Gladys Hunt on Taking Notice

Editor’s Note: The Honey for a Child’s Heart Read-Along is focusing this month on Chapter 7 (“Honey from the Rock”) and Chapter 23 (“Nourishing Your Child’s Spiritual Life”). It may seem contradictory that an essential part of nourishing one’s inward spiritual life is getting out of oneself and paying attention to the surrounding world. But Gladys Hunt had some thoughts about that . . .

Be Sure to Notice

Originally published on the Tumblon website on November 5, 2008

Noticing is an art form all its own. A good book should help you notice the world, and you can’t begin too early with noticing. It’s the honey that gives life such a wonderful taste. In the beginning point out what you see. Later when the child is able to respond, ask questions, “Where is the duck? How many ducks do you see?”

When Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown was made into a board book everyone cheered. Written sixty-some years ago, it has become a favorite book for many families, spanning generations. It’s a going-to-bed story, with all kinds of things to notice, including a little mouse who shows up on each page. The room darkens with each turn of the page. This book has become a classic, and you will want it in your child’s library. And, yes, you will read it over and over again.

Look also for Runaway Bunny, another favorite. Margaret Wise Brown had an unusual gift of entering into a small child’s world and helping the reader notice. I am delighted that many of the hundred books she wrote in her short life (she died in surgery at age 42) have recently been published in new editions. Look for Big Red Barn. Many of her books are available in Spanish.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle is another classic that will become a favorite and you will find your 18-month-old son bringing this book to you for a snuggle-up reading time. Look also for The Very Hungry Caterpillar or Have You Seen My Cat?

There are so many authors and illustrators to talk about—Mem Fox’s Time for Bed; Tomie dePaola’s Tomie’s Little Mother Goose or Eric Hill’s Where’s Spot? The important thing is meeting one or two authors who set a standard. As you become familiar with one author after another, you are on your way to learning how to pick out good books.

There’s More There To See

Originally published on the Tumblon website on December 2, 2008

I’ve been thinking about what “noticing” does for children as they grow up. It is not just a cute gimmick for picture book time. “Noticing” provides training for thankfulness. I remember the flip my heart did when our seven year old said in his night-time prayer: “Dear God, Thank you for that whole big field of snow that no one had even walked in that I played in today.” Now, years later, I scarcely ever see a field of fresh snow without thinking of what fun it would be to make the first footprints or plop down and make an angel. That’s why Ezra Jack Keats picture book The Snowy Day is a favorite of mine.

The sense of thankfulness and wonder reminds us that it’s not the big things in life, but the little things we take for granted that need exploring. Like the way the world smells after a fresh summer rain. “Noticing” is a growing awareness of what is good and true.

Children are basically ego-centric in their early years, and need help as they begin to form empathy. That’s why it is good to help children notice acts of kindness so they can see what “kindness” looks like in real life. The small boy in the store who rushes to help a shopper pick up the cans she knocked over is someone to notice. Helping and listening and friendly behavior all help make a safe world. If we look for it, we will find many such “kindnesses” in picture books to point out to children. We learn how to act from seeing what others do. “Noticing” feeds curiosity which is so important for a growing imagination. When I think of “noticing” I think of Don, a very bright graduate student who passed through our lives, who seemed oblivious to the world around him. He was still the center of his own universe. He had a Phi Beta Kappa key, but he had never noticed that different trees had different leaf patterns, and that the bark was not all the same. I found myself wishing I could read some picture books with him to give him some noticing skills, even though he was supposedly long past that stage

© Gladys M. Hunt 2008-10, reissued in 2022 with minor adjustments with permission of the Executor of the Literary Estate of Gladys M. Hunt (4194 Hilton SE, Lowell, MI 49331). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• See our review of Noticing, a picture book for image-bearing creators of any age.