OUR LITTLE ONES AND THE NURSERY. OUR LITTLE ONES AND THE NURSERY. Vol. IV. Edited by William T. Adams (Oliver Optic). With 349 illustrations. 4to. Sold by John Wanamaker, boards, $1.10; cloth, $1.50. THE NURSERY. N. With nearly two hundred illustrations. 4to. Sold by John Wanamaker, boards, 85 cents. Nothing affords stronger evidence of the great amount of attention devoted to providing reading especially for children than the quality and number of the peri LITTLE CHICKS AND BABY TRICKS. LITTLE CHICKS AND BABY TRICKS. By Ida Waugh. Illustrated in colors. 4to. Sold by John Wanamaker, boards, $1.00. In this pretty book Baby is at his best, -good-natured, affectionate, or entering with zest and seriousness, with his brothers and sisters, into his legitimate occupation, play. One exception is allowed him when he is held fast to be sketched; but for sending up sounds of woe while in this situation, his maturer friends, who have sat for portraits, probably will have a lively sympathy for him. The coloring to the spirited illustrations is particularly successful, being bright enough to satisfy the gay taste of small people, and at the same time so well harmonized as to appear neither glaring nor crude. Of the verses an obvious defect is that the type used is entirely too small for the purpose, though in other respects they are all that could be desired as accompaniments to the pictures. serves a place at once as a general favorite. It is adapted to the very little ones who must be read to, as well as to those accomplished in the art of easy reading, and has a special charm of variety in the subjects of the stories. The animal kingdom generally is treated-birds, beasts, fishes, and insects. Wild animals of far-off lands, the useful domestic animals, and all sorts of pets come in for a share of notice in amusing BULLFROG. dunk,' when down came your stone, upset the children, stirred up the mud, and brought out all the fish in the pond to see what was the matter. My wife was giving a whistling-lesson, too, and the From Four Feet, Two Feet, and No Feet. anecdotes, bits of natural history, and fables, with or without morals. The book is well inade and well printed, with a gay cover. THROUGH THE MEADOWS. THROUGH THE MEADOWS. By Fred. E. Weatherly. Illustrated by M. E. Edwards. Vignettes by J. C. Staples. Sold by 4to. John Wanamaker, boards, $1.35. Another volume of verses for young people, by Fred. E. Weatherly, is published, entitled Through the Meadows. Like its predecessors, it is a small quarto of about seven by nine inches. On sixtyfour pages, with yellow edges, and enclosed in a handsome cover, it contains the poems of the gracious singer, illustrations by M. E. Edwards, and Vignettes by J. C. Staples. The latter are particularly modest and fine, the illustrations are rich, and the really exquisite make-up of the book is a suitable setting for Mr Weatherly's verses. A prettier or better book it would be hard to find for young ladies or gentlemen of almost any age. As usual, the poet is fanciful, pathetic, gay, devout, or mildly moralizing, as the case may be. Beacon. THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO. THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO. For Boys and Girls, With explanatory notes and comments. By Thomas W. Knox. Fully illustrated. 4to. Sold by John Wanamaker, cloth, $2.25. The author of The Boy Travellers in the Far East has taken the greatest care in preparing this volume to adapt it for the youthful reader. "He has followed as closely as possible the original texts; has retained many pages entirely unchanged, and the boys and girls who read the book may imagine that they are listening to the famous Venetian as he dictates his story to his fellow-captive in the gloomy prison of Genoa. Where the narrative is tedious, as in the story of the Tartar wars, it has been abridged, and where the accounts of manners and customs are not in harmony with the taste of our times they have been omitted." Colonel Henry Yule's admirable edition of The Book of Sir Marco Polo has been the basis of the present volume; his notes have been freely used, and many of the illustrations from his work reproduced. The various chapters are supposed to be read before the Young Folks' Reading and Geographical Society, the members of which, by their criticisms and inquiries, draw forth the various explanatory notes. Publishers' Weekly. THE BABY IN THE LIBRARY. Within these solemn, book-lined walls, Did mortal ever see A critic so unprejudiced, So full of mirthful glee? Just watch her at that lower shelf; See, there she's thumped her nose Against the place where Webster stands In dignified repose. Such heavy books she scorns; and she Considers Vapereau, And Beeton, too, though full of life, Quite stupid, dull and slow. She wants to take a higher flight, And on her mother's arm at length She gains a higher shelf. But, oh! what liberties she takes With those grave, learned men; Historians, and scientists, And even "Rare old Ben!" At times she takes a spiteful turn, And, when her wrath is fully roused It almost looks as if she'd like To take Macaulay's Life. Again, in sympathetic mood, She gayly smiles at Gay, And punches Punch, and frowns at Sterre In quite a dreadful way. In vain the Sermons shake their heads; She does not care for these, But catches, with intense delight, At all the Tales she sees. Where authors chance to meet her views, Just praise they never lack; To comfort and encourage them, She pats them on the back. Edward D. Anderson, in Wide Awak. Dear-My-Soul.-From Fairy Tales from Brentano. FAIRY TALES FROM BRENTANO. FAIRY TALES FROM BRENTANO. Told in English by Kate Freiligrath Kroeken, and pictured by F. Carruthers Gould. Small 4to. Sold by John Wanamaker, boards, 85 cents; cloth, $1.25. We know not whether it is a mere accident or whether it indicates the growing transition from fancy and imagination to facts and science, but the only book of fairy tales before us is Fairy Tales from Brentano. There is invention, fancy, grace in each of these tales. They are full of the magic and mystery and humorous play which are essential to the true fairy tale, they are certainly delicate and refined in style. Brentano was a true poet, and every page of this volume tells it. The illustrations are delicate, quaint and fanciful, and go well with the text. The introductory sketch, with a short biography of Brentano, is excellent, and well prepares the reader for what is to come. British Quarterly Review. YOUNG FOLKS' QUERIES. YOUNG FOLKS' QUERIES. A story by Uncle Lawrence. 4to. Sold by John Wanamaker, cloth, $1.35. Young Folks' Queries is the third of a series adapted from the French and intended to convey a variety of information in the easiest and most conversational of ways. The incidents of family life supply the occasions for the Queries, which are answered fully and familiarly by interested friends of the fortunate children, while little ventures in experimental knowledge are made by the children themselves. The book is substantially bound in cloth, fully illustrated, and well printed. BATTLE LYRICS. THE BOYS' BOOK OF BATTLE LYRICS. By Thomas Dunn English, M. D., LL.D. With Historical Notes, and numerous Engravings of Persons, Scenes and Places. Square 8vo. Sold by John Wanamaker, illuminated cloth, $1.50. It is not a very high order of poetry which is illustrated in Dr. Thomas Dunn English's new book of lyrical compositions, but certainly no feeling for the and From Young Folks' Queries. forms of rhythm of rhyme or accent is slighted, and the pages are full of spirited movement, so that the adult reader will readily forgive the writer if he sometimes seems to have produced only versified prose; and the boys, for whom his work is intended, will never stop to be critical of his manner, as he tells them lively tales of valor and success. The handsomely printed quarto bears up bravely under a vast title: The Boys' Book of Battle Lyrics; a Collection of Verses Illustrating some Notable Events in the History of the United States of America, from the Colonial Period to the Outbreak of the Sectional War: with Historical Notes, and numerous Engravings of Persons, Scenes, and Places. The author's plan has platform. The idea is excellent, for in this way many important events of the revolutionary period will be fixed in the mind as no prose history could fix them. The illustrations are very good, and include maps, portraits, sketches, and imaginative groups. Beacon. ST. NICHOLAS. ST. NICHOLAS for 1885. 4to. Sold by John Wanamaker, cloth, 2 volumes, $3.50. Sold separately, each, $1.75. St. Nicholas is too well known to need a general description. We have not heard the young folks' verdict on the volume just completed; but all we can say is, that if it be inferior to any preceding volume, we should like to see such a wonder of a On our Chieftain speeded, rallied quick the fleeing forces.-From the Boys' Book of Battle Lyrics. been to cast these "metrical narratives," as he calls them, in the first person, and to give the supposed speaker, as far as possible, the temper and tone of a participant in the events described, or an observer of them. Each story is prefaced by such an introduction as will make the reader understand what is the historical place of the circumstance chronicled, and then such a stanza is chosen as may suit the feeling of the occasion. In both these particulars Dr. English has been apt, and his lyrics are very readable, although most of them are too long to suit the declamation book as that other one must be. The illustrations are so good that they suggest the careful work of the grown-up magazine of the Century Company. A criticism of a former day on the sensational element pervading some of its stories would apply with much less force, if at all, to the two volumes closing 1885. The Agassiz Association reports a flourishing condition, the pleasant variety of instruction in general knowledge crops out here and there, and each month there is space for fun and frolic, and a page in large print for the babies. |