We will print you a perfectly bound paperback of your selected title and send it to you at your nominated address

THE
BEACON SECOND READER

BY

JAMES H. FASSETT

GINN AND COMPANY
BOSTON - NEW YORK - CHICAGO - LONDON
ATLANTA - DALLAS - COLUMBUS - SAN FRANCISCO

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY JAMES H. FASSETT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
431.1

The Athenæum Press

GINN AND COMPANY - PROPRIETORS -
BOSTON - U.S.A.

PREFACE

In the "Beacon Second Reader" the author has chosen for his stories onlythose of recognized literary merit; and while it has been necessary torearrange and sometimes rewrite them for the purpose of simplification,yet he has endeavored to retain the spirit which has served to endearthese ancient tales to the children of all ages. The fairy story appealsparticularly to children who are in the second school year. It has beenproved by our ablest psychologists that at about this period ofdevelopment, children are especially susceptible to the stimulus of theold folklore. They are in fact passing through the stage whichcorresponds to the dawn of the human race, when demons, dragons,fairies, and hobgoblins were as firmly believed in as rivers andmountains.

As a test of this theory the author asked hundreds of second-grade andthird-grade school children to recall the stories which they had readduring the preceding year, and to express their preferences. The choiceof more than ninety per cent proved to be either folklore stories, pureand simple, or such tales as contained the folklore element. To be sure,children like other stories, but they respond at once with sparklingeyes and animated voices when the fairy tale is suggested. How unwise,therefore, it is to neglect this powerful stimulus which lies ready atour hands! Even a pupil who is naturally slow will wade painfully andlaboriously through a fairy story, while he would throw down in disgustan account of the sprouting of the bean or the mining of coal.

It can hardly be questioned, moreover, that the real culture which thechild derives from these literary classics is far greater than thatwhich he would gain from the "information" stories so common in theaverage second and third readers.

CONTENTS

Back

Your Defaults

Currency

Login

You are currently not signed in.

If you have an account with us already, please follow the link below to login. Click here to login

If you are a first time customer, an account will be created when you visit the checkout for the first time.

Listen here to our appearance on radio 5Live.

Terms and conditions
Limited Liability Partnership No. OC 317068
Vat No. 875 8524 74
Tel:+44 207 476 3561

PAGE