In so many ways, it is the tome I would want to carry to the mountaintop, for it shouts all my deepest passions: It is all about sparking the aesthetic imagination of the young child, through careful attention to the quiet and the beautiful all around.
But, sadly, “The Brightening Glance: Imagination and Childhood” (Pantheon, $25), the latest title from Ellen Handler Spitz–an expert on children’s aesthetic development and author, previously, of “Inside Picture Books”–is not a book you’ll find tucked in many beach bags this summer.
It’s a bit thick, liberally laced with literary and psychoanalytic references, and it’s not for those more inclined toward watered-down broth. For those inclined to spoon deep into the potage, however, it is rich and it is delicious.
For Page 183 alone–where Spitz makes the claim that it’s sad that so many children “celebrate their birthdays in commercial venues . . . where everything is standardized and predictable,” and encourages parents to make, not buy, the party–I’d haul it to my sand castle.
On rediscovery: “Through aesthetic experiences, there exists the exquisite chance to discover the world, again and again, for the first time.”