7
" Someone once said that the worst features of an era are accented in the children’s books of that period. Book by book our societal problems were dumped into children’s books. What editors called “realism” is really adult betrayal, violence, sexual indiscretions, alcoholism, and the Big D’s: death, divorce, disease, and drugs. Books with inconsequential plots and characters became thinly disguised “moralisms”—the kind of moralisms that come from a nonjudgmental culture urging readers to suspend judgment, to become understanding and noncondemning, and to realize their sexuality. "
― Gladys M. Hunt , Honey for a Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life
11
" Children have two basic needs, writes Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving: they need both milk and honey from their parents. Milk symbolizes the care given to physical needs: brush your teeth, drink your orange juice, eat your vegetables, get enough sleep. Honey symbolizes the sweetness of life, that special quality that makes life sing with enjoyment for all it holds. Fromm says, “Most parents are capable of giving milk, but only a minority of giving honey, too.” To give honey, one must love honey and have it to give. Good books are rich in honey, and hence the title of this book. "
― Gladys M. Hunt , Honey for a Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life