Chapter I: Preface

This book had its origin in several years of experience and experiment in teaching classes in literature in the Laboratory School of the University of Chicago, when that fruitful venture in education was being conducted by Professor John Dewey; in many years of private reading with children; and in many years of lecturing to teachers of children. Indeed, all the material bears the unconcealable marks of its origin as lectures, it being extremely difficult to turn into decorous chapters in a book, stuff which first took shape as spontaneous and informal lectures.

The central matter of the book was published as a series of articles in the _Elementary School Teacher_ of October, November, and December, 1902, and a synopsis of the whole book was printed and widely circulated in January, 1904. These facts may partially account for a certain familiarity that many readers will perceive. May I venture to hope that this sense of familiarity may also be partly accounted for by the fact that the views expressed are consonant with those arrived at independently by many recent students of literature and of children?

Were it not a matter of mere justice, this would be scarcely the place to mention my debt of many kinds to Professor W. D. MacClintock of the University of Chicago; the incalculable value of Professor Dewey's influence and sympathy; and the unforgettable stimulation of Mrs. Dewey's criticism. Neither is it more than justice to express my gratitude for the patience of my publishers, which has endured both much and long.

P. L. M.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO June, 1907

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. LITERATURE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 1

II. THE SERVICES WE MAY EXPECT LITERATURE
TO RENDER IN THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN 16

III. THE KINDS OF LITERATURE AND THE ELEMENTS OF
LITERATURE SERVICEABLE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 38

IV. STORY 55

V. THE CHOICE OF STORIES 77

VI. FOLK-TALE AND FAIRY-STORY 92

VII. MYTH AS LITERATURE 113

VIII. HERO-TALES AND ROMANCES 131

IX. REALISTIC STORIES 156

X. NATURE AND ANIMAL STORIES 170

XI. SYMBOLISTIC STORIES, FABLES, AND OTHER APOLOGUES 183

XII. POETRY 193

XIII. DRAMA 212

XIV. THE PRESENTATION OF THE LITERATURE 229

XV. THE RETURN FROM THE CHILDREN 242

XVI. THE CORRELATIONS OF LITERATURE 259

XVII. LITERATURE OUT OF SCHOOL AND READING
OTHER THAN LITERATURE 277

XVIII. A COURSE IN LITERATURE FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL 292