New National Fourth Reader

"New National Fourth Reader" by Charles J. Barnes is a late 19th-century textbook designed to sharpen reading skills, understanding, and clear speaking for fourth-grade students. The book uses a range of stories and poems that slowly increase in difficulty, keeping students interested with different topics and lessons. It favors clear, descriptive reading to help students speak and understand ideas well. The structure of the book and how it should be taught are explained early on, with the goal of making students enjoy reading while learning new words and ideas. The book begins with a story about a boy who has trouble getting things done, shown through imaginative characters, and it also explains how the lessons will teach good behavior, thinking skills, and language, laying the groundwork for the rest of the textbook.