AN HISTORICAL READING LIST FOR CHILDREN

``Don't stop (I say) to explain that Hebe was (for once) the
``legitimate daughter of Zeus and, as such, had the privilege to draw

``wine for the Gods. Don't even stop, just yet, to explain who the
``Gods were. Don't discourse on amber, otherwise ambergris; don't

``explain that `gris' in this connection doesn't mean `grease'; don't
``trace it through the Arabic into Noah's Ark; don't prove its electrical

``properties by tearing up paper into little bits and attracting them
``with the mouth-piece of your pipe rubbed on your sleeve. Don't

``insist philologically that when every shepherd `tells his tale' he is not
``relating an anecdote but simply keeping `tally' of his flock. Just go

``on reading, as well as you can, and be sure that when the children
``get the thrill of the story, for which you wait, they will be asking

``more questions, and pertinent ones, than you are able to answer.--
(``On the Art of Reading for Children,'' by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.)

The Days Before History
``How the Present Came From the Past,'' by Margaret E. Wells,

Volume I.
How earliest man learned to make tools and build homes, and the

stories he told about the fire-makers, the sun and the frost. A simple,
illustrated account of these things for children.

``The Story of Ab, by Stanley Waterloo.
A romantic tale of the time of the cave-man. (A much simplified

edition of this for little children is ``Ab, the Cave Man'' adapted by
William Lewis Nida.)

``Industrial and Social History Series,'' by Katharine E. Dopp.
``The Tree Dwellers--The Age of Fear''

``The Early Cave-Men--The Age of Combat''
``The Later Cave-Men--The Age of the Chase''

``The Early Sea People--First Steps in the Conquest of the Waters''
``The Tent-Dwellers--The Early Fishing Men''

Very simple stories of the way in which man learned how to make
pottery, how to weave and spin, and how to conquer land and sea.

``Ancient Man,'' written and drawn and done into colour by Hendrik
Willem van Loon.

The beginning of civilisations pictured and written in a new and
fascinating fashion, with story maps showing exactly what happened in

all parts of the world. A book for children of all ages.
The Dawn of History

``The Civilisation of the Ancient Egyptians,'' by A. Bothwell Gosse.
``No country possesses so many wonders, and has such a number

of works which defy description.'' An excellent, profusely illustrated
account of the domestic life, amusements, art, religion and occupations

of these wonderful people.
``How the Present Came From the Past,'' by Margaret E. Wells,

Volume II.
What the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians and the

Persians contributed to civilisation. This is brief and simple and may
be used as a first book on the subject.

``Stories of Egyptian Gods and Heroes,'' by F. H. Brooksbank.
The beliefs of the Egyptians, the legend of Isis and Osiris, the

builders of the Pyramids and the Temples, the Riddle of the Sphinx, all
add to the fascination of this romantic picture of Egypt.

``Wonder Tales of the Ancient World,'' by Rev. James Baikie.
Tales of the Wizards, Tales of Travel and Adventure, and Legends

of the Gods all gathered from ancient Egyptian literature.
``Ancient Assyria,'' by Rev. James Baikie.

Which tells of a city 2800 years ago with a street lined with beautiful
enamelled reliefs, and with libraries of clay.

``The Bible for Young People,'' arranged from the King James version,
with twenty-four full page illustrations from old masters.

``Old, Old Tales From the Old, Old Book,'' by Nora Archibald Smith.
``Written in the East these characters live forever in the West--

they pervade the world.'' A good rendering of the Old Testament.
``The Jewish Fairy Book,'' translated and adapted by Gerald Friedlander.

Stories of great nobility and beauty from the Talmud and the old
Jewish chap-books.

``Eastern Stories and Legends,'' by Marie L. Shedlock.
``The soldiers of Alexander who had settled in the East, wandering

merchants of many nations and climes, crusading knights and hermits
brought these Buddha Stories from the East to the West.''

Stories of Greece and Rome
``The Story of the Golden Age,'' by James Baldwin.

Some of the most beautiful of the old Greek myths woven into the
story of the Odyssey make this book a good introduction to the glories

of the Golden Age.
``A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales,'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne,

with pictures by Maxfield Parrish.
``The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy,'' by Padraic

Colum, presented by Willy Pogany.
An attractive, poetically rendered account of ``the world's greatest

story.''
``The Story of Rome,'' by Mary Macgregor, with twenty plates in

colour.
Attractively illustrated and simply presented story of Rome from

the earliest times to the death of Augustus.
``Plutarch's Lives for Boys and Girls,'' retold by W. H. Weston.

``The Lays of Ancient Rome,'' by Lord Macaulay.
``The early history of Rome is indeed far more poetical than anything

else in Latin Literature.''
``Children of the Dawn,'' by Elsie Finnemore Buckley.

Old Greek tales of love, adventure, heroism, skill, achievement, or
defeat exceptionally well told. Especially recommended for girls.

``The Heroes; or, Greek Fairy Tales for My Children,'' by Charles
Kingsley.

``The Story of Greece,'' by Mary Macgregor, with nineteen plates in
colour by Walter Crane.

Attractively illustrated and simply presented--a good book to
begin on.

Christianity
``The Story of Jesus,'' pictures from paintings by Giotto, Fra Angelico,

Duccio, Ghirlandais, and Barnja-da-Siena. Descriptive text
from the New Testament, selected and arranged by Ethel Natalie

Dana.
A beautiful book and a beautiful way to present the Christ Story.

``A Child's Book of Saints,'' by William Canton.
Sympathetically told and charmingly written stories of men and

women whose faith brought about strange miracles, and whose goodness
to man and beast set the world wondering.

``The Seven Champions of Christendom,'' edited by F. J. H. Darton.
How the knights of old--St. George of England, St. Denis of

France, St. James of Spain, and others--fought with enchanters and
evil spirits to preserve the Kingdom of God. Fine old romances interestingly

told for children.
``Stories From the Christian East,'' by Stephen Gaselee.

Unusual stories which have been translated from the Coptic, the
Greek, the Latin and the Ethiopic.

``Jerusalem and the Crusades,'' by Estelle Blyth, with eight plates in
colour.

Historical stories telling how children and priests, hermits and
knights all strove to keep the Cross in the East.

Stories of Legend and Chivalry
``Stories of Norse Heroes From the Eddas and Sagas,'' retold by E. M.

Wilmot-Buxton.
These are tales which the Northmen tell concerning the wisdom of

All-Father Odin, and how all things began and how they ended. A
good book for all children, and for story-tellers.

``The Story of Siegfried,'' by James Baldwin.
A good introduction to this Northern hero whose strange and

daring deeds fill the pages of the old sagas.
``The Story of King Arthur and His Knights,'' written and illustrated

by Howard Pyle.
This, and the companion volumes, ``The Story of the Champions of

the Round Table,'' ``The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions,''
``The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur,'' form an incomparable

collection for children.
``The Boy's King Arthur,'' edited by Sidney Lanier, illustrated by N.

C. Wyeth.
A very good rendering of Malory's King Arthur, made especially

attractive by the coloured illustrations.
``Irish Fairy Tales,'' by James Stephens, illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

Beautifully pictured and poetically told legends of Ireland's epic
hero Fionn. A book for the boy or girl who loves the old romances,

and a book for story-telling or reading aloud.
``Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France,'' by A. J.

Church.
Stories from the old French and English chronicles showing the

romantic glamour surrounding the great Charlemagne and his crusading
knights.

``The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood,'' written and illustrated by
Howard Pyle.

Both in picture and in story this book holds first place in the hearts
of children.

``A Book of Ballad Stories,'' by Mary Macleod.
Good prose versions of some of the famous old ballads sung by the

minstrels of England and Scotland.
``The Story of Roland,'' by James Baldwin.

``There is, in short, no country in Europe, and no language, in
which the exploits of Charlemagne and Roland have not at some time

been recounted and sung.'' This book will serve as a good introduction
to a fine heroic character.

``The Boy's Froissart,'' being Sir John Froissart's Chronicles of Adventure,
Battle, and Custom in England, France, Spain.

``Froissart sets the boy's mind upon manhood and the man's mind
upon boyhood.'' An invaluablebackground for the future study of

history.
``The Boy's Percy,'' being old ballads of War, Adventure and Love

from Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, edited by
Sidney Lanier.

``He who walks in the way these following ballads point, will be
manful in necessary fight, loyal in love, generous to the poor, tender in

the household, prudent in living, merry upon occasion, and honest in
all things.''

``Tales of the Canterbury Pilgrims,'' retold from Chaucer and others
by E. J H. Darton.

``Sometimes a pilgrimage seemed nothing but an excuse for a
lively and pleasant holiday, and the travellers often made themselves

very merry on the road, with their jests and songs, and their flutes
and fiddles and bagpipes.'' A good prose version much enjoyed by boys

and girls.
``Joan of Arc,'' written and illustrated by M. Boutet de Monvel.

A very fine interpretation of the life of this great heroine. A book
to be owned by every boy and girl.