Education

Book Reviews

So many books are sent to this department of EDUCATION that it is impossible to review them all. Naturally we feel under obligation to give preference to the books of those publishing houses which more or less frequently use our advertising pages. Outside of the limitations thus set, we shall usually be able and glad to mention by title, authors, and publishers, such books as are sent to us for this purpose. More elaborate notices will necessarily be conditional upon our convenience and the character of the books themselves.

EFFECTIVE EXPRESSION. By Charles Elbert Rhodes, A. M. Gregg Publishing Company. Price, $1.60.

This text-book on composition and rhetoric is intended for high school and college students. It is quite comprehensive and up-to-date in its subject matter. It aims to aid the student in acquiring an ability to express himself effectively in both written and spoken words. After a discussion of principles, there are specialized chapters on letter writing, oral composition, descriptive exposition, argument, etc. A model presentation of a debate on the subject, "Resolved, That the Motion Picture Theatres are a valuable Asset in a Community," presents the "pros." and "cons.” of this subject most interestingly. Schools of business practice and administration will find this a very satisfactory text for class

use.

A STUDY OF THE TYPES OF LITERATURE. By Mabel I. Rich. The Century Company. Price, $2.00.

This is one of a series of anthologies of English and American literature for high schools, with at least one volume for each school year. The other three volumes are a ninth grade book by J. F. Hosic, of Teachers College, Columbia University, and W. W. Hatfield, of the Chicago Normal College; a tenth grade book by C. C. Certain, of the Northwestern High School, Detroit, Michigan; and an eleventh grade book by O. B. Sperlin, Supervisor of English, Tacoma, Washington. Miss Rich, the author of "Types of Literature," which is for the twelfth grade, is in the English Department of the Missoula, Montana, High School.

In "A Study of the Types of Literature" the chronological arrangement has been followed. Each type is traced from its erliest appearance to the present day, and those that have come to be regarded as the best examples of each form have been noted and, wherever possible, given in full and studied. There are admirable introductions and notes, suggestions both for teachers and pupils, outside readings; in fact, everything essential to the high school course. Miss Rich has at last provided a way of escape from the formal history of English literature on the one hand, and the over-minute, pedantic study of three or four estimable masterpieces on the other. The study of this book will inevitably open to the student new sources of real pleasure and true culture.

HOUSEWIFERY. A Manual and Text Book of Practical Housekeeping. By Lydia Ray Balderston, A. M. Second edition, revised. J. B. Lippincott Company.

A very attractive, fully illustrated, practical manual that can be used as a text-book in Domestic Science classes and by some one, preferably the intelligent mistress, in every home. A study of this manual will reveal multitudinous ways of saving time, money and labor. It will increase the comfort and well-being of all members of the family and make for better citizenship.

INDUSTRIAL GOVERNMENT. By John R. Commons. The Macmillan Company. Price, $3.00.

Based on personal observations made during visits to some thirty establishments from Wisconsin to Maine, this book gives conclusions drawn from a study of a large variety of types and examples of actual industrial life. The book emphasizes facts rather than theories. Leading questions of industrial experience are considered at first hand, and some of the conclusions drawn will modify the attitude of both workers and owners if they are thoroughly studied, with the thought of the best interests of all kept to the fore by an open mind.

THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM. By Frederick Gordon Bonser. The Macmillan Company.

The author's name is familiar to all old and most new readers of EDUCATION. He is one of America's best known and influential teachers of teachers. Every teacher and every school official should keep this book by him for frequent consultation. Its aim is to aid teachers, supervisors, principals, and superintendents in improving the elementary school curriculum. There are chapters on various fundamental principles, and upon teaching the practical arts, geography, arithmetic, history, English, fine arts, music, physical education and hygiene, citizenship, etc.

SOCIAL GAMES AND GROUP DANCES. A Collection of Games and Dances Suitable for Community and Social Use. By J. C. Elsom and Blanche M. Trilling. 53 illustrations and many music scores. Net, $1.75. J. B. Lippincott Company, publishers.

The games and dances described in this book are suitable for almost any occasion or any social group of people. They have borne the test of time and use in city and country, the home and school, the social center and the ballroom, and furnish an unfailing means of making the members of a group feel at home with each other and keeping them occupied in diverting and wholesome ways.

A GREEK GRAMMAR FOR COLLEGES. By Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. American Book Company.

This is a monumental work, by a learned Harvard professor, which follows naturally his earlier Greek Grammar for Schools and Colleges. This more elaborate volume is, in the words of the author, "descriptive, not an historical, nor a comparative, grammar." It has been his purpose to "set forth the essential forms of Attic speech, and of the other dialects, as far as they appear in literature; to devote greater attention to the formation of words and to the particles than is usually given to these subjects, except in much more extensive works; and to supplement the statement of the principles of syntax with information that will prove of service to the student as his knowledge widens and deepens.

RURAL SCIENCE READER. By Samuel Broadfoot McReady. D. C. Heath & Co.

This is the first volume of a "Rural Education Series" planned by the publishers, based upon the present and future requirements of the country. The series bids fair to be both useful and interesting, judging from this volume. We like the sense-of-ownership note which is struck in the titles of the different chapters: "Our" School, "Our" Homes, Farms, Neighborhood, Teacherage, Library, Workshop, Progress Club, Potato Contest, School Fair, etc.,-these all sound very homelike. The chapters read as well as their titles sound. They will stimulate ambition, interest, industry.

ARGUMENTATION AND DEBATE. By J. Walter Reeves, A. M., Peddie Institute. D. C. Heath & Co.

The distinctive claim of this handy manual is that it simplifies the subject, giving the inexperienced debater just the help he most needs, and encouraging him to take hold and get knowledge and ability by self-possessed experience. It is easily slipped into the pocket, and can be consulted and digested in odd moments. Yet it is quite comprehensive of essential principles.

THE CRISIS. By Winston Churchill. Edited by Walter Barnes. Macmillan Company. A volume in the Macmillan "Pocket Classics."

THE MEASUREMENT OF SILENT READING. By May Ayres Burgess. Department of Education, Russell Sage Foundation.

A careful presentation of method and scales for testing reading ability. Its use will greatly aid the teacher in securing accurate information as to the ability of the pupils in silent reading.

AMERICAN RED CROSS WORK AMONG THE FRENCH PEOPLE. By Fisher Ames, Jr. The Macmillan Company.

This attractive volume deals with the work among the French during the World War and immediately after. Americans have always been most kindly disposed toward the French since the War of the Revolution, when such fraternal sympathy and aid were freely given us by France. In many ways in the late war we were able to reciprocate and co-operate, through the American Red Cross organization, with the forces of France. The story is well worth recording and perusing, and this volume gives glimpses of the splendid work done and results accomplished. ALLEN'S SYNONYMS AND ANTONYMS. By F. Sturges Allen, A. B., LL. B. Harper & Brothers.

The author is General Editor of "Webster's International Dictionary." He has been fully twenty years in preparing this volume, which shows signs on every page of the thoroughness with which he has covered the ground. This volume covers 482 pages and easily stands first among the books of its kind published in the United States. "The fullness of reference to antonyms, and the parenthetical comments that for many thousand words note their special status or special limitations upon their use," so says the author, "will make a new appeal to discriminating writers." It would seem that every school and college, every author and writer, every professional man, and every public and private library will need this volume as surely as they need a dictionary or an encyclopaedia.

A SHORT ITALIAN DICTIONARY. By Alfred Hoare, M. A. Vol. II. English-Italian. Cambridge University Press. G. P. Putnam's Sons.

Both volumes of this book are chiefly designed for English students of Italian. They are bound in flexible covers and are attractive in appearance. Geographical adjectives have been entered in their Italian forms, the terminations "o," "e," "ese," etc., being substituted for "ian." For example, "Patagone," "Canadese," etc.

SONGS OF MOTHER GOOSE, FOR VOICE AND PIANO. Set to music by Sidney Homer. Illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright. The Macmillan Company. Price, $1.20.

This is a book for every piano. By which we mean that wherever there is a piano, children, either "young ones" or "grown-ups,"—often congregate, and anything that aptly expresses universal human sentiments, as "Mother Goose" does,-is timely, and everyone enjoys such expressions of world-feeling as these songs express. The author says that he wrote the songs for his large family of children and grown-ups. We believe that the family for which he wrote them is larger than he thought. Certainly his songs will be sung around the world, or should be.