Eyes and No Eyes and Other Stories (Unabridged)

Summary

Whatever will stimulate the observing tendencies of the young cannot but be of value to them. "Eyes and No Eyes" does this in a delightful way. The story is so natural that the child is wrapped up in it, and so it makes a deep impress upon him. Much less could be accomplished by simply telling him to observe, or lecturing upon the value of keeping one's eyes open. But when the reader sees how much more William gets out of his walk than Robert, and what marvellous things exist everywhere if one is on the lookout for them, he is himself incited to examine with greater care the many more or less ordinary things he has neglected heretofore. William and Robert become very real individuals to the child, and there is no doubt which of them he will choose to emulate. The author relies upon the force of concrete example to determine the conduct of children, and this is certainly sound in theory and endorsed by experience. Two of the stories are written by a brother-sister team of John Aikin and Jane Barbauld and are from their multi-volume work on "The Art of Seeing". Jane Marcet has also written many scientific books. Best well known, however, is the author Jane Taylor who wrote the lyrics to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"