Recently Published Books

1 — "Listen, Rida": a book that appeared last month by our teacher Dr. Anis Frayha; and "Rida" is none other than his little boy, who demands of his father a story from the village to fall asleep on...

The book, then, is a series of tales with which the father lulls his child to sleep, told in simple language, revealing a side of our life that has now taken on new meanings in our understanding. The author is a skillful painter who knew how to draw for the child living pictures of village life as it was in his own childhood, comparing it with the opportunities and freedoms our present generation enjoys in the city, and not concealing his own opinion on each sketch: now he grieves for something beautiful that has passed, and now he rejoices at the passing of what once was. He is candid, enumerating for his child the merits and the faults alike, and leaving the judgment to him...

"Listen, Rida" is a book new of its kind, and it has filled a great gap in our national heritage; it is "evergreen" material that one generation will pass on to the next with relish, and it does not grow old!... Our congratulations to our dear teacher, "Abu Rida!"

2 — "Teaching the Rudiments of Reading":
A book issued by the Education Department of the American University of Beirut, by Mrs. Sabiha Akkash Faris — the book being the thesis, or study, for which the author was awarded a master's degree in education.

During her early studies, and then while teaching her three children, Mrs. Faris was appalled by the faulty methods followed by the authors of children's readers, and by the poverty of our Arabic libraries in sound reading books. So the educator produced her study, surveying and criticizing these books, and then laying down the correct foundations for the teaching of reading, together with personal guidance gained from her experience and her wide reading. Her book has thus come forth as a volume valuable of its kind, which those in charge of teaching the rudiments of reading would do well to consult and to draw upon.

Sabiha Faris is a brow held high in the world of women. And she is a sound testimony, on behalf of the daughters of her sex, against whoever denies them the ability to reconcile their responsibility in the home with the pursuit of their studies and their work...