The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-03-27

more than 1t does his sister. But in the
next grade. SO to speak, all is different.
The boy wants books of adventure, and
he should have them then. The girl
usually wants stories of other girls.
school stories. stories Of home and fam
| lily lie. There is an occasional girl who
likes boys books" but the boy who
likes book written particularly for
girls, has yet to come under my notice.
I In the matter of books. as in many
other matters In this life, the mascu-
line element seems to have the advan-
tage. The books which appeal to this
perfectly legitimate desire In the boy
for the adventurous and the unknown,
are so many and so good that it seems
only matter Of choice. OF course the
boy reads his Robinson Crusoe and
swiss Family Robinson. Then come
tbs King Arthur stories, with their
tales OF the high ideals, wonderful ad-
ventures and beautiful lives of the
knights OF old. These can hardly fail
| to give the boy who will read and en-
Joy them something in the way OF
Ideals OF personal honor and courage.
They should help out this aggressive
commercial spirit Of the age, Of which
we hear SO much. Then we have Ste
venson's Treasure Island and Kid
mapped. At this age. too, every boy
should be introduced to Scott. He may
not care TO cultivate the acquaintance,
put most boys will read with interest
al least. Ivanhoe and Keniiworth. If
they stop there at the time they may
later years, with a more genuine ap-
probation. Then there are the Leather
stocking tales for the boy who wants
the indian story. And the so-called
animal stories, a comparatively mod
tNt. =
accurate enough not to be misleading.
and have sufficient action and adven-
ture to keep the attention of the boy
and lead him to observations of his
own.
Possess Literary Value.
These books 1 have mentioned have.
OF course. literary value quite aside
from their qualities of interest. There
are any number OF other books for
boys which, while they may not prop
erly be classed as literature, are per-
fectly wholesome in tone, attractive fn
style and fill real wants. There is the
school story-every boy has the age.
The classics in this line, Tom Brown
at Rugby and Tom Brown at Oxford,
do not, so far as my observation goes.
particularly appeal to the present gen.
Grafton of school boys; perhaps be-
NoOSC eAClc 10 30 llll4S III I06Im TO cor
respond to the life in the modern
American school. Something more up
to date in the way Of football and
track meets is required. The Barbour
books are representative of This class
Inc Half-back. The Crimson Sweater,
For the Honor OF the School-the titles
indicate something of their contents
They are stories Of good, clean sport
where the standards of honor and 10y
atty are high, where grit and coura ge
and truthfuiness are indispensable
qualities for herp; written by a man.
whatever his age may be. who is still
something of a boy himself
There are good historical stories,
too, which are attractive to the aver
age boy, and help to connect his his
tory lessons with real life. Tomlinson
& Stratemeyer represent perhaps as
well as any the authors of this class of
books. The historical story to be avoid
ed Is Of two kinds. First, the book
where the history is not accurate as
lar as IT goes; and. second, the book
whose hero. q boy of from IA to 16,
bears the entire weight of his coun-
try's veal on his own shoulders, and
who, after personally conducting the
military and naval operations of any
war convenient TO the period, is In the
last CIldplcT CROWNED Win laurelS and |
given other more practical evidences /
of his country's appreciation. Most |
of the Henty books have one of these |
faults, some of them both of them, and |
with one or two exceptions are not to |
to be recommended. They are, how
ever, very popular in youthful circles |
and We have discovered in the library |
that the only effective way of encour-
aging taste for the better historical |
stories is not to have the Henty books |
on the shelves.
Finally. there are the practical |
books for boys-What Boy Can Make |
and Do. The Electricity Book for Boys, |
The Boys Outdoor Handy Book, Book |
Of Camping and Woodcraft These are
the titles of some of them. These not /
only gives the active boy help along
the lines in which he is interested, but
they give him the habit of going to
books for practical information in the
direction he is working-a habit which
cannot help but be of value to him in
alter life. So much for books for
boys, many of which, as 1 have said,
are almost equally interesting to his
active sister.
Girls Books Scarce.