INTRODUCTION
    It gives me sincere pleasure to introduce to
mothers and kindergartners a pioneer writer in
the unexplored field of simple, realistic stories
for little children.
    Miss Verhoeff is a trained kindergartner
who has brought to her profession a college train-
ing as well as a true devotion to children.
    It was in one of the free kindergartens situ-
ated in the less fortunate localities of Louisville
that the stories of Johnnie Jones came into being,
and grew in response to the demand of the little
ones for stories about real children.
    In the beautiful world of fairy-lore we have
a rich and splendidly exploited field of immortal
literature. The old, old stories of fairies and
elves, of giants and dwarfs, of genii, princes,
and knights with their wonder-working wands,
rings and swords, will never grow threadbare;
while the spiritual, artistic and literary value of
these stories in the life of child-imaginatien can
never be overestimated. Enchanting and valu-
able as they are, however, they should not blind
us to the need for standard realistic stories of
equal literary and poetic merit.
    A child needs not only the touch of the
wonder-working wand which transports him to
                      [I I]