The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-22
school Readers OF the Day.

Our attention has been called to THE
Jones Readers" by l.. H. Jones. A. NJ,
president of the Michigan State Normal
College (Ginn 4 Coz, as being something
out Of the common run and, unlike the
readers we have known; they certainly
are. There are five Of them, the heaviest
books for the size We have handled in many
day, so that we are ready to believe that
they contain more reading matter than
rival readers. Their peculiar character
istic, we are also told, Is their high moral
tone That, we should imagine, must be
the last quality that can distinguish one
school reader from another; whatever the
faults of suoh books have been, we cannot
recollect any whose tone was other than
moral.
The real popularity Of this series lies In
the novelty of the selections and the way
in which they are treated. The First Reader,
for the very young, seems to be well done.
There are oolored pictures and short words
and at the beginning tho words appear
both in script and In print 1t is adapted
equally, the author tells us, to the sentence
method" the word method" and the
-phonio method" Poor little method
martyred babes. The series furnishes,
too, basal line Of thought" whatever
that may be. The Second Reader advances
to uncolored pictures and seems 10 be well
done, too, with the needs OF the children
put first.
With the Third Reader the new selections
begin and are continued through the Fourth
aud Fifth. Novelty and modernity are
apparently the authors chief requisites
in his selections: morality, we assume,
IL insured by tho adapted" or abridged"
that accompanies many pieces, as II leaves
the author free to cut out whatever may
offend the moral or grammatical or literary
sense of youth. What need OF novelty
there is In school reader, SO far az the
children are concerned, we cannot SEQ.
1t may be relief TO teachers, but to every
child when he comes to them the pieces In
the reader are new and strange. There
IL comrade ship that springs from having
struggled through the same pieces; Mary
Had Little Lamb" I'VE Are Seven"
"The Blackberry Girl" the Ben Franklin
pieces from Poor Richard "Casabianoa"
and the rest. They surely were classics
of childhood end afforded quotations which
carried old folks back to the old school
house. We really cannot understand why
they should go.
Instead of these Mr.. Jones introduces
youth to Mr.. Richard Harding Davis and
Mr.. Richard Watson Glider and Mr. Sam
Walter Foss and Mr.. William Vaughn
Moody and Ouida and Hamlin Garland
and Edward Rowland Sim and Edmund
Gos.e and score of omen writer's W hop part
their names in the middle Are our young
innorents to learn English or to discuss
authors at baby literary clubsl
One reader opens with sensational
story of O rescue at fire by Jacob A. Riis,
with a more sensational illustration in
color. Though the facts may be true
and the action heroic, II hardly seems
suited for children. In the others We
find a scene from Through the Looking
Glass" abridged--what will not Mr. Jones
abridge-with a Peter Newell illustration,
and that painful, sentimental Blind Girl"
to illustrate the "Pompeii" story.
We have no idea Of the tastes OF Western
children Of to-day, but we cannot help
feeling that Mr.. Jones's very modern selec-
tions will interest himself and his teachers
more than they will the young. And what
treasures of English literature are passed
over to make room for ephemeral stuff.