Charles H. Sylvester

Volume Four of the Journeys Through Bookland Series contains the story of Cid Compeador, the hero of Spain, biographies of Hawthorne and Longfellow, Alfred the Great by Dickens, The Death of Hector by Homer, etc. It marks a shift from stories and poems in the series, to getting the young reader to think about the authors themselves, history and historical context. There are stories from Classics, such as Ulysses from the Odyssey, The Wooden Horse from Virgil's Aeneid. It also has wonderful bits of Americana such as the story of Chevy Chase or John Bunyan. See the review of volume one for the purpose of the series.… (mehr)

Volume Two of the Journeys Through Bookland series contains poems and stories by Aesop, William Blake, the brothers Grimm, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Kingsley, John Ruskin, et. al, as well as traditional stories such as Bluebeard, small biographies of various writers, Norse legends, etc.

See review of volume one for the purpose of this series. Volume Two continues to expand on this purpose, taking the young reader up to a new level of reading. The amazing thing about this series is that it was compiled to challenge and educate, with nothing patronizing in it at all. The young reader was challenged to come up to the next level, with nothing dumbed down. Quite remarkable.… (mehr)

A remarkable and ambitious series of ten books which began, in Volume One, with nursery rhymes and juvenile literature from the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson, the brothers Grimm, Edward Lear, Hans Christian Anderson et. al, with beautiful illustrations by Lucille Enders, Iris Weddell White, Herbert Rudeen, Mildred Lyon, and more. Volume One had a standard collection of familiar nursery rhymes as well as stories geared to a young reader, including "The Hardy Tin Soldier" by Anderson, "Cinderella" adapted from Perrault, poems such as "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Field, but also included classics such as the story of Baucis and Philemon.

The whole series was designed to allow a progression in reading skills and to encourage development. Many a rainy day was spent lost in the pages of the series on the part of this once young reader. A treasure passed on to me by my parents and one which will be kept in the family - and used by subsequent generations.… (mehr)