CONSTRUCTIVE DICTATION. By Edward Hall Gardner, A. M. Gregg Publishing Company. A very comprehensive manual of directions and models for correspondence with all sorts of people on all kinds of business. Our only criticism is that it is too full and detailed. EDUCATION FOR CHARACTER. By Frank Chapman Sharp, Ph.D, Professor of Philosophy, the University of Wisconsin. The Bobbs-Merrill Company. An excellent restatement of the problem of moral training in the school and the home. The chapter on "The Influence of Personality" should be read by every teacher. THE PASSMAN. How Are Our Universities to Train Citizens? By R. L. Archer. A C. Black, Ltd., London. Price $1.50. A thorough presentation of the subject of the proper requirements and acquirements for the different scholastic degrees. The book is written primarily for Englishmen and British institutions. But the principles are the same everywhere-and World War conditions have made desirable and necessary a restatement of this matter. THE ELEMENTS OF ANIMAL BIOLOGY. By S. J. Holmes, Ph. D., Professor of Zoology, University of California, 249 illustrations. P. Blakiston's Son & Co. An excellent High School text. MON PETIT TROTT. A Modern French Reader. By Leopold Cardon, Instructor in Romance Languages at the University of Wisconsin. Silver, Burdett and Company. WHAT TO DO FOR UNCLE SAM. A First Book of Citizenship. By Carolyn Sherwin Bailey. A. Flanagan Company. Cloth, 224 pages, illustrated. Co. LITERARY COMPOSITION. By Sherwood Cody A. C. McClurg & Co. YOUR BETTER SELF. By Humphrey J. Desmond. A. C. McClurg & SPANISH-AMERICAN SHORT STORIES. Edited with Notes, Exercises and Vocabulary, by Charles Alfred Turrell. The Macmillan Company. Spanish America has its great stories as well as its great agricultural and other resources. Business is pushing south at a prodigious rate, and a knowledge of the Spanish language is almost a necessity now in most any branch of commercial activity. After acquiring the rudiments of the language, no advantage is greater than to become familiar with a foreign country's literature. This is the best means of acquiring a real knowledge of the people and a resulting ability to deal with them. Books upon the language of South America have multiplied rapidly of late. This attractively printed and illustrated book puts within reach some choice stories, which reveal the modes of thought, the ideals and aspirations of the people. The volume makes an excellent reader for Spanish classes. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE NEW DAY. By Cleland Boyd McAfee. The Macmillan Company. Those who would like to receive the confirmation of their faith in the essential gospel of salvation in the life after death, but who have had new doubts and fresh cravings after more light because they have lost loved ones in the late World War, would do well to read and ponder this thoughtful little volume. It can be carried in the pocket and read a few lines or pages at a time, and thus be absorbed into one's inner consciousness It is very comforting in its clearness of vision and in its logical reasoning. There are five chapters, on (1) the call to reconstruction, (2) the Christian theology of God, (3) the Christian theology of Salvation, (4) the Church, and (5) a concluding word. We acknowledge the receipt of the following: MACMILLAN COMPANY'S POCKET AMERICAN AND ENGLISH CLASSICS: Rob Roy, by Sir Walter Scott, Bart., edited with Introduction and Notes by Eugene Musgrove, A.M.; Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer, by Sir Walter Scott, Bart., edited by Eva Warner Case; The Tragedy of Coriolanus, by William Shakespeare, edited by H. D. Weiser, A.B.; and Prue and I, by George William Curtis, edited by Vincent B. Brecht. The characteristics of the books of this series of school classics are so well known to educators and the reading public that no review is here necessary. Silent Reading By Dr. JOHN ANTHONY O'BRIEN Dr. O'Brien presents in this book a brief resume of investigations in the subject of silent reading, and calls attention to the fact that up to the present time there has been no systematic attempt to utilize the finding of experimental investigations for the formation of methods of training in effective rapid silent reading. The author accepts that undertaking as the problem of his book and proceeds in a most practical way to adapt the findings of the psychological laboratory and of experimental investigations to the development of practical methods of classroom procedure. The Project Method of Teaching By Dr. JOHN ALFORD STEVENSON The author shows that project teaching is not new but rather something old which has not yet been isolated and defined. The discussion includes suggestions for partial reorganization of the curriculum to conform to the project idea. The theory of the project is first developed; then follows numerous concrete applications, first to various vocations, then to the high school and the elementary school curricula. The American Public School By. Dr. ROSS L. FINNEY This is an interpretative presentation of American Educational history. Stress is placed on the educational history of the last thirty years. The history of education in Europe, even the recent developments, is touched on only so far as it effects the American school. This is a valuable book for teacher training classes and for all teachers. Mental Development and Education By Dr. M. V. O'SHEA The fundamental ideas in this book are that the behavior of the child or youth is determined by natural laws governing the development of his body, his intellect, and his character; that environment presents obstacles to the natural processes in development and that the function of the school and home is to assist the individual to adjust himself to these obstacles with the least possible strain and stress. There are three definite divisions of the book. Part one treats of the dynamic aspects of mental development; part two, of educational interpretation; and part three, presents numerous applications of the principles developed. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY New York Chicago Boston San Francisco EDUCATION Devoted to the Science, Art, Philosophy and Literature of Education VOL. XLI. MAY, 1921 No. 9 Ninth Annual Convention on Rural Education, at the State Normal School, Worcester, Massachusetts. Subject Strengthening the Rural Community Through the Public School and Allied Agencies Address of Welcome by WILLIAM B. ASPINWALL, PRINCIPAL, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, WORCESTER, MASS. T HE theme chosen for discussion at this Conference has been selected in the belief that in solving the problem of improving the conditions of the rural community the rural public school is but one of several factors. That is why the topic contains the words, "and allied agencies.' Sometimes it has been assumed that the responsibility for leadership in all kinds of rural development resides solely in the public school, and that the public school teacher should be equipped to carry on such work of improvement in addition to and outside the duties of the classroom. Not infrequently, it is true, the necessities of the case make it necessary for the school to take the initiative in such a movement. But in almost every community there are agencies and resources which are of great educational value and which are equally or better |