WEST VIRGINIA PUPILS' READING CIRCLE STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Division of Rukal Schools CHARLESTON A Child’s First Reader Dear little girl, this little book Is less a primer than a key To sunder gates where wonder waits Your “open sesame.” These tiny syllables look large: j They’ll fret your wide bewildered eyes But “Is the cat upon the mat?” A passport to the skies? For, yet a while, and you shall turn, From Mother Goose to Avon’s swan; From Mary’s lamb to grim Khayyam; And Mancha’s mad- wise Don. You’ll writhe at Jean Yaljean’s disgrace And D’Artagnan and Ivanhoe Shall steal your sleep ; and you shall weep At Sidney Carson’s woe. Make haste to wander these old roads, 0 envied little parvenue; For all things trite shall leap alight And bloom again for you. — Rupert Hughes. VEST VIRGINIA PUPILS READING CIRCLE Founded Oct. 21, 1922 A Course in Reading, which includes ome of the best books for West Virginia oys and girls, designated for the Elemen- ary Schools of the State. Sponsors Thos. C. Miller, Fairmont Honorary President Waitman Barbe, Morgantown Myria M. Nefflen, Keyser Ruth Johnston French, Bluefield John H. Gorby, New Martinsville Forrest Barnhart, Ripley Orval P. Hill, Harrisville H. C. McKinley, Gary C. L. Heater, Gassaway J. D. Muldoon, Secretary Charleston t Book a Day Will Keep Gloom Away West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle The Purpose of the West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle First — To select groups of books suitable in content and language for the sixth, seventh and eighth grades of our elemen- tary schools. Second — To assist in arousing an inter- est in the reading of good books by West Virginia boys and girls. Third — To help teachers in making selections for the schools. Fourth — To encourage the ownership of books and the formation of a personal library. Fifth — To cultivate a taste for good literature. Sixth— To keep in touch with the great, active busy life in which we live. The Bible — The Best Book 4 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Every Student from the elementary school through the university should learn to use and appreciate books and libraries, not only that he may study to advantage in school, but also that he may continue through adult life to benefit from the resources of libraries. “0 for a book and a shady nook, Either indoors or out ; With the green leaves whispering overhead, Or the street cries all about, Where I may read all at my ease, Both of the new and old For a jolly good book whereon to look Is better to me than gold. ” The first time I read an excellent book, it is to me just as if I had found a new friend; when I read over a book I have perused before, it resembles the meeting with an old one. — Goldsmith. Boohs Are Living Voices o West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle The Ownership of Books Waitman Barbe To own one good book is to have made a good start in life; to own ten is to be on the fair road to riches. But rightly to own a book means much more than to be able to say that it is your property, as you might say of a sled or of a colt. To own a book is to have read it so under- standingly and so lovingly that what it contains becomes yours even much more truly than the binding and the paper of which it is made are yours. Through this kind of ownership it becomes a part of you. Every book you make your own in this way adds to your mental and moral stature. Such possession adds also to the happi- ness of life, for there is no joy like the joy of growth. Every book rightly read, and thus rightly owned, opens to the reader a little wider the doors of the world, with all the wonders that it holds and all its delights. Young People Should Be Encouraged to Buy Boohs 6 West Virginia Pupils* Reading Circle How to Get Books Thos. C. Miller "Books! books!! books !!!” was the cry of the schoolmaster of former times as he stood in the doorway and rapped on the side of the schoolhonse with his ample rod. Today the cry is the same, but with a dif- ferent meaning as it comes from the boys and girls in our schools who want books. They have learned how to read, now they need to know what to read. To this end a library should be formed in every schoolhouse, and all our youth should be encouraged early to begin collecting books for an individual or private library. Here the teacher has a great opportunity and she should rejoice in the privilege of directing the reading of her pupils as in this way character is formed. A good way to start an individual library is for a pupil to keep some of his best text books. They will make a good 4 nest egg” and bring back many pleasant memories. I have two such old books and would not like to part with them. 1 Books a Year — 12 Books in 3 Years 7 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Ask Dr. Barbe what he will take for his “old black book.” Most boys and girls have a little money of their own from time to time, and if properly used a book may be purchased now and then. Farm boys often catch fur-bearing animals and sell the skins ; girls raise chickens and sell eggs, and in various ways a thrifty boy or girl will find the means to purchase books and maga- zines. When a small boy, Horace Mann, the great educational leader, cut up corn four days to pay for a book, and the writer worked hard in a brickyard for three days to get money to buy Franklin’s Autobiography which at that time, during the Civil War, cost $1.78, postage and all. But he never made a better investment. Books are much cheaper now and the two official schoolbook agencies in this State will supply books at prices lower than the publishers give at retail. These agencies are the James & Law Company at Clarks- burg and the S. Spencer Moore Company at Charleston. The Reading Habit Must Be Formed in the Elementary School 8 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle A book is a friend; a book is a good friend. It will talk to yon when you want it to talk, and it will keep still when you want it to keep still — and there are not many friends who know enough to do that. A library is a collection of friends . — Lyman Abbott. Except a living man, there is nothing more wonderful than a book. A message to us from the dead, from human souls whom we never saw, who lived perhaps thousands of miles away; and yet these, on those little sheets of paper, speak to us, amuse us, vivify us, comfort us, open their hearts to us as brothers. — Kingsley. i 9 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Why I Read Books Annie P. Cubbege There was once a little girl who lived in a big, big house with many rooms and many servants, but there was no one to really love her and no one to play with, so she wasn’t very happy. But one day she heard the servants speak of a won- derful secret garden that was walled up and hidden, and no one could go in it because the key had been thrown away. Oh, how she wanted to see in that garden ! And then one day, what do you think, a robin showed her the key! She knew it must be if she could only find the door. And that very same robin showed her the door in the wall, and covered up with ivy and roses, and she went into the secret garden, and — . But I really mustn’t tell you any more. They have only given me a very snmll space to write to you and I’ll have to let you read all about it yourself in the book. It’s the very nicest book called “The Secret Garden,” by Frances Bead to Live, Not Live to Bead 10 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Hodgson Burnett. Don’t you just want to find out what was in that garden? Now let me tell you that there is a secret garden waiting for each one of you ; a garden full of wonderful people and things and you’re going to be shown just where this garden is and how to find it. In it there is a great, dark winding cave where Tom and Becky found a treasure, and there is a palace in a queer land where a little lame boy was the king. There is a terrible jungle full of beasts but if you were with Mougli, the little man-cub, they would not hurt you because they were his friends and he could talk their language. There are many treasures in that garden for you older boys and girls, also, and many lovely friends to make who will stay with you all your lives. What boy would not love to be the friend of Huck Finn and float down the great Mississippi River on a raft with him? Who would Intelligent Reading — the Basis of an Education 11 West Virginia Pupils’ Heading Circle not like to have the Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come and his dog Jack for friends? Would not you girls like to know Anne of Green Gables and the Girl of the Limberlost, and dear little Heidi in the Alps? Then there is the thrilling chariot race when Ben Hur drove the beautiful Arab horses to victory ; and there is the old parrot in Treasure Island, who knew all about the buried “Pieces of Eight, ” and so many more that I cannot tell you about all of them. But there is a plan by which yon may have all these for your own friends and at the same time earn more school credits. Your teacher will tell you about it, and I hope that yon will write to me soon and tell me what you think of it. I found that secret garden when I was a very little girl and the friends and the treasures I found in it have been with me all my life. I want you to have them, also. The Library — the People’s Continuation School, Extension Department and University 12 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Preliminary Report of West Virginia Pupils' Reading Circle See other side of this for blank upon which to make report to the Secretary of the West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle, State Department of Education, Charles- ton — the reading begun as soon as the Circle is organized and well started. Books to be read should be chosen from list found in this bulletin. Boohs Are the Legacies That a Great Genius Leaves 13 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Preliminary Report of the West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle (To Be Sent When Circle Is Organized.) County , West Virginia, , 19 To , Secretary, Charleston, West Virginia. Dear : The following pupils in School have begun reading under the auspices of the West Virginia Pupils ’ Reading Circle : NAME GRADE Remarks: Very truly yours, 14 , Teacher. West Virginia Pupils' Reading Circle Final Report of Work Done in the West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle See other side for blank upon which to make final report of the reading completed in the West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle with recommendations for honors. This report to be sent to your County Superintendent with reports of pupils on books read. Reading Makes Life Fuller and Richer 15 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Final Report of West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle To Dear , West Virginia, , 19 , Co. Supt. West Virginia. I am pleased to report the following list of names of pupils in School who have com- pleted the work indicated and are entitled to the marks of distinction indicated opposite their respective names : NAME HONORS 16 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Total number of books read. Remarks : Very truly yours, 17 , Teacher. West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Sixth Grade Reading 1. Rab and His Friends— Brown-Heath. 2. Little Men— Alcott — Little Brown & Co. 3' Little Women — Alcott — Little Brown & Co. 4. Tanglewood Tales — Hawthorne 5. A Boy’s Town — W. I). Howells. 6. The Man Without a Country — Hale — Ginn. 7. Four Great Americans — Baldwin. 8. Black Beauty— Sewell. 9. Indian Hero Tales — Cornyn— Little Brown & Co. 10. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — Carroll — Ginn. 11. King of the Golden River — Ruskin — Ginn. 12. Hoosier School Boy— Eggleston. 13. Scouting' for Light Horse Harry — True — Little Brown & Co. 14. Our Winter Birds — D. Appleton & Co. •15 Japanese Fairy Tales — Hearn— Boni & Liveright. 10. Les Miserable®- -Adapted by Lee — Boni & Live- right. Seventh Grade Reading 1. Abraham Lincoln for Boys and Girls — Moore- Mifflin. 2. Heroes of Aviation — Droggs — Little Brown & Co. 3. Biography of a Grizzly — Seton. 4. Rebecca of the Sunny Brook Farm — Wiggin — Mifflin. 5. The Story of My Life — teller. 0. Heidi — Spyri — Ginn. 7. Hellenic Tales— Youth's Companion Series — Ginn. 18 West Virginia Pupils' Reading Circle 8. The Spy — Cooper— Ginn. 9. The Bird Book — Eckstrom— Heath. 10. A Group of Famous Women — Horton— Heath. 11. Famous Dogs in Fiction— McSpadden— Crowell. 12. The Light Bringers — Wade — Little Brown & Co. 13. Boyhood of Abraham Lincoln — Gore — Merrill. 14. Camping for Boys — Gilse. 15. Swiss Family Robinson— Wyss — Ginn. 16. Boy’s Life of Theodore Roosevelt — Hagedorn— Harper. 1 7. Tom Sawyer — Mark Twain — Harper. 18. Rick and Ruddy — Garic — Milton Bradley Co. Eighth Grade Reading 1. Rick and Ruddy Afloat — Garic— Milton Bradley Co. 2. Pilgrims of Today— Wade — Little Brown & Co. 3. Robinson Crusoe — Defoe — Heath. 4. The Story of a Thousand Year Pine — Mills — Mifflin. 5. Treasure Island — Stevenson — Ginn. 6. The Story of the Other Wise Man— Van Dyke. 7. Ramona — Jackson — Little Brown & Co. 8. From Trail to Railway Through the Appalachians — B rig gham— Ginn. 9 Some Successful Americans — Williams— Ginn. 10. Bird Book for Children — Burgess — Little Brown & Co. 11. Her Father’s Daughter — Porter. 12. Freckles— Porter. 13. Men of Iron — Pyle. 14. David Copperfield — Dickens — Ginn. 15. Jungle Book — Kipling. 16. John Halifax, Gentleman — Miss Murdock. 17. Ancient Man- — Van Loon — Boni & Liverigbt. 19 West Virginia Pupils * Reading Circle Honors — For Pupils The reading of four books as a year’s work will entitle the pupil to a Diploma. For each subsequent year’s reading a seal will be affixed to the Diploma already earned. Special honor seals will be granted if eight books are read in any list in a school year, and if books read are owned by the reader. Additional credit in reading should be given by teachers to pupils earning honors. For Teachers A Certificate for the school which enrolls 100 %. A Coupon of Credit to teachers with 100% enrollment of 6th, 7th and 8th grades who finish the reading in any one year, provided as many as six pupils earn honors, and the Reading Circle is a County Project under B-5 Coupon of Credit Classification. 20 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Number of Circles for School Years 1923-1924 and 1924-1925 County 1923-24 1924-25 Circles Circles Barbour Berkeley Boone Braxton Brooke Cabell Calhoun __ Clay Doddridge Fayette Gilmer Grant Greenbrier Hampshire Hancock Hardy Harrison .Tackson Jefferson Kanawha _ Lewis Lincoln Logan Marion Marshall __ Mason Mercer Mineral Mingo Monongalia Monroe Morgan McDowell - Nicholas .... Ohio Pendleton _ Pleasants _ Pocahontas Preston Putnam Raleigh Randolph _ Ritchie Roane Summers 29 15 19 29 5 4 3 8 1 3 18 17 11 2 3 9 14 33 23 41 6 18 1 6 5 16 13 31 1 6 20 1 35 29 99 10 85 0 11 7 16 21 16 1 3 1 5 31 34 55 '64 16 27 22 137 16 36 o 10 42 17 2 9 4 13 4 41 2 4 5 4 2 8 18 25 17 47 5 8 13 24 2 29 32 73 91 115 1 15 3 32 21 West Virginia Pupils’ Reading Circle Taylor Tucker Tyler Upshur _ Wayne _ Webster . Wetzel Wirt Wood Wyoming 10 10 2 6 25 16 2 29 6 1 1 6 21 54 3 4 2 24 3 23 Total 700 1,438 Where to Get the Books The following firms or book stores have indicated their willingness to co-operate in securing the books prescribed in this bulletin and at their request their names are attached. James & Law, Clarksburg. S. Spencer Moore Co., Charleston. Stewarts’ Inc., Huntington. Harry P. Neptune Co., Fairmont. In our next issue of the Bulletin we will gladly add names to the above as requested. 22 A Lib rary for Every School “In the past we have thought relatively too much about teaching people how to read and not enough about getting them to read after they learn how. “To develop the ‘reading habit ’ in each pupil should be one of the chief aims of every teacher. Train any child so he likes to read, so he is a real book lover, and he will educate himself if he never goes to school another day. Moreover, if a school has a good library it should aid greatly in educating the older people whose school days are over, but whose learning days should never be over. The saying of Thomas Carlyle, ‘The true university of these days is a collection of books/ cannot be too often repeated.’ ’ 2 06 920515