Honey for a Child’s Heart, 50th Anniversary edition

Honey for a Child’s Heart is a beautiful guide full of book lists, a resource worth having in your home library.

*Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys and Mark Hunt. Holiday House, 2021, 178 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12

Recommended for: ages 10-14

There are plenty of lists of good books and books of good lists, but finding a trustworthy guide makes all the difference. Living in the world (not just “our society,” because needing discretion isn’t new to the present age) means that it will always be necessary for parents to model wisdom instead of fear when choosing reading material both for and with their children. (Aren’t prepositions lovely? They make such a difference.) This is why Honey for a Child’s Heart is a beautiful resource to have in your home library.

Updated and Expanded

Reading the insights of Mark Hunt in the 50th edition that are interwoven with his mother’s original text was encouraging. Twenty years ago, when the 4^th edition was published, parents had reasons to be concerned about literature. (Gladys Hunt’s humble defense of Harry Potter is worth thinking about.) Today, parents have new reasons to be concerned about literature. The next generation will have more reasons to be concerned about literature. Different issues, but we wonder how to respond as Christians. Should we be afraid? Avoid certain books? When and how should our children have to deal with contemporary issues? What about books in the past? Can we trust them anymore?

The 5^th edition addresses concerns about screen time, books with gender inclusion and sharing books through a pandemic. The recommendations for family reading habits are founded reading Scripture together and honoring the Word of God in your home, while enthusiastically sharing recommendations for books that are just delightful. The index includes a number of titles we have recommended on the website, and I plan to use it to find more great books that our family might have missed. Sometimes a titles seems misplaced on a particular list, but they’re still worth reading.

We at Redeemed Reader seek to carry this torch and run alongside our fellow readers. We aren’t perfect, but we’re growing in grace and trusting God to continue to reveal Himself as we enjoy good books, ponder difficult ones, and quietly refrain from books which are in no way edifying. Here’s to finishing well.

Overall Rating: 4.75 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4.5
• Artistic/literary value: 5

Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

Reviews: See our review of Gladys Hunt’s Honey for a Teen’s Heart.

Resource: Janie’s introduction to our collection of Glady’s Hunt’s further resources, known on Redeemed Reader as “The Hive.”

Reflection: Hayley’s list of Books Worth a Library Fine (because we’ve all done that, haven’t we?)

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