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entor

 JOHN STUART BLACKIE,
 Scottish Scholar and Man-of-letters

 RICHARD DODDRIDGE BLACKMORE,
 English Novelist

 JOHN HENRY BONER,
 Editor and Poet

 ELBRIDGE STREETER BROOKS,
 Author of "Historic Boys" and "Historic Girls"

 WINIFRED BUCK,
 Author of "The American Girl"

 GELETT BURGESS,
 Draughtsman and Author

 THORNTON WALDO BURGESS,
 Author of "Old Mother West Wind"

 ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING,
 Poet

 ROBERT BROWNING,
 Poet

 ROBERT BURNS,
 Poet

 CHARLES H. CAFFIN,
 Author of "A Guide to Pictures"

 CHARLES DICKENS,
 Novelist

 MARY MAPES DODGE,
 Author and Editor

 NATHAN HASKELL DOLE,
 Author of "Young Folks' History of Russia," etc.

 ALEXANDRE DUMAS,
 Novelist

 M. S. EMERY,
 Author of "How to Enjoy Pictures"

 EUGENE FIELD,
 Poet

 WILLIAM LOVELL FINLEY,
 State Biologist of Oregon

 EDWARD HOWE FORBUSH,
 State Ornithologist of Massachusetts

 MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN,
 Novelist

 MATTHEW PAGE GAFFNEY,
 Headmaster of the Roger Ascham School

 REV. WASHINGTON GLADDEN,
 Author of "Santa Claus on a Lark," "Social Salvation," etc.

 JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS,
 Author of "Uncle Remus Stories"

 ELIZABETH HARRISON,
 President of the National Kindergarten College

 NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE,
 Novelist

 CHARLES FREDERICK HOLDER,
 Author of "Big Game Fish of the United States"

 VICTOR HUGO,
 Poet and Novelist

 FREDERICK WINTHROP HUTCHINSON,
 Author of "The Men Who Found America"

 JEAN INGELOW,
 Poet and Novelist

 WASHINGTON IRVING,
 Historian, Essayist, and Novelist

 TUDOR JENKS,
 Author of "Boys' Book of Explorations,"
 "Electricity for Young People," etc.

 CHARLES KINGSLEY,
 Clergyman and Author

 GUSTAVE KOBBE,
 Author of "Wagner's Music Dramas Analyzed"

 CHARLES LAMB,
 Critic, Humorist, and Author

 SIDNEY LANIER,
 Poet and Critic

 EDMUND LEAMY,
 Author of "The Golden Spears"

 MAUD McKNIGHT LINDSAY,
 Author of "Mother Stories"

 HENRY W. LONGFELLOW,
 Poet

 SILAS ALPHA LOTTRIDGE,
 Author of "Animal Snapshots and How Made"

 FREDERIC A. LUCAS,
 Director of the American Museum of Natural History

 INEZ N. McFEE,
 Author of "Tales of Common Things"

 PETER MacQUEEN,
 Lecturer and Author of "Around the World With the Flag"

 JOHN MILTON,
 Poet

 ALFRED NOYES,
 Poet

 ALBERT BIGELOW PAINE,
 Author of "The Van Dwellers," "Mark Twain" and other works

 GIFFORD PINCHOT,
 Systematic Forester

 EMILIE POULSSON,
 Author of "Finger Plays"

 LAURA ELIZABETH RICHARDS,
 Author of the "Hildegarde" Books and "The Golden Windows"

 JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY,
 Poet

 JOHN RUSKIN,
 Art Critic and Writer

 SIR WALTER SCOTT,
 Novelist and Poet

 ANNA SEWELL
 Novelist

 ROBERT W. SERVICE,
 Author of "The Spell of the Yukon"

 ERNEST THOMPSON SETON,
 Artist, Author, and Lecturer

 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE,
 Poet and Dramatist

 PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY,
 Poet

 VILHJALMUR STEFANSSON,
 Arctic Explorer

 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON,
 Poet, Essayist, and Novelist

 ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON,
 Poet

 MRS. GUDRUN THORNE-THOMSEN,
 Author of "East o' the Sun and West o' the Moon,"
 and other Norwegian Folk Tales

 EVERETT TITSWORTH TOMLINSON, Ph.D., L.H.D.,
 Author of "Three Young Continentals"

 CAROLYN WELLS,
 Author of "A Nonsense Anthology" and the "Marjorie" Books

 JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER,
 Poet and Author

 LEONARD WOOD,
 Major-General, United States Army

 ORVILLE WRIGHT,
 Aviator and Inventor

PARTIAL LIST OF ILLUSTRATORS
_Examples of whose work appear in the_ BOYS AND GIRLS BOOKSHELF

 JOHN W. ALEXANDER F. S. CHURCH LUCY FITCH PERKINS
 ANNIE ANDERSON CLYDE O. DELAND HOWARD PYLE
 FLORENCE ANDERSON EDMUND DULAC ARTHUR RACKHAM
 CULMER BARNES RUTH HALLOCK FREDERICK REMINGTON
 FRANK L. BAUM FLORENCE HARRISON F. REUTERDAHL
 J. CARTER BEARD R. BRUCE HORSFALL HARRY ROUNTREE
 W. T. BENDA GEORGE W. JOY CARL RUNGIUS
 JOHN BENNETT E. W. KEMBLE EDMUND J. SAWYER
 ANNA WHELAN BETTS EMILIE BENSON KNIPE ERNEST THOMPSON SETON
 R. B. BIRCH CHARLES F. LESTER R. SHRADOR
 E. H. BLASHFIELD J. C. LEYENDECKER HAROLD SICHEL
 R. I. BRASHER H. MOORE HUGH SPENCER
 PAMELA VINTON BROWN H. A. OGDEN ALICE BARBER STEPHENS
 HARRISON CADY MONRO S. ORR FRANK STICK
 BESS BRUCE CLEVELAND MAXFIELD PARRISH SARA S. STILLWELL
 F. Y. CORY MALCOLM PATTERSON C. R. SWAN
 LILIAN A. COVEY E. C. PEIXOTTO ALBERTINE RANDALL WHEELAN

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Books are as essentially a part of the home where boys and girls are
growing into manhood and womanhood as any other part of the furnishings.
Parents have no more right to starve a child's mind than they have his
body. If a child is to take his place among the men and women of his
time he needs to know the past out of which the present grew, and he
needs to know what is going on in the world in which he lives. He needs
tools for his brain as much as for his hands. All these things are
found, and found only, in books.

The child is helpless to provide himself with these necessaries for
life. The majority of parents are eager that their children shall start
early and right on that road which leads to honorable success. But it is
impossible for any parent, by no matter how liberal an expenditure, to
collect books that shall adequately cover all a child's needs and
interests. This is the task of experts.

INSTRUCTIVE PLAY

Recent studies of childhood have emphasized the conviction that a child
develops his talents even more in his playtime than in his school; his
spontaneous activities build up his fourfold--physical, mental, social,
and moral--nature. Probably no collection of books has been more
strongly affected by this modern discovery than the BOYS AND GIRLS
BOOKSHELF. The whole effort has been to utilize the child's
play-interests so that they shall express themselves in joyous ways that
lead into the world of invention and industry, of imagination and
achievement, of science and art and music, of character and worth-while
deeds.

Children's collections have had various literary styles. The
encyclopedia is comprehensive, but stately and often dull; it will
answer the question of the child, but it does not lead the child toward
more knowledge. The scrapbook is interesting, but it has no plan or
order. The "inspirational" book is full of fine sentiments, but without
facts or much information.

THE PURPOSE OF _THE BOOKSHELF_

The BOOKSHELF is so built that it creates a desire for knowledge, and
then satisfies that desire. At the same time the BOOKSHELF does not
pretend to tell all that is known on any one subject. The Editors have
selected the subjects concerning which no one should be ignorant, and
have seen to it that the information is given in an attractive form with
plenty of illustrative material, and that when the reader is finished
he will have a working knowledge of the subject. To awaken minds and to
make them alert and receptive has been the aim in making the BOOKSHELF.

THE PLAN AND SCOPE

The BOOKSHELF begins with the dawn of intelligence in the child, and
goes with him through the morning of childhood, and into the noonday of
youth. It contains a complete stock of finger-plays, action-plays

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