Honey for a Child's Heart

Where The Read Aloud Handbook fell short, Honey for a Child's Heart excels. It commends the value of literature for capturing the imagination and shaping character far more than the Handbook. Whereas Jim Trelease sees reading (aloud and silently) as the crux of education, Gladys Hunt presents them as the crucible of character formation.

Like the Handbook, Honey is divided into two parts: expository text, and literature recommendations. The entire book is shaped by this conviction:

"You cannot bully people into appreciating what is true and good and beautiful." (p95)

The necessary corollary is that parents have the responsibility for winsomely presenting what is good, true and beautiful to their children. Hunt contends that literature is one great vehicle of achieving this end, and I think she succeeds in her case. I found myself remembering from my childhood many of the books she referenced, and I found myself longing to explore others that I missed out on.

I found her writing so compelling and inspiring that it made me want to homeschool not from any dissatisfaction with other means of education, but just because I want to have the privilege of soaking Elisabeth, and any other children God gives us, in great literature.

I'll leave you with her presuppositions (which I share):

"Underlying all of this discussion is my thesis that parents who read widely together with their children are going to be those who most influence their children, who have the largest worldview, who have an uncommon delight in what is good and true and beautiful - and an uncommon commitment to it. Sharing and feeling and talking together will come naturally. Books shared with each other provide that kind of climate." (p99)