Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
The authors and publishers desire to acknowledgetheir obligation to Mr. Nathaniel L. Berry,Supervisor of Drawing in the Public Schools ofNewton, Massachusetts, for valuable assistance inplanning and arranging the illustrations in this book.
This First Reader continues the interesting exercises of the AldinePrimer—the rhymes and stories, the dramatizations and pictures—whichmake the child’s efforts to master the art of reading bothdelightful and surprisingly successful. The content is concrete, aliveand full of action. The joys of happy childhood at play in the open—withthe birds, the animals, the flowers, the wind, the snow andthe rain—the joys of childhood’s imagination, are presented in thelanguage of childhood and from the child’s point of view. The childfinds here none of the drudgery—to him quite meaningless—sooften associated with the disagreeable task of learning how to read;the child reads from the very first page—he has been reading allthrough the Primer—reads with delight and real understanding,reads the thoughts and feels the pleasures of childhood. Hence thenot uncommon occurrence of a child’s suddenly discovering in surprisethat he has learned how to read—that he can read—that he is reading—andthat he likes to read!
But there is no magic about the Aldine method, if it can be cal