Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following publishers for
permission to use selections from their copyrighted publications:
to D. Appleton and Company, for poems by William Cullen Bry-
ant; to George H. Doran Company, for a story by Ralph Connor
(from "Corporal Cameron," copyright, 1912); to Doubleday,
Page and Company, for selections by Henry Abbey, Selma Lager-
löf, and Ernest Thompson Seton; to P. J. Kenedy and Sons,
for a poem by Abram J. Ryan; to Little, Brown and Company,
for a poem by Emily Dickinson; to Moffat, Yard and Company,
for a story by Angela M. Keyes; to New York Evening Sun; to
Stars and Stripes; to Perry Mason Company, for stories from the
Youth's Companion; to Presbyterian Board of Publication, for
a selection by Harry Pringle Ford; to The Roycrofters for a
story by Elbert Hubbard; to Charles Scribner's Sons, for a poem
by Henry van Dyke; to Small, Maynard and Company, for a
poem by Madison Cawein; to Houghton Mifflin Company, for
selections by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Mary Austin, Abbie Far-
well Brown, John Burroughs, Alice Cary, Maude Barrows Dut-
ton, Lucretia P. Hale, Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Hodges,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Olive Thorne Miller, John G.
Saxe, Augusta Stevenson, Eva March Tappan, J. T. Trow-
bridge, John Greenleaf Whittier.

The Riverside Press

CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS

US.A

TO THE TEACHER

THIS series of Readers is prepared for the fourth, fifth,

and sixth grades, because these are now recognized as the crucial years in gaining technique in silent reading. The object in these Readers is to direct silent reading, to motivate oral reading, to develop the reading habit, and to broaden the child's outlook on life. In their preparation the editor has been guided by her study of the most authoritative and upto-date reports, investigations, courses of study, and surveys. In the Teachers' Manual which accompanies the series, she has worked out a methodology for silent reading.

Special features of these Readers are:

1. The careful organization of the contents (see pages v-ix). This covers the range of the child's interests and presents biographical material in a new and vital way.

2. The material arranged as a course to suit the school year, is given on page ix. (This order is followed in the Manual.)

3. The richness of authorship, the variety of appeal, and the freshness of material are noteworthy. Many of the selections have never been used before in school readers.

4. The full study equipment aims to make children think, to lead them to read from their own initiative, and to create centers of interest. It includes introductions with thought-provoking questions to motivate the reading; word lists and glossary; and questions and suggestions that correlate various activities with reading and are prepared with both city and rural communities in mind. Teachers can therefore select material to suit their needs.

5. The Manual presents methods and devices in detail so that inexperienced teachers can get results. It gives a practical pedagogy of the reading problem, and at the same time aims to give inspiration to the teacher.

6. The working out of interesting projects, the arranging of programs, and the dramatization for entertainment purposes furnish live motives for effort. The Manual gives full programs in which material previously read is brought together in a way that arouses the child's interest and leads to motivated review.

7. The vocabulary work is made vital. Helpful word lists and glossary, idioms, correlated language work, footnotes (placed so as not to distract), and charts for pronunciation and derivation (inside the back cover) are provided. The child is thus gradually inducted into intelligent use of the dictionary.

8. Typographical aids such as throwing into relief sentence and clause thoughts or dialogue by increased spacing, keeping phrases intact as much as possible, and placing reference numbers at logical points make reading easier for the pupil.

9. Pictures that sympathetically illustrate the text are introduced for their teaching value and appeal. Questions upon the illustrations are introduced to develop powers of observation.

10. Speed and content tests for diagnostic purposes are adapted to classroom use and made the basis for effective drill.

II. Practical everyday reading of various kinds is stressed. Rapid, reference, and sight reading are made a part of the training, as well as intensive and interpretative reading. A start is made towards proper reading of newspapers.

12. How to study is given special attention, for silent reading is now recognized as part of all textbook work. Supervised study has been developed in an entirely new way by means of italicized directions which guide the child in his thinking.

These Readers are designed for basal use. The study equipment and the Manual make the books valuable as a basal series for schools that require training in silent reading. The fresh and vital material make them equally desirable as a basal series for oral reading. This fullness of material and careful preparation of equipment enable the books to fill a distinct need in the schools, since they help to solve the present problem of silent reading.

Without Houghton Mifflin Company's wealth of copyrighted material it would have been impossible to construct this series. The editor feels deeply grateful not only to them but to other publishers for permission to use copyrighted material. She also wishes to thank most sincerely the many teachers who by their encouragement and helpful suggestions have aided in the preparation of these Readers.

I. TOM'S FIRST DAY AT THE TEMPLE SCHOOL

II. THE RIVERMOUTH "CENtipedes"

AN ORDER FOR A PICTURE ..