The title of this winner of the 2008 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, Reference and Anthology category is a phrase originally used by Samuel Johnson to affectionately describe his old Oxford College. The famous New Zealand School Journal will be 100 years old in May 2007. It was founded by the Department of Education with some basic objectives in mind. They were to improve the reading skills of the young and teach them good English colonial values. Over time it moved from the connection with Mother England and began to represent New Zealand society, particularly when Clarence Beeby became Director of Education in 1940. It also became a source of income and an outlet for the talents of leading artists and writers. Roger Hall, Peter Bland, James K. Baxter, Jack Lazenby, Margaret Mahy, Rita Angus, Dick Frizzell, Russell Clark, Janet Frame, Anne and Colin McCahon, and Joy Cowley were among those commissioned. This history records the high and low points of a journal that is still influencing and inspiring New Zealand children. Beautifully illustrated with original artwork, covers and content.