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Burnley News

6 July 1929

What Burnley Children Read

What schoolchildren read.
In my boyhood days it was "Jack Harkway" and "Deadwood Dick." To-day it is "Sexton Blake." There is little, if any, harm in such reading, and not infrequently it paves the way to better things. At Burnley the Library Committee are seeking to direct the schoolchildren of the town, and the progress of the task is dealt with in the July issue of "The Burnley Library Journal." "Many of our teachers," says the Librarian, "are keenly interested in the reading of their pupils, and I know of several cases where, with the aid of the Public Library book, some of the results have been nothing short of remarkable. It will be interesting to take an example from a school I have in mind. The books sent from the Library are circulated to scholars of eleven years only, and free selection is allowed. At twelve years groups of children accompanied by a teacher visit the Library itself weekly, where again from a much wider range of books they make their own choice. After twelve years the teacher, having had the opportunity to note individual differences or display of unusual interest, discreetly leads or guides the younger reader from book to book."

Interesting Records
"Here are records of books read by four elementary school scholars at one of our schools over periods ranging from four to eight months:-

No.1. - Boy, age 13.
Henty.- With Kitchener in Soudan.
Strang.- With the Black Prince; Richard the Lionheart.
Westall.- Boys Book of PEts
Stevenson.- Black Arrow
Jacobs.- Ship's Company.
Orczy.- Scarlet Pimpernel.
Finnemore.- Wolf Patrol.
Haggard.- She.
Doyle.- Micah Clarke.
Twain.- Huckleberry Finn.
Stevenson.- Treasure Island.
Hughes.- Tom Brown's Schooldays.
Ainsworth.- Lancashire Witches.
Haggard.- King Solomon's mines.
London.- white Fang.
Craik.- John Halifax, Gentleman.
Leacock.- Behind the Beyond.

No.2. - Girl, age 13.
Ainsworth.- Spenthrift; Ovingdean Grange; Auriol; Miser's Daughter; Lancashire Witches; Tower of London; Windsor Castle.
Dickens.- Oliver Twist; Our Mutual Friend; Tale of Two Cities; Hard Times; Barnaby rudge; Martin Chuzzlewit; David Copperfield; Old Curiosity Shop; Pickwick Papers.
Haggard.- She.
Black,- Jusith Shakespeare.
Thackeray.- Vanity Fair.
Scott.- Rob Roy; Monastery; Abbot; St. Ronan's Well.
Stevenson.- Treasure Island.
Crockett.- Grey Man; Deep Moat Grange; Me and Myn; Lilac Sunbonnet.
Dumas.- Man in the Iron Mask.
Bennett.- Card.
Kingsley.- Hypatia; Westward Ho.
Leacock.- Nonsense Novels.
Yonge.- Book of Golden Deeds.
Jacobs.- Captains All; Ship's Company; Sea Whispers.

No.3. - Boy, age 13.
Bennett.- Matador of Five Towns.
London.- Valley of the Moon.
Henty.- Redskin and Cowboy.
Leacock.- Behind the beyond.
Fenn.- Cutlass and Cudgel.
Doyle.- Lost World.
Gregory.- Seven Short Plays; Four Irish Plays.
Orczy.- I Will Repay.
Ainsworth.- Tower of London; Windsor Castle; Guy Fawkes.
Anon.- Science For All.

No.4. - Girl, age 13.
Chaundler.- Credit to Her House; Just Gerry.
Moore.- Fen's First Term.
Smith.- Small Sixth Form.
Henry. O.- Options.
Bronte.- Jane Eyre; Vilette; Shirley.
Dickens.- David Copperfield.
Blackmore.- Lorna Doone.
Bennett.- Old Wives' Tales.
Bronte.- Wuthering Heights.
Bennett.- Clayhanger; Anna of the Five Towns.
Galsworthy.- To Let.
Weyman.- Red Cockade.
Reade.- Cloister and the Hearth.

"No.1," comments the Librarian, "illustrates quite clearly how, even with a junior, access to varied literature can at once be an education and an enjoyment. No.2 is exceptional, this girl at 13 being an omnivorous reader and capable of recounting most of what she has read. No.3 is interesting for Gregory's plays and 'Science for all.' 'Options,' by O. Henry, with Scholar No.4, was suggested by the teacher, and, contrary to expectation, was thoroughly appreciated. the reading following Henry's 'Options' shows how casual suggestion may produce most unexpected results.

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Mel

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One of my favourite books when I was a young girl was 'Heidi' by Johanna Spyri, I can still read it now and enjoy it.


Stephanie.

Oh I loved Heidi! Not read it for years.

_________________
Mel

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I used to love my cheese melted just like she did, do you remember?


Stephanie.

Heidi and her Grandfather used to melt pieces of cheese over an open fire, I used to put my cheese on a little stick and stick it over the flames on my Mum's gas cooker until it went bubbly and crispy, I used to make a real mess, and it is a wonder I did'nt set myself alight, but it tasted soooo good.


Stephanie.

Never tried it Stephanie. Gas fires don't cope well with cheese drips

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Mel

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My favourite for years was Louisa Alcott's Little Women, then their sequels, Good Wives, Little Men, Jo's Boys. I still have the copy of Little Women that was a present on my 13th birthday.

I also liked Biggles books.

A bit younger than that was anything by Enid Blyton. She's probably frowned on, but when I was very young there was the magazine Sunny Stories, then the Adventure series, with Jack and Philip, Dinah and Lucy Ann, and the Famous Five. Then came the girls' school stories, Mallory Towers, and St. Clare's. A bit later I went on to the Chalet School series, by Elinor Brent-Dyer. I haunted the public library from the time I got a card.

There were magazines as well: Girls' Crystal and Schoolfriend.

Joan

I remember Sunny Stories, me Grandma used to buy it for me, she would sit me on her knee and read it to me, I have very happy memories of that.


Stephanie.

Ye. gods! What lovely memories with me too! Enid Blyton - yes! And certainly the Brontes, Jane Austen, and all the ones mentioned by you others.
My grandchildren look at me askance these days when I say not only were computers not invented when I was their age..but we didn't have a television or a phone either. "Nana! What on earth did you do?"
Well, we all know, don't we? If we couldn't play out (skipping and two-ball were my solo pursuits)...we read...or played board games with our family...or listened to the radio. My favourite was Gerald Iles from Bellevue Zoo, Daphne Oxenford's "Are we sitting comfortably - then let us begin"....and Hancock's Half Hour (I recently bought a CD of a dozen of his 1/2 hour shows!!)
As a teen I loved Joyce Grenfell....
We were very luck in my day to have so much healthy brain stimulation!!

I used to like Hancock's Half Hour, and Life with the Lyons. And let's not forget Dick Barton. We all played outside after tea then at 6:45 the street emptied as we went in to listen and everyone came outside again fifteen minutes later. There was Children's Hour with Larry the Lamb. We knew all the programs and their characters.

My Grandma came over every Saturday evening while my mum and dad went to the pictures. She played board games with us. Our favourites were Snakes and Ladders, Ludo and Sorry.

Joan

We were doing some testing a couple of years ago when we first got interested in the internet radio thing. We tuned into a station in Australia and were listening to Dick Barton. Lyndons parents were thrilled to bits. I had never heard of Dick Barton!

_________________
Mel

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