The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-04
Kind Of Books Girls Like To
  x. Read
.s4 By DORA ALBERT. ' Fifteen Year Old High School Girl

sNQutA dWdhCA hCA ASANS SOSeS AVA
 classical or permanent literature.
 H'What books has she been reading ?" Inquired the ibraian. ;s.sFsssTrash! Her girl friend is a very
 flighty individual. She lent her thrill
 ing sensational books" The self-consti- tvited censor of her niece's morals,
 friends and books looked up at the
 librarian appealingly, dispairingly.
 Her sympathetic listener suggested Sf"When Knighthood Was In Flower"
 remarking that the girls are crazy about it.
 4 Aunt didn't want her niece to read .s. any novel. She wanted book that did
 not even as much as suggest that there existed such an emotion as love be- t tween two persons of opposite sex. (Didn't she realize that sixteen is a romantic ageO
 Her attitude is fairly representative of that of the elder generation toward the books the younger generation is reading. In the opinion of some of seur elders, dullness is the measure of The value of book. To most children a recommendation from an adult is a wafning to "steer clear" of a book. A mother will very often advise her daughter to read a novel which, she Knows that the daughter will not enjoy. simply because her parents and her par .eIts, parents before her believed that book worthwhile, No wonder children aee sceptical concerning the desirability sof,4reading books whose merits are ex- toiled by adults.
 Every child who selects his reading matter without too much parental sup -eggision is on constant voyage of discovery. Should he, without the sug- gestion of his parents, choose book which has been enjoyed for years, his sdiscovery will carry with it all the .thEill of a surprising adventure. The literary taste for a child or of A youth of adolescent age is in a state of evolution.
 From the ages of six to sixteen he goes through a gradual process of re- s8 adjusting his literary taste to changing : standards. Because I understand girls
 best, I shall speak chiefly of their literary evolution.
 The average girl on the threshold of the literary world is attracted by fairy tales. If she is an imaginative child, she believes or half believes what she reads. A girl from six to ten years old will revel in collections of fairy tales by such authors as Grimm, Lang and Andersen. Some girls may take much longer to tear themselves away from these books dealing with the dream world. What of it? There is a delight and romance in such world. Some parents would ban fairy tales from their homes. Think of a girl who has never made the acquaintance of Cinderella {! These older persons who would bring children into contact with harsh real ity in books as well as in life, who
 would break the gossamer of children's s dreams, forget that younger persons \ possess what they themselves cannot re-
 gain, free, untrammeled imaginati 7, One day the girl discovers a book
 containing but one story. Perhaps it is
 'Pinacchio," that classic of childhood, or "Gulliver's Travels" or "Robinson
 Crusoe." One realm in fairy-land may
 be left behind; the child fares into the new one.
 As her ability to read increases,
 the girl becomes interested in other
 girls of her own age, in friendships and
 camp fires. The Emmy Lous, the camp
 fire girls, the Pepper girls and charm
 ing little little women, created by the
 facile pen of Alcott appeal to the girl
 as. being very much like herself. Some
 parents are surprised to find their
 daughters delighting in the angelic good
 ness of Elsie Dinsmore, or the un-
 natural optimism of Pollyanna.
 As soon as the girl has read enough
 of these books to realize the impossi-
 bility of being like their heroines, she
 is amused at their unreality. If pa
 rents instead of worrying about the
 books their daughters read would only
 survey this evolution of taste with
 impartial judgement, their fears would
 vanish.
 Into the calm life of the girl steals love adventure and mystery. At about the age of thirteen she is likely to discard her own books and tu- to her brothers. Therin she finds thrill after thrill, adventure after adventure. flag
 gard entrances her. This stage lasts long because everyday routine requires
 such books as an antidote. A girl of this age turns to Seaman, to such whole
 some mystery tales as "TEe Boarded
 Up House.
 1 have never seen a sweet girl grad
 uate who was not searching for q
 mystery tale. It is the puzzle, the riddle to be solved that gives such a story
 its almost universal appeal? If Carolyn Wells has a stronger appeal
 
 rents will show sense or humOr and depth of understanding by waiting for their daughters to awaken to a reali- ,. zation of the tiresome monotony of g@niystery stories, which are all alike guilty who seems least so, and which
 all end in an expected manner because the suprise is itself expected. The wise . mother finds no cause for anxiety when she discovers her daughter reading Alger, Meade or even a dime novel. How
 quickly Alger is discarded when one discovers that all his poor boys are nObler and more virtuous than his wealthy ones and that all his williams
 hold mortgages on the homes wherein reside the heroes!
 As the girl enters her teens, TO- mantle love plays an important part in the lives of the book-people she meets. The end of her teens finds her reading romantic stories and problem plays. Intellectual literature by the mOderns has its appeal. Sex is a mystery concerning which she may wish to seek enlightenment. If her parents have not kept her in ignorance, thus arOusing morbid fears, her reading will be directed into more natural channels. If her parents have not previously sought to restrict and direct her read ing to too great an extent, she will gradually turn of her own accord to { books that time has shown to have permanent value.
 If your daughter does not read the books you recommend she is probably . learning to use her own judgement and sense of discrimination Perhaps the hooks Your daughter does read are nOt