Me, and what better book for boys is there than Half Year at Bronckton, a story whose moral effect upon young and imaginative readers cannot be over estimated. The Pettibone Name, which appeared a year or two ago in the V.I.F. series, was an instance of the author’s power in appealing to readers of mature minds, and gave evidence of unusual power in the line of the better class of fiction.  All these books have made a reputation for the author which will at once give her latest story a prominent place among the books of the season.—­Boston Transcript.

WIDE AWAKE “R.”  Illustrated, Boston:  D. Lothrop & Co.  Price $1.75.  Of all the annual WIDE AWAKE issues this is by far the most attractive, and when this is said it is hard to conceive what, more can be said in the way of praise.  Its illustrations, which are all drawn expressly for its pages, represent the best work of the most prominent American draughtsmen, while no stronger show of names in the line of contributors has ever been presented by an American magazine.  Among the strong features of the volume is Elizabeth Stuart Phelps’s serial complete, A Brave Girl; Mr. Brooks’ capital wonder-story, In No-Man’s Land; Mr. Talbot’s A Double Masquerade, and Rev. E.E.  Hale’s To-Day Papers.  Either of these would alone be worth the price of the volume, but when added to them are the additional attractions in the way of brilliant short stories, breezy sketches of life indoors and out, chapters of biography and history, bits of description, poems, and essays, the volume becomes, a treasure-house seemingly inexhaustible in variety and contents.  In turning over its pages the eye falls upon such names as Mrs. A.D.T.  Whitney, Nora Perry, Sarah Orne Jewett, Sophie May, Mrs. M.H.  Catherwood, Margaret Sidney, Mrs. Mulock-Craik, Celia Thaxter, Lucy Larcom, and others as well known in the annals of magazine literature.  The volume is elegantly printed and beautifully bound.

HOW TO LEARN AND EARN.  Illustrated.  Boston:  D. Lothrop & Co.  Price $1.50.  It is not often that one finds between the covers of any single book so much information so pleasantly given upon a special subject as in “How to Learn and Earn.”  The sixteen illustrated essays which make up the contents are descriptive of as many institutions in this country for the instruction of children and young people in the useful arts or professions.  Some of them are institutions under the auspices of the State, like the academy at West Point and the Indian School at Carlisle, Pa.; one described is a school of reform; but most of them are the outcome of private benevolence or charitable and religious endeavor.  Among the more notable of these are the Perkins Institution for the Blind at South Boston, the Boston Chinese Mission School, the cooking schools in various cities, the blind children’s kindergarten, etc.  Among the authors whose contributions are included are Amanda E. Harris, Ella Farman Pratt, Mrs. John Lillie, May Wager Fisher, Margaret Sidney and Mrs. Jessie Benton Fremont.