Saturday, June 9, 2012

Just David, by Eleanor H. Porter


 

David is a boy of 10 who has spent the last six years on the top of a mountain with his father, meeting only the milk boy and occasionally someone in the distant town. His sheltered life has allowed his father to train him up in his own way: David’s father himself says that David “knows only that which is good and beautiful. He knows nothing of sin nor evil.” David and his father are both violinists of the highest caliber. “Always, when [David] was moved, he turned to his violin. Always in its quivering strings he found the means to say that which his tongue could not express.”

And so it is that once David is under the care of another man who has sent him to gather wood, David gets distracted by the faces of pansies and is found some minutes later “playing” the pansies on his violin, with the wood box empty. David’s journey from innocence about life to understanding of work and pain is one that readers will treasure. With child-like thoughts and wording we learn with David about the beauty of the world around us. We can see it too, if only we will take the time to be still and see.

This book was recommended to me by ChocolateOnMyCranium@blogspot.com. Go to the blog and search for “Just David” to see her own reviews and experiences with the book.

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