Living Books – The Essential Ingredient

“One more thing is of vital importance; children must have books, living books.
The best is not too good for them; anything less than the best is not good enough.
And if it is needful to exercise economy, let go everything that belongs to soft and
luxurious living before letting go the duty of supplying the books, and the frequent
changes of books, which are necessary for the constant stimulation of the child’s intellectual life.”
~Charlotte Mason~

In Part II, The Art of Nourishing a Child’s Mind, it was established that the mind is capable of dealing with only one kind of food; it lives, grows and is nourished upon ideas and THAT is where we, the educators, can be of most use as we provide a rich cultural, natural and spiritual environment to be the brain food of our children or grandchildren. Also explored was the idea of letting children encounter art and music without needless interference. The same is true when it comes to “serving up” culture in the form of literature for our children.