1918
Length 388 pages
Click here.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Nature Year Book [Short Daily Poetry]/Google Books

Title Nature Year Book
Editor Esther Matson
Publisher T.Y. Crowell, 1906
Length 155 pages
Click here.

For adults and young people.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Plants and Their Children/Google Books


Title Plants and Their Children
Author Frances Theodora Parsons
Publisher American Book Company, 1896
Length 272 pages
Click here

Thursday, May 19, 2011

The Little Gleaner(Christian Character Education)/Goolge Books

This was a British children's magazine with a heavy emphasis on Christian character education . Strongly Protestant in flavor and many lovely engravings.

Excerpt from The Seasons:
The four seasons of the year in their turn change the face of nature, affording varied work for the husbandman, and giving the manufacturer and tradesman diversified opportunities of buying and selling goods; and every shrewd merchant and tradesman watches for and embraces the season most favourable for business, just as the mariner does the wind and tides.

No doubt many of you are so favoured and indulged that the varying seasons bring to you suitable recreation and employment; to boys, hoops, peg-tops, and marbles; and girls, hoops, shuttlecock, and skipping-rope, with out-door and in-door employment of a far more intellectual and useful character; so that each change in the year has for you its charm.

But the dream of riper age flits before your eyes at times with such radiance, causing you to think some childish trials very hard to bear. But, remember, dear young ones, you will never have less cares than now. You imagine increased years will give you advanced pleasures, not considering that these things will bring their share of trouble. Ah! far more than you now have, when, with choking sobs and brimful eyes, you hang over a difficult sum, or sigh over a broken toy. Don't forget that behind the blushing rose you may find a pricking thorn, and a bitter sediment may be at the bottom of a sweet cup.

But we would not needlessly cloud your cheerful brows with the hardships of future years. Do your best to improve your home and schooldays, that they may bring you a good return, for we get but the theory of learning at school—the practice of it is acquired later on. This is now the springtime of your life, when the seed is sown that will afterwards spring up of whatever kind it may be. But some of you may be passing the primrose of your days: your character is being fully developed; you may long have been beneath a parent's roof, and have hung on to props and dependencies, just as the ivy clings to and climbs around the oak ; now you are left to your own resources, you may no longer have a father's counsel or a mother's care, but are thrown into the wide world among companions vain and vile. You have to shoulder your way amidst designing men and deceitful women. Oh, may the God of Jacob bless you and keep you, so that, as you ripen into the summer season of your life, it may/be with the prospect of securing a harvest of spiritual as well as of temporal profit! And that you may prosper, abhor an and beware of sloth; both will do you harm, although you may shake off me latter and increase the former. In all things look to the Lord for help; He /can cause you to steer clear where others strike upon the rock and suffer shipwreck. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your pathway. Many flowery and mossy paths may open invitingly to you, like the various rows Bunyan speaks of in Vanity Fair, where honours, profits, pleasures, and pastimes may be presented to your view in their best garb, to attract your mind and ensnare your feet—offered too at so cheap a rate that you may say, "Why should I deny myself this which costs me so little?" But oh, remember the reckoning day is to come; "for the end of all these things is death" (Rom.vi. 21).



Title The Little Gleaner
Publisher Houlston, 1879, London
Click here.

Monday, May 9, 2011

How to be a Lady for Girls/Google Books

Title How to be a Lady for Girls
Author Harvey Newcomb
Published 1850
Original from the University of Michigan
Click here.

Chapter 18, Indolence:

The indolent dread all exertion. When requested to do any thing, they have something else to do first, which their indolence has left unfinished; or they have some other reason to give why they should not attempt it. But if nothing else will do, the sluggard's excuse, " I can't" is always at hand. Were it not for the injury to them, it would be far more agreeable to do, one's self, what is desired of them, than to encounter the painful scowls that clothe the brow, when they think of making an effort. Solomon has described this disposition to the life : —" The slothful man putteth his hand in his bosom: it grieveth him to take it out again"

Friday, May 6, 2011

The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India/Project Gutenberg


THE GIANT CRAB And Other Tales from Old India Retold by W. H. D. ROUSE Illustrated by W. Robinson, London, 1897.
See here.

Elementary Spanish-American Reader/Google Books

Title Elementary Spanish-American reader
Macmillan Spanish series
Editor Frederick Bliss Luquiens
Publisher The Macmillan company, 1917
Length 224 pages
Click here

Preface:

It is the purpose of this book to furnish material for translation for students who wish to begin reading at a very early stage of their study of Spanish. With this purpose in view, the notes are both elementary and exhaustive, and the vocabulary contains all verb forms whose stems differ from the stem of the infinitive, and all other words which might give trouble to the beginner, such as combinations of verbs and pronouns, and irregular plurals.

It is hoped that teachers will like the literal translations in the notes. In no case have free translations of difficult passages been given which do not show, at the same time, what the individual words mean. If teachers will require students to learn the literal, as well as the free translation of such passages, accuracy in translation will soon be attained.

The notes of a beginning book should not only help the student in translation, but also afford him an opportunity of reviewing the rules he has learned in his grammar or composition book. This has been kept in mind in the preparation of the present notes. Grammatical rules are stated in full at their first occurrence in the text, and thereafter attention is repeatedly recalled to those rules by cross-references. If teachers who use this book will insist on the use of the cross-references, their students will not forget the fundamental rules of grammar. For convenience of reference, a statement of the uses of the subjunctive and a table of numerals have been added to the notes.

To each selection have been added exercises for oral and written work. The Spanish questions are to be used orally. If students prepare their answers in advance, teachers will find it easy to make them the basis of general conversation on the lesson which will be both interesting and valuable. The composition exercises contain no words, phrases, or constructions which the student will not be able to find in the Spanish pages immediately preceding. He will be able, therefore, to write a little Spanish based on models rather than on rules, thus supplementing the necessary, but rather artificial, exercises of composition books. Such work, moreover, being based on the very passages which have perhaps been difficult to translate, will give him a clearer insight into the correct method of translating Spanish into English.

Finally, this Reader is intended to fill a very great need in the teaching of Spanish in this country. There are many readers which introduce students to Spain, but none which gives him a real introduction to Spanish America. One of the objects of this book is to teach some Spanish American geography and history. Such information will not only be valuable to the student, but will, as experience has shown, arouse his interest, and this cannot but quicken his progress in the mastery of the language itself. The selections of this Reader all deal with Latin-American subjects, and are supplemented by footnotes containing fundamental information about Latin America. These footnotes have been put into very easy Spanish and included in the vocabulary, notes, and exercises. They should be included in the assignments for translation.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

How to Know the Ferns/Google Books


Title How to Know the Ferns: a guide to the names, haunts, and habits of our common ferns
Author Frances Theodora Parsons
Publisher C. Scribner's sons, 1902
Length 215 pages
Click here

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

How to Study Birds/Google Books

Title How to Study Birds: a practical guide for amateur bird-lovers and camera-hunters
Author Herbert Keightley Job
Publisher A.L. Burt, 1910
Length 272 pages
Click here

The purpose of this book is to give, simply, clearly, and thoroughly, every possible suggestion and bit of practical information which may be useful to those who are beginning the fascinating study of birds in their native haunts.

Very many are undertaking it in these days — men who crave the excitement of the chase and yet dislike to kill, or who seek relaxation from the strain of business; women who are tired of being hothouse plants, or whose nerves are at the breaking-point from an unnatural sedentary life; boys and girls in the schools who are finding that delight in the animal creation does not cease when they are no longer little children; teachers who realize the importance and interest of the subject for the young, and desire to fit themselves to interest their pupils in the birds. But it is all new and perplexing, and there are a multitude of things they want to ask about, all sorts of inquiries as how to go to work to study the birds afield. It is hoped that this book placed in their hands may prove a ready friend to answer these questions to their satisfaction and to start them upon a happy career of outdoor delights among the wild birds.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

World Stories Retold for Modern Boys and Girls/Google Books

Title World Stories Retold for Modern Boys and Girls: one hundred and eighty-seven five-minute classic stories for retelling in home, Sunday School, children's services, public school grades, and "the story-hour" in public libraries, with practical suggestions for telling
Author William James Sly
Publisher The Griffith & Rowland Press, 1914
Length 294 pages
Click here.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases/Google Books



Title Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases: a practical handbook of pertinent expressions, striking similes, literary, commercial, conversational, and oratorical terms, for the embellishment of speech and literature, and the improvement of the vocabulary of those persons who read, write, and speak English

Author Grenville Kleiser
Publisher Funk & Wagnalls company, 1917
Length 453 pages
Click here.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Course of Study in History and Literature(Grades One - Eight)

Title Course of study in history and literature: with suggestions and directions
Author Emily J. Rice
Publisher A. Flanagan, 1898
Length 185 pages
Click here

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Monday, April 11, 2011

Word-power, How to Develop It/Google Books




Title Word-power, How to Develop It
Author Grenville Kleiser
Publisher Funk & Wagnalls company, 1920
Length 172 pages
Click here.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Minerals, and How to Study Them: A Book for Beginners in Mineralogy/Google Books

Title Minerals, and How to Study Them: A Book for Beginners in Mineralogy
Author Edward Salisbury Dana
Publisher J. Wiley & sons, 1903
Length 380 pages
Click here.

How to Be a Man: A Book for Boys: Containing Useful Hints on the Formation of Character/Google Books

Title How to Be a Man: A Book for Boys: Containing Useful Hints on the Formation of Character
Author Harvey Newcomb
Publisher Gould and Lincoln, 1856
Length 224 pages
Click here.

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.‎"

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Multigrade Composition Lessons

Handbook of Composition by Edwin Campbell Woolley, D.C. Heath & Co., 1907

The Progressive Composition Lessons: 7th and 8th Years, by Ida M. Brautigam;Silver, Burdett and Co., 1914

Practical Lessons in the Use of English by Mary F Hyde, D.C. Heath & Co., 1887

Composition for Elementary Schools, James Fleming Hosic, Cyrus Lauron Hooper, and Rand, McNally & Company, 1916

Pinneo's Guide to Composition: A Series of Practical Lessons: Designed to Simplify the Art of Writing Composition: for Beginners, by Timothy Stone Pinneo, Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle, 1864

New Composition and Rhetoric for Schools by Robert Herrick, Lindsay Todd Damon; Scott, Foresman and Company, 1911; 508 pages(middle school-high school)

English Composition for College Freshmen, by Wilbur Owen Sypherd, 1915.

More to come....

Sunday, April 3, 2011

English Composition & Essay-writing/Google Books

Title English Composition & Essay-writing
Author J.W. Miller
Publisher Longmans, Green & co., 1910
Length 113 pages
Click here.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Brooks's Readers: Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Years/Google Books

Title Brooks's Readers: Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Years
Author Stratton Duluth Brooks
Publisher American book co., 1907
See here.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

City and Town: A Third Reader/Google Books

Title City and Town: A Third Reader
Author Pauline Frost Rafter
Publisher B.H. Sanborn, 1912
Length 292 pages
Click here.

Monday, March 28, 2011

The Whole Year Round/Google Books

Title The Whole Year Round
Author Dallas Lore Sharp
Publisher Houghton Mifflin company., 1915
Length 503 pages
Click here.

INTRODUCTION

"THE writer of this book has four children of his own, and not so very long ago (he can remember it) he was a child himself, and roamed the fields, as still he does, with all the child's love of freedom and joy in the companionship of wild things

— wild lives, wild winds, wild places, and the wild hours along the edge of dusk and dawn. And if he has any right to ask other children than his own to . tramp the wild places with him through the pages of this book it is because he is still a child and cannot outgrow his love of Saturdays and skates and deep woods and the ways of the wild folk, great and small; and because, again, he has tramped the wild places (for his home is in the woods) more than most of his readers, perhaps, and tramped them the seasons round

— stormy nights and lazy autumn days, and summer and winter; and he has seen — only what his readers; have seen, no doubt, — the ordinary things, but he has often felt, as all children do at times feel, strange deep things, things more wonderful than anybody ever saw. And yet the ordinary things, ordinary only because we have not watched them and thought about them, are really what we are going out to see; and we are going out in an ordinary way — upon our two feet..."

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Art-literature Readers, Book 4‎/Google Books


Title The Art-literature readers, Book 4
Authors Eulalie Osgood Grover, Frances Elizabeth Chutter
Publisher Atkinson, Mentzer & Grover, 1909
Click here.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Elementary geography: a text-book for children/Google Books


Title Elementary Geography: A Text-book for Children
King's Geographies
Author Charles Francis King
Publisher C. Scribner's Sons, 1904
Length 220 pages
Click here.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Little Gardens for Boys and Girls/Google Books

Title Little Gardens for Boys and Girls
Author Myrta Margaret Higgins
Publisher Houghton Miffin, 1910
Length 152 pages
Click here.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Wide Awake Fourth Reader/Google Books

Title The Wide Awake Fourth Reader
Author Etta Austin Blaisdell McDonald
Publisher Little, Brown and Co., 1913
Click here.

Very sweet story selections, especially for spring.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Puppy Dogs' Tales and Stories of Other Animal Friends /Google Books


Title Puppy Dogs' Tales and Stories of Other Animal Friends
Editor Frances Kent
Publisher The Macmillan company, 1922
Length 258 pages
Click here.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The Spring of the Year /Google Books

Title The Spring of the Year
The Dallas Lore Sharp Nature Series
May G. Quigley collection
Author Dallas Lore Sharp
Publisher Houghton Mifflin Company, 1909
Length 148 pages
Click here.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Famous Men of Science/Project Gutenberg

FAMOUS MEN OF SCIENCE BY SARAH K. BOLTON
AUTHOR OF "POOR BOYS WHO BECAME FAMOUS," "GIRLS WHO
BECAME FAMOUS," "FAMOUS AMERICAN AUTHORS,"
"FAMOUS AMERICAN STATESMEN," "SOCIAL
STUDIES IN ENGLAND," "STORIES
FROM LIFE," "FROM HEART
AND NATURE," ETC.
1889


Preface:

Garfield said, "No page of human history is so instructive and significant as the record of those early influences which develop the character and direct the lives of eminent men."

These sketches show how young men have overcome difficulties, sometimes poverty, sometimes illness; how they have made failures before finding their true vocation. They show the results of energy, perseverance, and untiring devotion; how a cheerful face and a hopeful spirit like Agassiz's, or a gentle and kindly nature like Darwin's, can win its way against opposition.


Click here.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Young Children's Lesson Plan Ideas for March


I'll try to fill this out with links and cut-and-paste March images in the next few days. From a 1915 Primary Education periodical:

Poems

Signs of the Seasons — Hathaway.
The Wind. Sun's Travels — Stevenson.
Written in March — Wordsworth.
March — H. H. Jackson.
March. Little Gustava(very sweet!). Song of Easter — Thaxter.
One Bird — Van Dyke.
The Swallows — Arnold.
Little White Lily — Macdonald.
The Little Plant — Kate Brown.

Stories

The Ugly Duckling, Little Ida's Flowers — Andersen
The Foolish Weather Vane — Published by Rand, McNally & Company.
The Winds — Burnham.
March's Call, Half a Hundred Stories — Published by Milton Bradley Company.
Legends — Proserpine, Wind and Sun, Sleeping Beauty, Siegfried and Brunhilde; What Annie Saw — Published by Educational Publishing Company.

Pictures For Study

St. Anthony of Padua — Murillo.
He is Risen — Plockhorst.
Spring — Corot.
Chorister Boys — Anderson.
Robin Redbreast — Munier.
Swallows. A Resting Place — Laux.
Sparrows — Laux.

Morning Talks And Occupation Work

Signs of spring; color of sky; position of sun; the brook waking up; frogs; turtles; woodchucks; returning birds.

Make chart. Upon it note arrival of first robin; bluebird; blackbird; barn swallow; chipping sparrow; song sparrow;woodpecker; meadow lark. Take time each morning throughout the month to hear about any bird that has returned.

Keep descriptions of birds in little booklets. If possible, illustrate each page with picture of bird in color.

Winds; use of; what each brings.

Use sand table to model things which the wind does. Have a large weather vane in the center modeled by one of the older boys. Around it have miniature sailboats, windmills, kites, lines of clothes, etc.

Poem for illustration with charcoal or by paper cutting:

Twilight of mad March evening
Wee Robert was snug in bed.
"And what has the wind been doing?"
To mamma he sleepily said.

The pine trees outside were singing,
She heard their wild lullaby.
"The wind has been busy since morning,"
She said, "when we heard it pass by.

"It turned every wind mill it came to,
It speeded the boats on the sea,
It fluttered the clothes on the clothesline
Until they were dry as could be.

"It caught a man's hat and whirled it
Away down the long white street.
And everyone laughed and wondered
If man or March wind would beat.

"It came where some boys were flying
Their kites of every hue
And carried one up to cloud land.
Did that kite belong to you?

"It turned the proud vane on the steeple.
It tossed roaring waves on the shore;
Then gently it sang at twilight
For my babe when the day was o'er."

Trees and buds.


Study twigs. Force sprigs of lilac, cherry, willow, beech, and horse chestnut by placing in fresh water in the sunshine.

Maple trees; sap; sugar. How trees are tapped; how sap is carried to sugar house; sap making in olden time.

Make brush drawings of twigs. Cut barn from dark red paper. Take the silver gray pussies from the twigs and paste in position about barn as if a whole family of kittens were at play there. Add heads and tails with pencils.

In connection with study of maple sugar, cut sap buckets, sugar house, boiling kettle and pans.

Friday, March 4, 2011

The Herald of Spring: Spring:The Hyacinth(Multi-grade Lessons)/Google Books


Nature Study in Elementary Schools: First Reader(Hyacinth Bulb)

Outlines of Lessons in Botany(elementary - middle school)

Gardening For Children(The Hyacinth)

When Mother Lets Us Garden; A Book for Little Folk Who Want to Make Gardens(Hyacinths in Water)

The World Book

The Spartan, Myth of the Hyacinth(Elementary - Middle school)

School and Home Gardens




More coming soon....

Image from my garden.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The Naval History of the United States: Blue Jackets of '76/Google Books


Title The Naval History of the United States: Blue Jackets of '76
Author Willis John Abbot
Publisher Peter Fenelon Collier, 1890
Click here.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Stories of the Civil War/Google Books

Title Stories of the Civil war: adapted for supplementary reading
Author Albert Franklin Blaisdell
Publisher Lee and Shepard, 1890
Length 245 pages
Click here.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Friday, February 18, 2011

The New Civics: A Textbook for Secondary Schools/Google Books

Title The New Civics: A Textbook for Secondary Schools
Author Roscoe Lewis Ashley
Publisher The Macmillan company, 1917
Length 420 pages
Read here.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Early European Civilization: a Textbook for Secondary Schools(Prehistory to Reformation)

Title Early European Civilization: a Textbook for Secondary Schools
Author Roscoe Lewis Ashley
Publisher Macmillan, 1916
Length 719 pages
See here.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Friday, February 11, 2011

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave(Audiobook)/Other

The male narrator has a great voice - very clear, and the sound quality is excellent.

Click here to FreeAudio.org. This link includes background history for students. Audio comes in three parts and a zip file with all is available. At the link, Click on audio in order to listen online and/or right click, and "save file as" to download.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Chandra in India/Google Books


Title Chandra in India(A Geographical Reader)
Little People Everywhere
Author Etta Austin Blaisdell McDonald
Publisher Little, Brown, and Company, 1916
Length 111 pages
See here.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wild Flowers Every Child Should Know/Google Books


Title Wild Flowers Every Child Should Know: Arranged According to Color, with Reliable Descriptions of the More Common Species of the United States and Canada
Author Frederic William Stack
Publisher Doubleday, Page and Company, 1914
Length 411 pages

See here.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Natural History Object Lessons: A Manual for Teachers

Title Natural History Object Lessons: A Manual for Teachers
Author George Ricks
Publisher D.C. Heath, 1891
Length 352 pages
Click here

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Saints and Festivals of the Christian Church/Google Books

Title Saints and Festivals of the Christian Church
Author H. Pomeroy Brewster
Publisher F. A. Stokes, 1904
Length 558 pages
Click here.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

How Our Grandfathers Lived/Google Books

Title How Our Grandfathers Lived
Authors Albert Bushnell Hart, Annie Bliss Chapman
Publisher Macmillan, 1916
Length 371 pages
Click here.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Broad Stripes and Bright Stars: Stories of American History /Google Books

Title Broad Stripes and Bright Stars: Stories of American History
for the Children's Hour Series
May G. Quigley collection
Author Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
Publisher Milton Bradley company, 1919
Length 240 pages
Click here.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Stories of the Nibelungen(Germanic/Old Norse Tales) for Young People/Project Gutenberg


Read and download here.

Excerpt:

YOUNG SIEGFRIED

In the good old days of Long Ago, when kings had absolute power over all their subjects, even in the matter of life and death, there dwelt in the city of Santum, on the beautiful Rhine River, a great and good king named Siegmund.

He was very powerful, and ruled over the kingdom of Niederland so wisely and so well that he was[8] loved and honored by all his people. He shared his throne with Siegelinda, his beautiful wife, who also was noble and kind of heart.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Recollections of a Drummer-Boy(Civil War)/Google Books

Title The Recollections of a Drummer-Boy
Author Harry M. Kieffer
Published 1911
Here.
From the preface:"Several years ago the writer prepared a brief series of papers for the columns of St. Nicholas, under the title of "Recollections of a Drummer-Boy." It was thought that these sketches of army life, as seen by a boy, would prove enjoyable and profitable to children in general, and especially to the children of the men who participated in the great Civil War, on one side or the other; while the belief was entertained that they might at the same time serve to revive in the minds of the veterans themselves long-forgotten or but imperfectly remembered scenes and experiences in camp and field. In the outstart it was not the author's design to write a connected story, but rather simply to prepare a few brief and hasty sketches of army life, drawn from his own personal experience and suitable for magazine purposes. But these, though prepared in such intervals as could with difficulty be spared from the exacting duties of a busy professional life, having been so kindly received by the editors of St. Nicholas, as well as by the very large circle of readers of that excellent magazine, and the writer having been urgently pressed on all sides for more of the same kind, it was thought well to revise and enlarge the "Recollections of a Drummer-Boy," and to present them to the public in permanent book form. In the shape of a more or less connected story of army life, covering the whole period of a soldier's experience from enlistment to muster-out, and carried forward through all the stirring scenes of camp and field, it was believed that these "Recollections," in the revised form, would commend themselves not only to the children of the soldiers of the late war, but to the surviving soldiers themselves; while at the same time they would possess a reasonable interest for the general reader as well."

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Mother's List of Books for Children/Project Gutenberg

A wonderful reference for finding public domain children's books. These books are listed by age, ages two - fourteen, and topic. I've already found quite a few at Google Books for my thirteen year old, of which I'll be sharing over the next week.

Click here. HTML version is the easiest to work of off with searches - quick copy and paste.

Stories of Art and Artists/Google Books

Title Stories of Art and Artists
Author Clara Erskine Clement Waters
Publisher Ticknor and company, 1887
Length 357 pages
Click here.

This book pairs well with Garden of Praise's free art appreciation lessons(scroll all the way down to bottom at the link). This is for younger children, and has color high definition images of the many of the paintings mentioned in Clara Water's book. There are also online quizzes, worksheets, etc. and helpful links.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Rolf in the Woods/Project Gutenberg

"In this story I have endeavoured to realize some of the influences that surrounded the youth of America a hundred years ago, and made of them, first, good citizens, and, later, in the day of peril, heroes that won the battles of Lake Erie, Plattsburg, and New Orleans, and the great sea fights of Porter, Bainbridge, Decatur, Lawrence, Perry, and MacDonough.

I have especially dwelt in detail on the woodland and peace scouting in the hope that I may thus help other boys to follow the hard-climbing trail that leads to the higher uplands. "

Rolf in the Woods by Ernest Thompson Seton

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Boy's Book of Pirates/Google Books

Title Boy's Book of Pirates
Author Howard Pyle
Publisher Harper, 1908
Length 238 pages
Read here.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Theodore Roosevelt, Patriot and Statesman/Google Books

Title Theodore Roosevelt, Patriot and Statesman: The True Story of an Ideal American
Author Robert Cornelius V. Meyers
Publisher P. W. Ziegler & Co. [c1902], 1902
Length 621 pages
See here.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Free Word Processor: Jarte

We've been using this free download program for years to print copy-and-paste school materials.

"Jarte \jär · 'tay\ noun (est. 2001) 1. A free word processor based on the Microsoft WordPad word processing engine built into Windows. 2. A fast starting, easy to use word processor that expands well beyond the WordPad feature set. 3. A small, portable word processor whose documents are fully compatible with Word and WordPad." See more here.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Bow-wow and Mew-mew(Easy Reader)/Google Books


Title Bow-wow and Mew-mew
Author Georgiana Marion Craik
Publisher Beckley-Cardy, 1914
Length 95 pages
Click here

Bow-Wow And Mew-mew is one of the few books for beginners in reading that may be classed as literature. Written in words of mostly one syllable, it has a story to tell, which is related in so attractive a manner as to immediately win the favor of young children. It teaches English and English literature to the child in the natural way: through a love for the reading matter. It is the character of story that will, in the not distant future, replace the ordinary primer or reader with detached sentences, and which seldom possesses any relation to literature.

The ultimate objects of any story can only be effected through the love for a story. The prominent point in this story is development of good character, which may well be regarded as the highest purpose of education. The transformation from bad to good traits in the dog and cat cannot but have a desirable effect on every child that reads the story. Bow-Wow and Mew-Mew become dissatisfied with their home and their surroundings, and ungrateful toward their benefactress. As the story tells, "They did not find good in any thing." But after running away and suffering hunger, neglect, and bad treatment, their characters begin to change. They naturally come to reflect their mistress's goodness. They learn the value of companionship and friendship, and the appreciation of a home. However, the ethical thoughts in the story are presented without a moral. The child really lives the scenes described. He has the emotions of the characters and feels their convictions. And this determines the worth of a story as an agent in character development.

The narrative furnishes, further, the proper kind of exercise for the imagination. It affords abundant opportunity for the play of the dramatic instinct in the child, and effects a happy union of the "home world" and the " school world." The illustrations, drawn by Miss Hodge, have been planned and executed with considerable care. J. C. S.

On the Edge of Winter(Colonial Historical Fiction)/Google Books

Title On the Edge of Winter
Author Richard Markham
Publisher Dodd, Mead, and Company, publishers, 1881
Length 236 pages
Click here.

Wherein may be read how Five Boys and Five Girls ate their Thanksgiving Dinner at an Old Farm House in the Hudson Highlands. The Book records further sundry of their Doings, and some Stories and Ballads of the Early Days of our Country.


Companion books:

Around the Yule Log

Aboard the Mavis