THE STORY-TELLER'S ART "PETER PINDAR was a great story-teller." Thus ran one of the tales in an old reader. What of it? The housewives waited for his coming; the men welcomed him; the children crowded about his knee. Homage like this we always pay to him who has the art to entertain us with exciting tales or insight into picturesque human character. For a brief space of a few minutes or even for hours the story-telling artist lifts us out of dull surroundings and transports us to distant places or far-away times and makes us acquainted with persons we should otherwise not know. Story-telling is a very old art. It comprises the simple anecdotes of every-day life which we all relate to each other, and the elaborate drama which men of genius like Shakespeare and other playwrights can create. A story may deal with the facts of real life so artfully related that the very telling gives us new ideas and new insights into personalities, or the author may create from his imagination a tale that never was on sea or land. A story may be written in very simple prose, like the parable of the prodigal son, in the more elaborate prose of "Rip Van Winkle," in the longer tale of Treasure Island, in the narrative poem such as "Evangeline" or "The Vision of Sir Launfal," or in the highly complex dramatic poem of which The Merchant of Venice is a fine example. The world is full of stories long and short, and thousands more are written every year. You cannot read them all nor are they all worthy of your time. All through your life you must select what is most worth while, and fortunate you will be if you can acquire a taste for the best that has been written. A book like this should introduce you to a variety of stories and to the writers most worth while to know. Read these tales for your entertainment, try to understand how a great artist makes a story, and in the end you will come to love the best. SHORT STORIES BOOKS TO READ THE stories and poems in this book are but a handful among the many interesting ones available in school and public libraries. You will want to read many more. The following list will help you to choose the ones you will like best. Keep in your notebook a list of all those you read during the year. Short Stories ALDRICH, THOMAS BAILEY. Marjorie Daw and Other Stories. Houghton Mifflin Company "Marjorie Daw" contains the biggest surprise in this collection of stories. BAKER, RANINE B. In the Light of Myth. Row, Peterson and Company This book contains myths of many lands some you didn't know existed. BULFINCH, THOMAS. Legends of Charlemagne. Cosmopolitan Book Corporation Adventures of the brave knights of Charlemagne's court. BUNNER, H. C. Short Sixes. Charles Scribner's Sons Good for a lazy afternoon in the hammock and a big laugh. Celtic fairy tales. Giants, sorceresses, and salmon make friends and foes. - but he gets there, takes in the boxing Van Bibber and Others. Harper and Brothers Society entertains Van Bibber. Horse races and tennis are his favorite sports. DOYLE, ARTHUR CONAN. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Harper and Brothers The most famous detective in literature. He solves every mystery he goes after. FRENCH, J. L. (editor). Great Sea Stories. Brentano's Every conceivable experience at sea from the Spanish Armada to the deep sea fishermen of Iceland. GARLAND, HAMLIN. Main-Travelled Roads. Harper and Brothers Wisconsin life in the early days. Experiences along the road. HARTE, BRET. Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales. Houghton Mifflin Company Perhaps gold miners aren't so rough as you think they are. Read Bret Harte and find out. 12 HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL. Mosses from an Old Manse. Houghton Mifflin Com pany - Twice-Told Tales. Houghton Mifflin Company Hidden mysteries, secret longings, interesting personalities, and New England superstitions make Hawthorne's stories full of power and interest. KIPLING, RUDYARD. The Day's Work. Doubleday, Doran and Company · Under the Deodars. India, a newspaper office, elephants, British soldiers, and superstitious natives - Kipling knows them all and describes them in these three books. MACLEOD, MARY. Stories from the Faerie Queen. Frederick A. Stokes Company The faerie queen keeps daily court, where ladies in distress find champions in the knights of her kingdom. MONCRIEFF, A. R. HOPE. Romance and Legend of Chivalry. The Gresham Publishing Company, London A mysterious knight has his head chopped off by Sir Gawaine. He picks it up, puts it on again, and challenges Sir Gawaine to another fight a year later. Find out what happens. MUIR, JOHN. Stickeen. Houghton Mifflin Company A dog story full of exciting adventures among the glaciers — and Stickeen was about the tiniest dog in literature. NEWBOLT, HENRY. The Book of the Happy Warrior. Longmans, Green and Company Stories of chivalry in the days of King Richard and Robin Hood. O'BRIEN, EDWARD J. The Best Short Stories of 1927. Yearly since 1915. Dodd, Mead and Company Each year Mr. O'Brien collects the best stories that have appeared in magazines within the twelvemonth. O. HENRY (William Sydney Porter). Cabbages and Kings. Doubleday, Doran and Company Fun in South America. Surprises for everybody. Things happen in a hurry in O. Henry's stories. The Four Million. Doubleday, Doran and Company Not the 400 of society but the 4,000,000 of New York's streets interest O. Henry. Struggling artists, policemen, tramps, everyone who has a streak of humor in him finds a place in these stories. The Ransom of Red Chief and Other Stories. (Selected by F. K. Mathews.) More surprise endings. Stories of South America and the West. The best of O. Henry in one volume. O. HENRY PRIZE STORY COLLECTIONS. A literary society offers an annual prize for the best short story of the year. PAINE, RALPH D. Lost Ships and Lonely Seas. The Century Company Real experiences sometimes read like fiction. These daring pirates and pri- POE, EDGAR ALLAN. Best Tales. Edited by Sherwin Cody. A. C. McClurg and Stories to read by the fireside on a dark, windy night. Shivers are guaranteed PYLE, HOWARD. Book of Pirates. Harper and Brothers Thrilling stories of the reckless heroes who flew the Jolly Roger. SKINNER, CHARLES M. Myths and Legends of Our Own Land. 2 vols. J. B. Did you know that America has myths as interesting as those of Europe? STEVENSON, ROBERT LOUIS. Markheim. Charles Scribner's Sons A murderer with a conscience has a struggle with himself. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Charles Scribner's Sons A man has a dual personality. Find out whether he does the same thing as Dr. Jekyll that he does as Mr. Hyde. For once, his magic potion doesn't work. STOCKTON, FRANK R. The Lady or the Tiger, and Other Stories. Charles Scribner's Sons Humor, spirit, a joke on the reader a good book from cover to cover. A jolly company went on horseback from London to Canterbury five centuries Longer Stories and Novels BULLEN, FRANK T. The Cruise of the Cachalot. D. Appleton and Company BURNETT, FRANCES HODGSON. The Secret Garden. Frederick A. Stokes Company CHURCHILL, WINSTON. The Crisis. The Macmillan Company The Civil War splits families and separates lovers. Richard Carvel. The Macmillan Company A thrilling story of Revolutionary days. COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE. The Last of the Mohicans. A story of Indian days and pioneer trails. CRANE, STEPHEN. The Red Badge of Courage. D. Appleton and Company 3 DAVIS, WILLIAM STEARNS. The Victor of Salamis. The Macmillan Company Davis makes history alive for us in the days of Xerxes and Leonidas. DICKENS, CHARLES. David Copperfield. A small boy in an old-fashioned school, an encounter with donkeys, a romantic love affair, and innumerable lovable characters this is David Copperfield. Oliver Twist. Oliver Twist had more adventures in a month than most boys have in a lifetime. An escape from an orphan asylum and an adventure with a gang of thieves are two of them. A Tale of Two Cities. Would you let a friend of yours die in your place at the hands of the frenzied mob of the French Revolution? Read A Tale of Two Cities and see why Charles Darnay permitted it. DOYLE, ARTHUR CONAN. The White Company. Harper and Brothers You never know what's coming next in this story of dashing adventures in the Middle Ages. DUMAS, ALEXANDRE. The Three Musketeers. Thomas Y. Crowell Company Nothing phased D'Artagnan till he stood in the presence of the king as a real musketeer. Read how he won his laurels by rescuing the queen's diamond from the false lady-in-waiting of her court. 'Fox, JOHN, JR. The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. Charles Scribner's Sons Kentucky mountaineers were among the first drawn into the Civil War. You will like this story of Chad and his mountain sweetheart. JACKSON, HELEN HUNT. Ramona. Little, Brown, and Company A story of beautiful southern California in the days of the old missions and of the trouble between white men and Indians. JAMES, WILL. Smoky. Charles Scribner's Sons A gripping horse story. A young pony, reared on a ranch, turns out to be more frisky than his master expected. KIPLING, RUDYARD. Captains Courageous. Doubleday, Doran and Company How would you like to be carried off unexpectedly on a submarine? Read this story of a boy who had such an adventure. LONDON, JACK. The Call of the Wild. The Macmillan Company A dog deserts civilization to return to the wolves in the Klondike. White Fang. The Macmillan Company A wolf-dog who likes the campfire and protects the white man. MASEFIELD, JOHN. Jim Davis. Frederick A. Stokes Company Smugglers and a rocky coast keep this story lively from beginning to end. MELVILLE, HERMAN. Moby Dick or The White Whale. Dodd, Mead and Company Captain Ahab sails in search of the whale that had made him a cripple. A real sea story by one who knows the sea. Typee. Dodd, Mead and Company A peep at life on coral islands and among strange people. |