Children's Classics in Dramatic Form, A Reader for the Fourth Grade

Book excerpt: This book is intended to accomplish three distinct purposes: first, to arouse a greater interest in oral reading; second, to develop an expressive voice—sadly lacking in the case of most Americans; and third, to give freedom and grace in the bodily attitudes and movements which are involved in reading and speaking. The stories given are for the most part adaptations of favorite tales from folklore,—Andersen, Grimm, Aesop, and the Arabian Nights having been freely drawn upon.