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Show Books, Like Diet, Must Fit Each Particular Child's Need i Whet books ere best for children? It's no wonder perents are pinded, with so meny hinds to cheese from. Now Olive Roberts Barton, The Teleerem'l NLA Service child treinine eipert, provides the answer in a series of three special articles, of which the following is tha first. She does not nema titles, but indlcetes the sort of books thet will most likely benefit certein types of children. By OLIVE rfbBERTS BARTON "What is the best book you have for a child of six?" aski the lady at the counter. . ' The salesgirl has ready answer. "Why, here is a brand new one bv So-and-So. It is delightful." Bonnie's mother may aa well have; said to the grocer, "What have you that is good to eat for a little girl of ?" Because he won't know about her akin trouble and the careful diet tha doctor haa prescribed. Or that she ia allergic to a certain element that causes hives. Tha young woman at the atore may know all there is to know short stories about other children; lively adventures in which Timothy I alwaya gets back home safely. Watch the moral tale. It serves a good purpose, but overfed on. it, your Georgie or your Bonnie will silently make mental reservations. It depends largely on your child himself. Never read anything that increases his, or her, particular fear or phobia. Don't Insist. Children are strange. about tha relative value of books, but she won't know your child, and her, or his, disposition. Thar is something some-thing that the mother will have to decide. This is the gap between buying buy-ing and selling children's books. Adults Like Amusing Ones, Toe But there is one common ground that is safe and constructive. Thia is to have plenty of amusing stories about. Writers of children's fiction have recognized this for many years. Why is it that grown-ups like to read stories aloud to little people, and later lose all interest in reading to their offspring? Because they enjoj the droll humor and the funny situations situ-ations woven into the early tales. But the child takes them seriously, you say? Yes, he does seem to. Indeed. In-deed. But inside he chuckles to himself. him-self. He feels gay and debonnaire like the little rabbit, or the bear or the pig who pretended he waa a cloud. It is good for children to laugh. They are born with a natural sense of humor that fails them all too early. And they adore the sound of words marching along in rhyme. Thia is a natural Instinct in keeping with the sense of dancing, of marching march-ing and anything done to time. Nonsense-rhymes may not make for continuous diet, but they provide tha vitamin D of early reading. When children like the "sound" of words, the gay effect of words, we have tha cornerstone of the reading habit that will build up of itself later on. You Cant Ge Far Wrong Actually, it ia almost impossible to go far wrong today, in buying books for amall people or aelecting them at libraries. The theme used by experienced writers accents the lively and tha humorous. Is it bsd for young children to read aad atories? Are they never to have any knowledge of sadness or trouble? Not sentimentally sad. No. About fact books. Are they all right? The ones on trains and air-planea air-planea and plants and trees? Absolutely Abso-lutely excellent. The child likes to learn far better than we know. And at thia age he is also interested In |