The editors of this series believe that no task can be more important
than that of winning the interest of children to their precious
heritage, the Bible. The stories of the old Greek and Roman mythologies,
the folk and fairy tales, have been given the child in beautiful form,
suitably graded and arranged, with significant illustrations. The
editors of this series attempt to do the same thing for the Bible: to
take the matchless prose and poetry of the Bible and put it in the form
which will make it most attractive to the child, to give the Bible an
equal chance in the child's library with the "King Arthur Stories" and
the tales of mythology.

Every parent desires to have the children of the home gain an
acquaintance with the best that is in the Bible. Heretofore no text has
been prepared which exactly met this need, giving appropriate passages
for children of various ages. These volumes are especially designed to
make "Sunday afternoon" reading attractive to children, putting the
fascinating stories of the Bible in the same dress and on the same
footing with the secular classics which have {10} always charmed. With
such an arrangement it is believed that the child will read the Bible as
freely as any book.

The plan of the Readers gives unity to each story and selection. Each
story or episode is given in a complete form, and not merely as an
extract. Passages which are clearly not relevant to the story or which
involve unnecessary difficulties to a young reader are omitted. Obsolete
words are modernized. Many versions, both ancient and modern, together
with the original texts, have been compared in determining the
translation. In every case the graphic, pictorial word which would
appeal to the imagination of the child and enlarge its vocabulary has
been sought. At the same time the effort has been made not to impair the
literary strength and beauty of the older versions. Nothing has been
omitted which is suitable to the mind of the child, and everything has
been arranged with the end in view of meeting the needs of the child.

This series does not aim to supplant the ordinary texts of the Bible nor
to take the place of the common versions any more than literature
readers take the place of literature. The editors have endeavored to
select such passages of the Bible as are particularly suited to the
child's mind, to present them in a novel and attractive form, and thus
to arouse the interest of children, stimulatin