Many libraries report that they find the topics habitually well chosen.The gist of the criticisms is as follows:
(a)The teacher should make clear to the child just what he is to look up and how to ask for it.An eastern library furnishes this incident:
"I want a book about flowers."
"Do you want a special flower?"
"Yes,I want the rose."
A book on the cultivation of roses is handed her.Her companion,looking over,exclaims,"Why she wants the Wars of the roses!"The same librarian was invited to provide something on American privileges;whether social,religious,political,or otherwise,the child did not know.
(b)The teacher should be reasonably sure that there is on the topic something in print,in usable shape,that can be gotten at with a reasonable amount of labor.
(c)The subject when found should be within the child's comprehension.The topic Grasses is manifestly unfit for children,since grasses are difficult to study,and the deion of them in encyclopedias and botanies is too technical.An eight-year-old had to investigate the Abyssinian war.Pupils under 16were assigned the topic Syncretism in the later pagan movement.A western librarian was asked by some girls for Kipling's "Many inventions"and "Day's work."Both were out.
"Well,what other books of Kipling's on agriculture have you?""Why,Kipling hasn't written any books on agriculture;he writes stories and poems.""But we have to debate on whether agriculture or manufacturing has done more for the welfare of the country,and we want a book on both sides."(d)The topic should be definite and not too broad,and should be subdivided when necessary.The briefest comprehensive deion of Rome is probably that in Champlin's "Persons and places,"where the six columns,already much condensed,would take more than an hour to copy.A young girl came to find out about Italian painters.None of the several encyclopedias treated them collectively under either Italy or Art.Mrs.Bolton's book of 10artists includes four Italians,but it takes some time and skill to discover them,as the fact of their nationality does not introduce the narrative.How should a sixth grade pupil make a selection from the 60painters in Mrs.Jameson's book?Three names were furnished by the librarian,and the child made notes from their biographies.The next day she returned and said she hadn't enough artists.
(e)The question should preferably be of such nature that the child can be helped to find it rather than be obliged to wait while the librarian does the work.One inquiry was,"What eastern plant is sometimes sold for its weight in gold?"This is not in the book of "Curious questions."(f)The topic should be worth spending time upon.The genealogy of Ellen Douglas will hardly linger long in the average memory.
