How to Tell If A Book Living Book Isn't Living
The use of Living books is the cornerstone of a Charlotte Mason Education. If you’ve been around social media long enough you’ve seen this phrase pinned against the word “twaddle” with encouragement to find the best books.
“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.”-Charlotte Mason
Learning what a living book is can feel daunting, especially when that book you really didn’t like shows up on several living book lists. Thankfully, Mason gives us guidelines for the types of books children should read and what a living book is.
Engage the Reader: Living books are written by authors who have a passion for their subject. They captivate the reader's interest and draw them into the subject matter.
Narrative Style: These books are typically written in a narrative or storytelling style rather than a dry, textbook format. This helps in making the content more engaging and memorable.
Rich and Vibrant Language: Living books use language that is rich, vibrant, and well-crafted. The use of descriptive and expressive language helps to stimulate the reader's imagination.
Connection to Real Life: The content of living books is connected to real-life experiences. They provide a window to the world, allowing readers to explore different cultures, historical periods, and ideas.
Inspire a Love for Learning: Charlotte Mason believed that exposure to living books would inspire a love for learning. These books enable students to form a personal connection with the material, fostering a lifelong curiosity.
A good book isn’t synonymous with a living book. We can hold a book up to all of the standards that Charlotte Mason lays out and still find that our child (or we) don’t hold the book in high regards. We can understand the value of the text, the merit, and still dislike it. Because living books are subjective. A key point of human nature is that we will have different opinions on different things.
So how do you determine a book isn’t living for your child, or yourself?
Your child’s (or your) consistently has poor narrations. After a single reading, you or your child are unable to narrate back what you hear or read on a consistent basis. This may present as your child saying things like “I don’t know” or “I don’t remember”. A single narration being off isn’t necessarily a big deal, but if every narration for a book is poor it may be a sign your child isn’t connecting to the text.
The book doesn’t spark any living ideas or imagination in your child. For my preschooler this comes out in play. When he’s inspired by a book we’re reading he enters into the pretend world where he acts out various things he’s heard in text. For my daughter, elements of what she’s read comes out in her writing assignments, drawing, or conversations she has with us.
Your child isn’t inspired to learn more after reading. Living books are meant to invite your child to learn more about the subject, if a book isn’t living your child won’t care to continue their education on that subject area.
Your child is reluctant to do the reading. This might look like them arguing with you about the book or making statements like, “ I hate this book.”
So what do we do as homeschool moms when our child isn’t connecting with the book to the point where we consider if it’s not a good fit?
First, I’d encourage you to evaluate if its simply not the right time to read the book. Perhaps your child is being expected to do too much and they could come back to this book at a later time.
Next, there’s grace in not finishing a book. Consider if you need to fill the gap with similar book that meets the same need.
The beauty of homeschool is that we get to make decisions for our children and cater their education to them. Setting aside a book and finding a living replacement is doing just that, giving your child a living education. We live in a world with thousands of incredible books, don’t feel nervous to seek the rights ones and change the list as needed.
