Literature in the Elementary School

The author treats literature as an art whose use in early schooling must be justified by distinctive educational services. Drawing on classroom practice and lectures, the text explains what kinds of stories, poems, and plays suit young children, surveys folk-tales, myth, hero-tales, realistic and animal stories, fables and symbolism, and offers criteria for selection and methods of presentation. Chapters emphasize active response, correlation with other subjects, reading beyond school, and practical plans including a suggested elementary literature course and classroom techniques for fostering appreciation and expressive response.