disagreeable moralizing.

Pinocchio immediately leaped into favor as the hero of Italian
juvenile romance. The wooden marionette became a popular subject for
the artist's pencil and the storyteller's invention. Brought across the
seas, he was welcomed by American children and now appears in a new
volume which sets forth his travels in Africa. The lessons underlying
his fantastic experiences are clear to the youngest readers but are
never allowed to become obtrusive. The amusing illustrations of the
original are fully equaled in the present edition, while the whimsical
nonsense which delights Italian children has been reproduced as closely
as a translation permits.


2. Why Pinocchio Did Not Go To School

ONE morning Pinocchio slipped out of bed before daybreak. He got up
with a great desire to study, a feeling, it must be confessed, which
did not often take hold of him. He dipped his wooden head into the
cool, refreshing water, puffed very hard, dried himself, jumped up and
down to stretch his legs, and in a few moments was seated at his small
worktable.

There was his home work for the day, twelve sums, four pages of
penmanship, and the fable of "The Dog and the Rabbit" to learn by
heart. He began with the fable, reciting it in a loud voice, like the
hero in the play: "'A dog was roaming about the fields, when from
behind a little hill jumped a rabbit, which had been nibbling the
tender grass.'