Special Announcement TO Teachers and Pupils. As is evident from this number, one of the chief aims of the PUBLIC LIBRARY MAGAZINE is to widen and intensify the influence of the public library in popular education and to elevate the standard of young people's reading by pointing out to them and to parents and teachers the best books in all departments and for all ages. In pursuance of this purpose we offer the following PRIZES TO TEACHERS for the best essays on "Children's Reading" not to exceed one thousand words: For the essay adjudged best of all........ $25 15 10 To encourage the thoughtful reading of the books recommended in our list of "Reading for the Young," we offer the following PRIZES TO PUPILS: To the pupil in the fifth grade (16 to 18 years) who submits the best criticism of SUBSCRIBE FOR IT AND YOU ARE SURE TO WIN A FIRST PRIZE. $1.00 A YEAR. SINGLE NUMBERS, 10 CENTS. CHILDREN'S TASTE IN READING. LAST spring the teachers in the I. 2. 3. 4. QUESTIONS. What is your favorite book? Which of his works do you like best? 5. He public schools in this city were asked to submit the ten questions, which will be found below, to the children in their charge. Mr. Evans, principal of the Lafayette School, took an active interest in the plan, drew up the questions, and tabulated the answers. says in his introduction to the report: There is now a systematic effort making to elevate the literary taste of the children in this city. Superintendent Soldan has prepared a list of books suited to the different grades in the schools, which has been printed and is now on the desk of every teacher in the city. The Public Library is working in the same direction, and it proposes to familiarize every child in the city with the Library and with good literature. It is circulating among the schools an excellent selection of books which, it is thought, the children will not be able. to resist when placed in their hands. By this means they are to learn what the Library can offer them and that a book may be interesting and wholesome at the same time. A test of the progress made along these lines would be to compare the present choice of the children with the preferences of children of the same age four or five years hence. The questions were asked of the children in the fifth to the eighth grades, inclusive. About 5,000 answers were sent, showing that the teachers were interestsd in the project. Leaving out the answers that were too crude to be useful, 3150 responses were tabulated. All will be rejoiced to see the subordinate place occupied by pernicious literature. 8. Boys of '76 Andersen's Fairy Tales. Little Lord Fauntleroy... Count of Monte Cristo. Tom Brown's Schooldays. Donald and Dorothy 241 224 110 98 94 74 62 58 44 42 40 35 32 30 26 25 24 23 23 22 22 22 22 19 19 19 19 18 18 18 18 |