PREFACE

The transition from the Second to the Third Reader should be simply the turning of a leaf. The child's mind yet finds its greatest pleasure in the realm of fancy. It follows that the reading matter in the first part of the Third Reader, like that in the last part of the Second, should furnish fairy and folk tales for his imagination to play upon. These will gradually yield to stories of real life in which animals, sports, and adventure play leading parts. This, the line of the child's natural development and interest, is the plan of the Easy Road to Reading Third Reader. In the early part of the book are fairy tales akin to those the child has enjoyed in the preceding book, differing only in having a gradually extended vocabulary. Following these are folk tales of many lands, the connecting link between fancy and fact. Afterward are introduced stories of children, of adventure, of animals, of games, all subjects in which the child has a native interest, no attempt being made to present reading matter which furnishes information only.

The selections have been largely made from books which the child may read for himself. This is purposeful - the object being to induce the habit of reading. No more helpful thing can be done for the child's intellectual development than this. No greater testimonial can be given a reader of this kind than the request from a child to a librarian, "I want such and such a book. I read part of it in my reader."

The definitions given in connection with the lessons help to clarify words and phrases. An occasional explanatory note serves to introduce some selection or make clear some allusion, thus minimizing the work of the teacher, who may or may not have suitable reference books at hand.

The pupil of the third grade is not too old to be strongly attracted by beautiful pictures in color. The plan of this book involves the use of many illustrations in color. As in the earlier

books of the Easy Road to Reading series, these illustrations are planned to illuminate the reading matter, as well as to embellish the book most attractively. It is believed that they will vastly increase the pupils' natural interest in the lively stories herein presented.

The publishers of this reader desire to extend thanks for permission to use certain copyrighted selections and to give credit for these selections: To Ginn and Company for "Iagoo, the Great Story Teller," from Wigwam Stories, by Mary Catherine Judd; "Iktomi and the Ducks," from Old Indian Legends, by Zitkala-Sä; and "The Wooden Marionette," from Pinocchio, by C. Collodi. To G. P. Putnam's Sons, of New York and London, for "Christmas Eve," from The Lights of Childland, by Maud Ballington Booth; and the "Boyhood of Siegfried," from Siegfried and Beowulf by Zenaïde A. Ragozin. To Doubleday, Page & Co. for "A Race on Skis," from From Cattle Ranch to College by Russell Doubleday. To Moffatt, Yard & Co. for "Two Elephant Stories," from Wild Animal Celebrities, by Ellen Velvin. To Florence Morse Kingsley for "A Swarm of Bees," from Wings and Fetters, published by Grossett & Dunlap. To the Penn Publishing Company for "Pieter's Race," from The Boer Boy of the Transvaal, by August Niemann. To A. C. McClurg & Co. for the selection from Bernardo and Laurette by Marguerite Bouvet. To Lothrop, Lee, and Shepard Co. for "The Old Cocked Hat," from The Watchfires of '76, by Samuel Adams Drake; and to Henry Holcomb Bennett for his poem "The Flag Goes By."

The selections from the works of Lucy Larcom, Frank Dempster Sherman, and Nathaniel Hawthorne are used by permission of and by special arrangement with Houghton, Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of their works.

USE OF THE DICTIONARY

The phonic work as outlined in the Teachers' Manual for the first three books of this series not only serves to make the child self-helpful in pronouncing new words but is also preparatory to the use of the dictionary in looking up pronunciation. use the dictionary for definitions, in this grade.

Do not

As the dictionary is strictly alphabetical in its arrangement, the first requisite to its ready use is to know the letters of the alphabet in their order. It is not sufficient that the pupil be able to recite the alphabet. He may do this and yet not know readily whether h comes before or after i, whether w or u or v comes first, and the like. Much practice should be given on this work to make the pupil's knowledge quickly available.

This should be followed by requiring the arrangement of many lists of words in their alphabetical order as regards their first letters only, care being taken to give in each list no two words beginning with the same letter. It is as much as the pupil can do at this stage of his progress to watch the first letter.

The next step is the ready finding of the groups of words in the dictionary found under each letter; e. g., the pupils quickly open the dictionary to the R's, to the F's, and so forth. This should be practiced sufficiently to eliminate unnecessary thumbing of the dictionary and consequent waste of time and energy in turning to the first letter of words.

The succeeding step involves the arranging of words alphabetically, when the first letter is the same and the second different; e.g., fast, feet, fit, form, further. This in turn should be followed by the rapid finding of such lists in the dictionary. Competitive tests may be arranged with time used as the determining factor of success.

This work should be extended to the third and succeeding letters, and practice given, until the pupil becomes alert and rapid in finding words in the dictionary.