Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year

Hour Readings: Seventh Year, by
E.C. Hartwell

Project Gutenberg's Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year, by E.C.
Hartwell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year
Author: E.C. Hartwell
Release Date: April 12, 2007 [EBook #21046]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORY
HOUR READINGS: SEVENTH YEAR ***

Produced by Joseph R. Hauser, Emmy and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

STORY HOUR READINGS
SEVENTH YEAR

BY E. C. HARTWELL, M.A., M.PD.
SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS BUFFALO, NEW YORK
Illustrations by George Varian, F. Murch, Wilfred Jones M. M.
Jamieson, and others
[Illustration]
AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY NEW YORK CINCINNATI
CHICAGO BOSTON ATLANTA

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY All rights
reserved
W. P. II
MADE IN U. S. A.

PREFACE
This reader undertakes to provide desirable material for work in silent
reading without losing sight of the other elements essential in a good
reader for pupils in the seventh grade or in the first year of the junior
high school.
One task before the teacher of Reading in this year is to foster, by
stimulating material, a taste for good reading which it is to be hoped
has at least been partially formed in the preceding grades. The
selections in this volume are made with the purpose of giving the
seventh-grade pupils such virile and enjoyable literature as will make
them desire more of the same kind. The character and fitness of the
material, not the date of its production, have governed the choice of the
editor.
ARRANGEMENT BY GROUPS. There is an obvious advantage in

grouping kindred reading materials in sections under such captions as
"Adventure," "From Great Books," "Our Country," etc. Besides
affording some elements of continuity, the plan offers opportunity for
comparison and contrast of the treatment of similar themes. It also
insures a massing of the effect of the idea for which the section stands.
Secondarily, the section divisions break up the solid text, and because
of this the pupils feel at frequent intervals that they have completed
something definite.
The groupings make no pretense to being mutually exclusive. On
occasion a selection may well be transferred to another section. For
example, the Washington and Lincoln stories should be used in the
proper season in the "Our Country" section although it is obvious that
they belong in "Special Days." Teachers should have no hesitation in
breaking across from one section to another when the occasion or the
children's interest seems to warrant.
MECHANICAL FEATURES. Editor and publisher have spared no
pains or expense to make this book attractive to children. The volume
is not cumbersome or unwieldy in size. The length of line is that of the
normal book with which they regularly will come into contact. The
type is clean-cut and legible. Finally, enough white space has been left
in the pages to give the book an "open," attractive appearance. No
single item has so much to do with children's future attitude toward
books as the appearance of their school Readers.
SOCIALIZED WORK. Opportunity for dramatization, committee work,
and other team activity is presented repeatedly throughout this volume.
Wherever the teacher can profitably get the pupils to work in groups
she should take advantage of the cooperative spirit and do so.
CITIZENSHIP. This means more than the passing phase of so-called
Americanization. It means a genuine love of country, a reverence for
our pioneer fathers, a respect for law, order, and truth. This Reader is
rich in patriotic content. It is hoped that the ethical element in the
selections will be found to be forceful as well as pleasing. The book
emphasizes throughout the importance of the individual and social
virtues. If it can help teachers to make clean, upright, and loyal citizens

of our great Republic it will not have been made in vain.
Mastery of the printed page is not the sole end and aim of Reading. It is
hoped that the devices employed in this Reader, as well as the direction
and suggestions in study materials contained in the volume, may assist
in developing a genuine love of good books.
MANUAL. Valuable assistance in dealing with the material in this
book is supplied by the Teachers' Manual, Story Hour Readings,
Seventh and Eighth Years. This Manual consists of three parts:
I. An introductory article on the Teaching of Reading, which discusses
Silent Reading (with detailed directions for speed tests), Oral Reading,
Dramatization, Appreciative Reading, Memorizing, Word Study and
Use of the Dictionary, Reading Outside of School, Use of Illustrative
Material, and Correlation.