Recommended Books from Young Years Library: Mother's Guide to Children's Reading by Rachele Thomas, Parents' Magazine's Press, 1963. {LOC 63-15865}
Young Years Library was a five or 10-volume anthology of reading material for children. The product evolved over the years, but generally it was sold direct to parents who wanted to provide an educational or literary advantage to their children. Many of the great children's librarians of the day were involved, including the pioneering Augusta Braxton Baxter. My copy, published in 1963, includes a 72-page list of recommended books for various ages and stages. To my eye, many of these books have long since been forgotten, not least because of the revolution in children's literature that took place following the publication that year of Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. I'll be transcribing the sections of the Mother's Guide to Children's Reading reading list, one by one, in hopes of providing a starting point for modern mamas looking to explore more unusual, likely out-of-print book suggestions, beyond those usually included in generally available contemporary reading prescriptions. Copyright, of course, remains with Home Library Press.
AMERICAN HISTORY
For the Youngest
And There Was America, by Roger Duvoisin, illustrated by the author. Knopf.
Pictures and simple text tell the story
of the discovery of America.
Land of the Free, by Enid L. Meadowcroft, illustrated by Lee Ames. Crowell.
American history nicely simplified in
the form of episodes understandable to young people.
The Thanksgiving Story, by Alice Dalgliesh, illustrated by Helen Sewell. Scribner.
A Pilgrim family sails to the New
World, participates in the founding of Plymouth, and celebrates the
first Thanksgiving. A holiday companion book by the same author:
The Fourth of July Story
The Fourth of July Story
For the Nine-to-Twelve-Year-Olds
Abraham Lincoln, by Ingri and Edgar P. d'Aulaire, illustrated by the authors. Doubleday.
A moving story of Abe Lincoln's life,
beginning with his boyhood. A Caldecott Medal winner. Other excellent
biographies by the d'Aulaires of illustrious men and women in
American history:
Buffalo Bill
Columbus
George Washington
Pocahontas
Benjamin Franklin
America: A History for Peter, by Gerald
W. Johnson, illustrated by Leonard Fisher. Morrow. American history
in a brilliant trilogy:
America Is Born
America Is Born
America Begins: The Story of the Finding of the New World, by Alice Dalgliesh,
illustrated by Lois Maloy. Scribner.
A fine introduction to early American
history.
Childhood of Famous Americans Series.
Bobbs.
This series consists of fictionalized
biographies of the important episodes in the childhood of outstanding
Americans. The more popular books in the series are:
Dan Beard: Boy Scout, by Miriam E. Mason
Dan Beard: Boy Scout, by Miriam E. Mason
Buffalo Bill: Boy of the Plains, by
Augusta Stevenson
Daniel Boone: Boy Hunter, by Augusta
Stevenson
Kit Carson: Boy Trapper, by Augusta
Stevenson
George Carver: Boy Scientist, by
Augusta Stevenson
Tom Edison: Boy Inventor, by Sue
Guthridge
Henry Ford: Boy With Ideas, by Hazel
B. Aird and Catherine Ruddiman
Nathan Hale: Puritan Boy, by Augusta
Stevenson
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: Boy of
Justice, by Montrew Dunham
Cyrus McCormick: Farmer Boy, by
Lavinia Dobler
James Monroe: Good Neighbor Boy, by
Mabel C. Widemer
Paul Revere: Boy of Old Boston, by
Augusta Stevenson
Pocahontas: Brave Girl, by Flora W.
Seymour
Sacagawea: Bird Girl, by Flora W.
Seymour
Sitting Bull: Dakota Boy, by Augusta
Stevenson
Booker T. Washington: Ambitious Boy,
by Augusta Stevenson
Wilbur and Orville Wright: Boys With
Wings, by Augusta Stevenson
The Columbus Story, by Alice Dalgliesh,
illustrated by Leo Politi. Scribner.
A good biography of the great explorer.
Daniel Boone, by James Daugherty.
Viking.
Stirring biography full of hair-raising
adventures.
Frontier Living: An Illustrated Guide to Pioneer Life in America, by Edwin Tunis.
World.
Life as it was lived on the American frontier. Other good historical portrayals by the same author:
Life as it was lived on the American frontier. Other good historical portrayals by the same author:
Indians
George Washington: An Initial Biography, by Genevieve Foster, illustrated by the author. Scribner.
The first of an excellent series of
initial biographies of American Presidents. Others are:
Authentic facts about the Indian tribes
whose territory centered in the State of New York, imaginatively
presented. Others in the Indian tribe series by Sonia Bleeker:
Minutemen of the Sea, by Tom Cluff, illustrated by Tom O'Sullivan. Follett.
Five days before the battle
of Bunker Hill, a British ship was captured of the coast of Maine by
the townspeople of Machias. And thus was the first blow struck for
American liberty upon the sea. This is the story of a little-known
event in the early days of the American Revolution.
A remarkable biography for
young people of a very remarkable man. Other fine biographies of
illustrious Americans by the same author.
Story of the Presidents of the United States of America, by Maud and Miska Petersham, illustrated by the authors. Macmillan.
Excellent biographical
accounts of the political leaders of our country.
Story of the Totem Pole, by Ruth Brindze, illustrated by Yeffe Kimball. Vanguard.
The fascinating symbolism
and history of the totem poles of the North American Indians.
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