The Eyes of a Child

“Mommy, how can two such little eyes see so much?” Maria, age 5

We are listening to Farmer Boy on CD right now. I know you all know that anything by Laura Ingalls Wilder is a classic—that lady is just gifted when it comes to telling stories from a child’s perspective.

But are you familiar with the books on CD? For those of you who haven’t yet given them a listen, they are just what you need for your drive-time pick-me-up. (And who among us does not have more “drive-time” than we’d prefer, at times?) I highly recommend them.

Now this is where my review ends and the magic begins.

I thought that my preschooler and kindergartener might enjoy the picture book County Fair from the Little House series. We love these, too, and I can’t credit these illustrators (Renee Graef, Jody Wheeler) enough for being faithful to Garth Williams’ original illustrations.

So the girls and I sat down on the couch to read County Fair together while the boys worked at the table. 2nd grader Stephen asked if he could join us and of course I said “Of course.” His copy work could wait.

From the time I began the story, I could see that Stephen was enchanted. “Oh, so that’s what Almanzo looks like!” he breathed. He couldn’t take his eyes off the pictures. I was just about to shift into Teacher/Mom mode and say something to the effect of “Well no, now, that’s just what the illustrator thought he looked like…” when the Holy Spirit stopped me. It was clear from my 7-year-old’s look of wonder what was happening.

Stephen’s new friend had a face.

The boy in the story from the book on CD that we’d been listening to in the van…here he was!

And then suddenly I remembered my own childhood experience, which was to stare at the story’s protagonist on the book cover and really take in all the details. The more detailed the rendering the better. I wanted to know what she (or he) looked like because she had been such a large part of my life.

Today when we drive to piano lessons, we will bring our copy of the book Farmer Boy so that we can follow along with the story on CD.

Because life is even richer when it’s illustrated!