BOOK NOTICES

AN EASY PRIMER, by Walter Barnes, A. M., head of the English department, State Normal School, Fairmont, West Virginia; author of "English in the Country School;" editor of Palgrave's "Golden Treasury," etc., and Martha A. L. Lane. Illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright and Edna F. Hart. The material in this new book will appeal to every child. The lessons deal with subjects which are of personal interest to all little people in city or town. Throughout the book the stories relate to the same characters, thus sustaining the interest. Special care has been taken to simplify the material to an unusual degree. The vocabulary contains about two hundred words. They are mainly phonetic, are introduced gradually, and are repeated again and again until they are thoroughly familiar. Furthermore, they belong to the common oral vocabulary of children. It may be used either alone or as a supplementary reader. It is admirably suited to the latter use, as it fits equally well with a phonetic system or with a sentence-and-word method. The Notes for Teachers offer many valuable suggestions. Cloth, 134 pages, price 60 cents. Ginn and Co., Boston, New York and Chicago.

THE FIELD PRIMER AND THE FIELD FIRST READER, by Walter Taylor Field, author of "Fingerposts to Children's Reading," and joint author, with Dr. Ella Flagg Young, of the "Young and Field Literary Readers." Illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright. These two books together form a complete basal system of reading for the first year. As they contain fresh material treated in a new fashion, they may to advantage be used co-ordinately with any other series. The felicity with which the traditional material is handled and its inherent interest make the Field Primer and the Field First Reader books which children

enjoy. The charming and fanciful illustrations by Maginel Wright Enright interpret the spirit and add to the attractiveness of the stories. These books offer new and valuable material of genuine appeal to the pupil. The Field Primer, cloth, 132 pages, fully illustrated in color, price 68 cents. The Field First Reader, cloth, 166 pages, fully illustrated in color, price 72 cents. Ginn and Company, Boston, New York, Chicago.

A PROJECT CURRICULUM, dealing with the Project as a Means of Organizing the Curriculum of the Elementary School, by Margaret Elizabeth Wells, Ph. D. There are many interpretations of the project method. Miss Wells has made and developed one interpretation which lays emphasis upon the selection of a major project for each grade of the elementary school, large enough to provide a basis for most of the work of that grade throughout the year. Within each major project arise minor projects related to the major purpose and providing the immediate activities which make up the daily work of the respective grades. With the assistance of several student teachers of the State Normal School at Trenton, N. J., a curriculum was worked out making use of projects in grades 1-3. Playing fair, playing families, playing store and playing city were the projects employed. The children of grades 1-3 co-operated in the first of these projects, while the remaining 3 were undertaken as class

ing. This book should prove decidedly stimulating and helpful to all teachers. who are concerned with the enriching and vitalizing of regular classroom work. There is a great need for humanizing and socializing the subject matter taught in the several grades of our elementary schools. The author of this book has made a permanent contribution to the improvement of the elementary school curriculum. Cloth, 338 pages, price $2.00. J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia and London.

THE SKY LINE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE, by Lewis Worthington Smith, professor of English in Drake University, author of "The Writing of the Short Story," "Ships in Port," etc., and Esie V. Hathaway, director in English, East High School, Des Moines; author of the "Little Lives of Great Men" series. This text attempts to emphasize those phases of the literary development of England that seem especially significant to Americans with relation to the evolution of our own national life and ideals out of those of the mother country. Minor details and minor writers have been omitted. By stressing the best writers in the history of English literature and giving illustrative passages of what these finer minds have thought about life, the authors have aimed to catch and hold the attention of the students. The story as told in this book is continuous and not obscured by unimportant details. This book shows how Shakespeare and other great writers have done more than any others to shape the thought of the world and endow human hearts with their noblest purposes. The value of the book is enhanced by the chronology, glossary and pronouncing index included in the latter part of the volume. Every high school teacher of English will be interested in this new, fresh and unified treatment of the broad field of English

literature. This text merits and will doubtless have a wide introduction in secondary schools. Cloth, 267 pages, price $1.50. D. Appleton and Co., New York and London.

PRACTICAL ENGLISH for New Americans, by Rose M. O'Toole. Intermediate Series. The series of which this is the second book will comprise three books and a teacher's manual. The lessons are suited to the needs of adult foreigners. They treat of subjects of immediate interest to working people, inculcate the spirit of America, and provide convenient information with regard to naturalization, the opportunities for education and recreation, and for healthful living. This intermediate book continues the work of the first series which was published last summer and which has been very favorably received. Within a few months the third book of the series will appear giving more advanced lessons in the history of our country, civics, hygiene, fundamental economic facts, and various suggestions that are applicable to all engaged in industry. The teacher's manual gives definite and detailed directions to assist the teachers of Americanization classes and shop classes so that the most satisfactory results may be secured with the minimum effort upon the part of both teacher and classes. The whole series is an outgrowth of the eminently successful experience of the author in teaching classes of adult foreigners in evening schools and in industrial plants. Cloth, illustrated, 194 pages, price 96 cents. D. C. Heath and Co., Boston, New York, Chicago.

EFFECTIVE ENGLISH EXPRESSION, a High School Text on Oral and Written Composition, by Edward Harlan Webster, head of the department of English, the Technical high school, and director of English, junior high schools, Springfield, Mass. Effective English Expres

sion is planned to appeal to the interests of pupils who have reached an age at which they can appreciate that the use of vital language is an important factor in the attaining of everyday aims and purposes. The book, therefore, stresses purposeful thinking and doing, and demands of each pupil a careful planning of every project. For such purposeful activity, the author has included exercises dealing with subjects which he has found to be of interest to young people in and out of school. Careful attention has been given to oral composition. Fully one-half of the book is designed to develop speaking ability. Written composition is emphasized in connection with every principle of expression developed. Many pages are devoted to business correspondence, because training in letter writing is essential to boys and girls. This book is essentially a practice manual containing over 300 exercises which provide ample drill in both oral and written compositions. This volume should prove a satisfactory text in grades 7-8 and junior high schools. Cloth, 323 pages, price $1.36. Newson and Company, New York and Chicago.

A FIRST BOOK IN ALGEBRA, Two Book Series, by Fletcher Durell, Ph. D., head of mathematical department, the Lawrenceville School, and E. E. Arnold, M. A., supervising principal, the public schools of the Pelhams, New York. This book has been written to meet the changes in high school work which have developed in recent years. For instance, most pupils now entering high school are younger and more immature than such pupils were even a decade ago. A majority of them also study only first year algebra and do not take the more book presents in current idiomatic Spanish of moderate difficulty a rather advanced course. Hence, a demand has arisen that the first year's work in al

gebra be simplified and made as directly practical as possible. The outstanding features of this book are as follows: A simplification of subject matter, increased and systematic use of the graph, increased use of the formula, improved treatment of written problems, large amount of oral exercises, work in the use of algebraic language and an organization of the chapters into parts I and II. The transition from arithmetic to algebra is made in a natural and illuminating way. . This book will make an ideal text for classes beginning the study of algebra in high schools. Cloth, 325 pages, price $1.40.

A SECOND BOOK IN ALGEBRA, by the same authors. This volume contains a second course in algebra adapted to the latter part of the high school curriculum. The book is divided into two parts, part one being meant for use in such classes as give only a half year to the second course in algebra, while the entire volume is to be used by classes giving a whole year to the second course. In half year classes, part two will constitute a reservoir of extra work for bright pupils. The features which characterize the authors' first book in algebra are continued and developed. Extensive use is made of verbal problems. Throughout the book, pivotal and permanently valuable numbers, facts and laws from other branches of study are introduced in various ways. This gives a correlation of algebra with geography, history, economics, and other school studies. The self-activity of the pupil is aroused and developed by examples which require him to invent and solve problems to meet given sets of conditions. This new algebra text presents a complete, well rounded course in intermediate algebra which prepares for college examinations. Cloth, 330 pages, price $1.48. Charles E. Merrill Co., New York and Chicago.