It is not without diffidence that the editor offers The True Story Book to children. We have now given them three fairy books, and their very kind and flattering letters to the editor prove, not only that they like the three fairy books, but that they clamour for more. What disappointment, then, to receive a volume full of adventures which actually happened to real people! There is not a dragon in the collection, nor even a giant; witches, here, play no part, and almost all the characters are grown up. On the other hand, if we have no fairies, we have princes in plenty, and a sweeter young prince than Tearlach (as far as this part of his story goes) the editor flatters himself that you shall nowhere find, not in Grimm, or Dasent, or Perrault. Still, it cannot be denied that true stories are not so good as fairy tales. They do not always end happily, and, what is worse, they do remind a young student of lessons and schoolrooms. A child may fear that he is being taught under a specious pretence of diversion, and that learning is being thrust on him under the disguise of entertainment. Prince Charlie and Cortés may be asked about in examinations, whereas no examiner has hitherto set questions on 'Blue Beard,' or 'Heart of Ice,' or 'The Red Etin of Ireland.' There is, to be honest, no way of getting over this difficulty. But the editor vows that he does not mean to teach anybody, and he has tried to mix the stories up so much that no clear and consecutive view of history can possibly be obtained from them; moreover, when history does come in, it is not the kind of history favoured most by examiners. They seldom set questions on the conquest of Mexico, for example.

• We started tracking this book on April 2, 2015.
• This book was $2.99 when we started tracking it.
• The price of this book has changed 53 times in the past 3,690 days.
• The current price of this book is $5.99 last checked one day ago.
• This book is at its lowest price in the past 90 days.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past six months is $4.99.
• This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $4.70.
• The lowest price to date was $2.99 last reached on November 17, 2018.
• This book has been $2.99 4 times since we started tracking it.
• The highest price to date was $5.99 last reached on July 20, 2024.
• This book has been $5.99 one time since we started tracking it.
• This book is currently at its highest price since we started tracking it.

• Literature & Fiction

• Publication Date: July 29, 2009
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Disabled
• Print Length: 301 Pages
• File Size: 11,675 KB