American Reader

Children's Literature - Mary Hynes-Berry

Wargrin has clearly been paging through an old-fashioned McGuffey's-like textbook as she developed this anthology of Americana for primary and middle schoolers. The collection ranges from poems, riddles and reader's theater to brief biographical or historical articles. A few selections such as "Ten Little Bunnies" or "A Nonsense Poem" are more the old-fashioned reader fare, with no clear character as American. However, the patriotic, virtue-oriented flavor of the biography of Clara Barton is typical of most of the selections. Many selections are prefaced by a vocabulary of key words though rather oddly, no definitions are given here or in a glossary. The large type and the many illustrations are likely to make this most attractive to primary schoolers; by fifth or sixth grade it will have very much the feel of a "little kid's book." Children who are fascinated with history might enjoy this. This book is a pleasant addition to a classroom library.