I recently finished reading Honey For A Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt, a book I received along with our My Father’s World First Grade Curriculum. Whether you have children at home, or you could use a great gift for a friend or loved one with children, be sure to take a look at Honey For A Child’s Heart.
I really hate to admit it, but up until the past few years I have never been much of a reader. My mom has always enjoyed reading, and growing up in a public school, I always had teachers who encouraged reading. However, I never felt that any of them gave me a very good reason to read. I always heard something like, “Reading is so much fun!” Well, that was just great for them because they were the “reading type.” However, I considered t.v., along with a whole list of other activities, to be so much more fun than plopping down with a book.
Within a few years after high school I began to understand the value of certain types of non-fiction. However, I still struggled to understand the purpose of fiction other than for entertainment purposes.
In Honey For A Child’s Heart, Gladys Hunt finally (sorry it took me so long) helped me to really understand the value of well written fiction, as well as non-fiction. Hunt also helped me to understand the immense value there is in sharing literature with my children. As our family reads books aloud together, we are sharing experiences. When I read to my kids, I am not simply entertaining them, I am exploring ideas and concepts with them. We are taking a deep look into the lives of various characters, both real and imagined. When we read great literature, we are given the opportunity to think through those characteristics which really make a person “good” or “bad.” Great literature gives us the opportunity to think and talk through what life is really all about, in both the good times and the bad. A whole new realm opens up to families who share books together, a realm that I had never even considered before reading Honey For A Child’s Heart.
Hunt also does a great job of emphasizing the use of the Bible in family reading. I felt as though she did a wonderful job of dealing with some of the false beliefs many of us hold in regard to “pushing” the Bible onto our children. She also has a few suggestions about how we can effectively incorporate the Bible into our daily lives.
There was one point of disagreement that I do have with Hunt. While I understood Hunt to say that she felt there was no harm in reading books like Harry Potter, I would certainly have to disagree. Am I going to ban such books in my house? No. However, I do not plan to let my children freely read whatever they want without challenging it. Around our house we want our children to think. So when our children are engaging in any form of entertainment, be it video, music, or a book, it is our job as parents to engage our children in dialogue concerning how it fits (or does not fit) into a Biblical worldview. Is this something which honors God? Why or why not? Ideas have consequences, even those ideas which are set within a fictional context.
While in the first half of Honey For A Child’s Heart Hunt explains what good literature is, along with how and why we should use it, the second half lists recommended books based on age. This has been so helpful to me as my children and I have made trips to the library. Rather than wasting time with books which have little literary value (or value of any other form for that matter), I can focus my attention on those books which will capture our imaginations and stretch our thinking.
Honey For A Child’s Heart is available for individual sale, or as a part of My Father’s World First Grade Curriculum.
