Mini Book Review #2: The Enchanted Hour
This is the short-and-sweet second episode of The Restful Home’s new series of mini book reviews.
The Enchanted Hour is a paean to the importance and beauty of reading aloud. Gurdon interviews doctors who compare the effects of video and reading on the brains of toddlers. (Her account of how the research is conducted makes for fascinating reading!) As she encourages parents to read aloud, she draws from her own experience of years of reading aloud to her own children. She writes that being read to not only draws children into the enchantment and history of literature, but also gives them humility, as they begin to realize that the world did not begin with them. People had for millennia been living lives of great meaning long before any of us were born, and we can learn their lessons by reading their stories.
Gurdon’s unique mixture of research and personal stories encouraged me to continue my daily reading with my own children. The author’s anecdotes of reading to her own children (everything from picture books to Robert Louis Stevenson adventure novels) are delightful and inspiring. In fact, after reading The Enchanted Hour, I added a more difficult but beautiful book to my mix of daily picture books: The Wind in the Willows, written by Kenneth Graham. (I chose the edition with absolutely lovely illustrations by Robert Ingpen). My four year old has loved the adventures of the kind friends Rat and Mole. (My one-year-old prefers Goodnight Moon. After reading Gurdon’s thoughts about that classic picture book, I have a fresh appreciation for Goodnight Moon. I think I enjoy reading it as much as my daughter enjoys listening to me read!)
Short on time to do your own reading? I listened to the audio version of The Enchanted Hour as I did my daily chores.
Favorite Quote:
“A story is never wholly yours again once a movie has colonized your mind’s eye.”
Meghan Cox Gurdon
You may also be interested in reading the first mini book review, on R.C. Sproul’s The Holiness of God. If you’re a parent of toddlers, check out my list of bilingual board books for children.