The Rollo Books by Jacob Abbott.
New York: T.Y. Crowell & Co.
YOU CAN SEE THE RAFT, &c.—Page 121.
ROLLO LEARNING TO READ.
THE ROLLO SERIES
IS COMPOSED OF FOURTEEN VOLUMES, VIZ.:
A NEW EDITION, REVISED BY THE AUTHOR.
NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. PUBLISHERS
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO., In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
NOTICE TO PARENTS.
In those intervals of rest which the serious cares and labors of life imperiously demand, a man may find the best amusement for himself in efforts for the amusement of children. This little work and its predecessor, “Rollo Learning to Talk,” have been written on this principle.
Parents find it very difficult to employ little children. “Mother, what shall I do?” and sometimes even, “Mother, what shall I do after I have done this?” are heard so often that they sometimes exhaust even maternal patience. These little volumes will, we hope, in some cases, provide an answer to the questions. The writer has endeavored to make them such that children would take an interest in reading them to themselves, and to their younger brothers and sisters, and in repeating them to one another.
The difficulty with most books intended for children just learning to read, is that the writers make so much effort to confine themselves to words of one syllable, that the style is quaint and uninteresting, and often far more unintelligible than the usual language would be. The author’s design here has been, first to interest the little reader, hoping, by this interest, to allure him on to the encounter of the difficulties in the language, and to the conquest of them. Hence, the more difficult words and phrases, in common use, are not avoided, for the very object of such a reading book should be to teach the use of them. They are freely introduced and rendered intelligible by being placed in striking connections, and familiar, by being frequently repeated. By a wonderful provision in the structure of the mind, children thirst for repetition,—the very thing essential to give security and permanence to the knowledge they acquire.
The subjects of the articles, accordingly, and the method of treating them, are in the highest degree juvenile. But the language is mature. For it is language which we wish to teach them, and consequently we must keep, in language, a little above them, advancing continually ourselves, as they advance.
J. A.
CONTENTS.
ROLLO LEARNING TO READ.
HOW ROLLO LEARNED TO READ.
Should you like to know how Rollo learned to read? I will tell you. It is very hard work to learn to read, and it takes a great while to do it. I will tell you how Rollo did it.
One evening Rollo was sitting on the floor by the side of the fire, playing with his blocks. He was trying to build a meeting-house. He could make the meeting-house very well, all except the steeple, but the steeple would tumble down.
Presently his father said,
“Rollo, you may put your blocks into the basket, and put the basket in its place, in the closet, and then come to me.”
Rollo obeyed.
Then Rollo’s father took him up into his lap, and took a little book out of his pocket. Rollo was glad. He thought he was going to look at some pictures. But he was disappointed.
He was disappointed; that is, he found there were no pictures in the book, and was sorry.
His father said,
“I suppose you thought there were pictures in this book.”
“Yes, sir,” said Rollo.
“There are none,” said his father; “I have not got this book to amuse you. I am going to have you learn to read out of it, and learning to read is hard work.”
Rollo was very glad when he heard this. He wanted to learn to read, so that he could read story books himself alone, and he thought that learning to read was very pleasant, easy work.
