The order of this book is in a general way from the easy to the more difficult, with an attempt, also, at an agreeable variety. The editor has purposely avoided breaking up the book into lesson portions or giving it the air of a text-book. There is no reason why children should not read books as older people read them, for pleasure, and dissociate them from a too persistent notion of tasks. It is entirely possible that some teachers may find it out of the question to lead their classes straight through this book, but there is nothing to forbid them from judicious skipping, or, what is perhaps more to the point, from helping pupils over a difficult word or phrase when it is encountered; the interest which the child takes will carry him over most hard places. It would be a capital use of the book also if teachers were to draw upon it for poems which their pupils should, in the suggestive phrase, learn by heart. To this purpose the contents are singularly well adapted; for, from the single line proverb to a poem by Wordsworth, there is such a wide range of choice that the teacher need not resort to the questionable device of giving children fragments and bits of verse and prose to commit to memory. One of the greatest services we can do the young mind is to accustom it to the perception of wholes, and whether this whole be a lyric or a narrative poem like Evangeline, it is almost equally important that the young reader should learn to hold it as such in his mind. To treat a poem as a mere quarry out of which a particularly smooth stone can be chipped is to misinterpret poetry. A poem is a statue, not a quarry.

This text offers a complete and thorough introduction to Horace's life and work. It includes Latin text of twenty-eight poems with facing notes, glossaries on meter and figures of speech, and a complete vocabulary. Each poem is introduced by a brief summary in English.

Six engaging short stories by six different authors provide enriching literature for Chinese language students.

Read Chinese literature with detailed footnotes, pinyin, author and story summaries all while listening to professionally created audio files. Capturing Chinese provides the ultimate learning tool for breaking away from textbook stories and breaking into engaging Chinese literature.

Put down your dictionary, pick up your copy of Capturing Chinese and enjoy yourself some Chinese literature. Footnotes highlight the more difficult vocabulary and pinyin is provided for the entire text. Historical events, people, and places are explained throughout and illustrations recreate the scenes.

This book is insimplified Chinese characters.

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Explore these six different authors and their stories: Ling Shuhuaprovides a woman's perspective during the May Fourth movement inThe Night of Mid-Autumn Festival. Lai He provides his perspective of Taiwan during the Japanese occupation inThe Steelyard. Mao Dundepicts some of the problems facing rural China in his most famous story, Spring Silkworms. Shen Congwenuses a basic story to show how rural customs inhibit modernization in his story, Xiaoxiao. Yu Dafutakes his readers to Japan, where he himself spent time as a student.Yu Dafu's frank depiction of sexual urges inSinkingshocked the readers of his day. Lao Sheillustrates the changing times in Beijing in his short story, An Old and Established Name.