Earhardt’s kids’ books look at both sides of the parent-child experience
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The first of Ainsley Earhardt’s books, “Take Heart, My Child,” was written before Hayden was born. Earhardt wrote as a mother-to-be trying to put into words all her hopes and dreams for her future child. As she revealed to Publisher’s Weekly, the book was also inspired by her relationship with her own parents. “My mother, who was a teacher, had to be up and out of the house early, so my father was always in charge of breakfast,” she told them. “My siblings and I would come down to the kitchen to find notes that he had written to each of us — passages from scripture, poems, or sayings he loved.”
Once her daughter was born, Earhardt began imagining seeing the world through her new baby’s eyes. She shared an anecdote about the first time her daughter saw rain, describing the infant as “totally transfixed” and saying she experienced her own revelation: “For the first time I got to experience rain through my daughter’s eyes — and I realized there is nothing better than that.” The book that was borne of this realization was “Through Your Eyes.” While the story is not narrated in the child’s voice (Hayden, just 18 months old when the book came out, was probably not too articulate at that point), it nevertheless deals with what a child is seeing and how she feels about it.
Things You Didn’t Know About Ainsley Earhardt’s Children’s Books
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By Maria Scinto/Aug. 30, 2021 12:02 pm EST
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No matter how wrapped up Earhardt is in her career, though, nor how hot and heavy her relationship with Hannity may be, these things pale next to the single most important element of her life: her daughter, Hayden. Although she shares custody of the 5-year-old with her ex-husband, Will Proctor, she finds her greatest joy in being a mom, so much so that she’s penned two children’s books based on her own experience: “Take Heart, My Child: A Mother’s Dream,” which was published in 2016, and “Through Your Eyes: My Child’s Gift to Me,” which came out in 2017.
Earhardt’s kids’ books look at both sides of the parent-child experience
Shutterstock
The first of Ainsley Earhardt’s books, “Take Heart, My Child,” was written before Hayden was born. Earhardt wrote as a mother-to-be trying to put into words all her hopes and dreams for her future child. As she revealed to Publisher’s Weekly, the book was also inspired by her relationship with her own parents. “My mother, who was a teacher, had to be up and out of the house early, so my father was always in charge of breakfast,” she told them. “My siblings and I would come down to the kitchen to find notes that he had written to each of us — passages from scripture, poems, or sayings he loved.”
Once her daughter was born, Earhardt began imagining seeing the world through her new baby’s eyes. She shared an anecdote about the first time her daughter saw rain, describing the infant as “totally transfixed” and saying she experienced her own revelation: “For the first time I got to experience rain through my daughter’s eyes — and I realized there is nothing better than that.” The book that was borne of this realization was “Through Your Eyes.” While the story is not narrated in the child’s voice (Hayden, just 18 months old when the book came out, was probably not too articulate at that point), it nevertheless deals with what a child is seeing and how she feels about it.
Once her daughter was born, Earhardt began imagining seeing the world through her new baby’s eyes. She shared an anecdote about the first time her daughter saw rain, describing the infant as “totally transfixed” and saying she experienced her own revelation: “For the first time I got to experience rain through my daughter’s eyes — and I realized there is nothing better than that.” The book that was borne of this realization was “Through Your Eyes.” While the story is not narrated in the child’s voice (Hayden, just 18 months old when the book came out, was probably not too articulate at that point), it nevertheless deals with what a child is seeing and how she feels about it.
Ainsley Earhardt’s first book seems to have been more popular
Perhaps most tellingly, though, is the fact that several major editorial review sites chose to cover “Take Heart, My Child,” while most of the “Through Your Eyes” reviews seem to have been penned by customers. That may be a mixed blessing for the former title, though, since the major review sites didn’t exactly rave about it. According to Kirkus, “This treacle-sweet book feels like an extended greeting card.” Publisher’s Weekly’s take was more positive, but still mixed: “Though the advice can be syrupy or overfamiliar … Earhardt’s you-can-do-it message is consistently encouraging.”
Other reviewers, however, noted that while they liked Earhardt as a person, her writing skills weren’t exactly on a professional level. One of the reviews of her earlier title was directed at the author, telling her: “Ainsley, I love you. Glad you got the job. Very disappointed with this book, you should’ve put a little effort into it,” while the latter book drew such comments as “If we’re honest with ourselves and put fandom aside, this isn’t a good book … No talent, no originality — a clearly infantile book. If she wasn’t on TV this wouldn’t have ever merited publication on any scale.”
