{"id":2146,"date":"2024-06-07T11:52:43","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T15:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/?p=2146"},"modified":"2024-11-18T16:00:37","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T21:00:37","slug":"the-test-of-the-living-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/the-test-of-the-living-book\/","title":{"rendered":"The Test of the Living Book"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row full_width=&#8221;stretch_row_content&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;true&#8221; custom_padding_t=&#8221;30&#8243; custom_padding_b=&#8221;30&#8243; row_hide_sm=&#8221;yes&#8221; row_hide_md=&#8221;yes&#8221; row_hide_xs=&#8221;yes&#8221; css_zindex=&#8221;999&#8243; css=&#8221;.vc_custom_1706567709549{background-color: #faf5eb !important;}&#8221;][vc_column]<div class=\"templatera_shortcode\"><div class=\"container-fluid row_section vc_row_cp_lr_15 vc_row_cp_t_0 vc_row_cp_b_0\"><div  class=\"vc_row wpb_row vc_row-fluid 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Mason<\/a><\/span><\/h5><\/div><div class=\"vc_empty_space  vc_empty_space_3\"   style=\"height: 10px\" ><span class=\"vc_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"vc_custom_heading vc_custom_heading_6953acb0af5a6034429639\" ><h5 style=\"font-size: 17px;color: #000000;text-align: left\"><span class=\"hilight\"  ><a href=\"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/blog\/\">Articles<\/a><\/span><\/h5><\/div><div class=\"vc_empty_space  vc_empty_space_4\"   style=\"height: 10px\" ><span class=\"vc_empty_space_inner\"><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class=\"vc_custom_heading vc_custom_heading_6953acb0af6aa467122007\" ><h5 style=\"font-size: 17px;color: #000000;text-align: left\"><span class=\"hilight\"  ><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amblesideschools.com\/main\/educator-support\" target=\"_blank\">Members<\/a><\/span><\/h5><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;3\/4&#8243;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/amblesideschools.org\/blog\/\"><span style=\"color: #003865;\">&gt; Return to Articles<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;The Test of the Living Book&#8221; use_theme_fonts=&#8221;yes&#8221; font_container=&#8221;tag:h1|font_size:30|text_align:left|color:%23020202&#8243;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_separator width_in_percentages=&#8221;yes&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOne more thing is of vital importance; children must have books, living books; the best are not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough.\u201d<sup>1<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t you admire the passion and conviction in Miss Mason\u2019s voice when she argues that children are worthy of receiving the best books? Since they are born persons, there is no need for them to finish growing up before we give them beautiful literature; at six years old, entering kindergarten, they are already thoughtful and ready to learn about many things. Parents today encounter a modern problem when looking for living books, but the solution, which Miss Mason identifies for us, is ages-old, just the same as it\u2019s always been.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The problem is that our society has become very good at producing books, stacks and stacks of them, often inexpensively. Authors mean well, but they are not always aware of their own \u201cidea\u201d of children, which is sometimes very low. You might find it sobering to hold a picture book and try to determine the author\u2019s idea of children, for example: \u201cChildren want authors to talk exactly like little children,\u201d or, \u201cChildren only care about familiar, everyday things,\u201d or, we would hope, \u201cChildren need beauty and truth, and these are never wasted on them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>How do we find stories by authors who think highly of children? How do we find <em>a living book<\/em> \u2014 a rare thing of life-giving power \u2014 amid many watery, bland stories; <em>twaddle<\/em>, as they used to say in Miss Mason\u2019s time?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In her discussion of the \u201cbeauty sense\u201d in her book <em>Ourselves<\/em>, Charlotte Mason gives us a way to test for true, living literature. The test is just as effective now as it was in her day. As you read it, watch for the following: what is it about the words in a text that makes <em>a living book<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The thing is, to keep your eye upon words and wait to feel their force and beauty; and, when words are so fit that no other words can be put in their places, so few that none can be left out without spoiling the sense, and so fresh and musical that they delight you, then you may be sure that you are reading Literature, whether in prose or poetry. A great deal of delightful literature can be recognized only by this test.<sup>2<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pause and tell back to yourself: for what are you looking and waiting when you test literature?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Maybe you would like to try it. Take a moment to dwell, to wait on the words of both texts below: are the words powerful, beautiful, few, and delightful? Or are they many, but somehow lacking?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>There was once a witch who desired to know everything. But the wiser a witch is, the harder she knocks her head against the wall when she comes to it. Her name was Watho, and she had a wolf in her mind.<sup>3<\/sup><\/li>\n<li>In a city called Stonetown, near a port called Stonetown Harbor, a boy named Reynie Muldoon was preparing to take an important test. It was the second test of the day \u2014 the first had been in an office across town.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If you are like me, the first text makes you want to cancel your obligations for the day and find out what happened to Watho. This is <em>a living book<\/em>. But the second one \u2026 perhaps you didn\u2019t find it particularly interesting, but you wondered if it might turn interesting later. Would it be worth it to read more? I think the way we respond to that question depends on how much practice we\u2019ve had. The more living books you find, the more precious they seem \u2014 you no longer want to spend time on stories that lack literary power. And that raises a question: how much of a chance should you give an unknown book, to let it prove its real nature to you?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here is Miss Mason\u2019s thought on that. She calls this thought \u201cunhappy,\u201d because sometimes children reject books we think are good for them. As you read, watch for how much you need to take in to decide whether you\u2019re holding a living book or not; also listen for what happens in your mind once it\u2019s declared the book to be living or twaddle:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A book may be long or short, old or new, easy or hard, written by a great man or a lesser man, and yet be the living book which finds its way to the mind of a young reader. The expert is not the person to choose; the children themselves are the experts in this case. A single page will elicit a verdict; but the unhappy thing is, this verdict is not betrayed; it is acted upon in the opening or closing of the door of the mind.<sup>4<\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>How much text does she say you need to decide? And what happens to your mind once you have made the call?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>You may have experienced this yourself: you pick up an old book, flip to a page halfway through, and accidentally read for an hour, immersed in another world \u2014 a living book! Or you take up a recommended book, but before the end of the first page, your mind wanders. You close the book, and it\u2019s already fading \u2014 twaddle. You might feel obligated to keep the book, but it would be difficult to make yourself read and enjoy it, indeed. Children feel the same.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It takes a lot of digging, searching, trial and error, to keep on finding living books for your family, but it is a labor of \u201cvital importance.\u201d We modern people have blogs, lists, internet searches, and recommendations to give us ideas, but only the simple test of waiting for the force and beauty of words on a page will show whether you hold a treasure in your hands. Where will you discover your next living book?<a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Heidi Kimball<\/p>\n<p>Associate Director of Curriculum, Training, and Homeschooling[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_separator width_in_percentages=&#8221;yes&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;30&#8243;][vc_column_text]<sup>1 <\/sup>Charlotte Mason, <em>Parents and Children<\/em>, p. 278<\/p>\n<p><sup>2<\/sup> Charlotte Mason, <em>Ourselves<\/em>, p. 41<\/p>\n<p><sup>3<\/sup> George MacDonald, <em>The Day Boy and the Night Girl<\/em><\/p>\n<p><sup>4<\/sup> Charlotte Mason, <em>School Education<\/em>, p. 228[\/vc_column_text][vc_raw_html]JTVCeWFycHAlNUQ=[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parents today encounter a modern problem when looking for living books, but the solution, which Miss Mason identifies for us, is ages-old, just the same as it\u2019s always been.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2147,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,12],"tags":[80,81],"class_list":["post-2146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heidi-kimball","category-philosophy","tag-living-books","tag-philosophy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Test of the Living Book - Ambleside International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was a beautiful week. 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