These books are aligned with Waldorf Education curriculum and principles. For more information on what I mean by that, please visit this page: What is Waldorf-Aligned?
Published: 2013 Theme: Creativity Best for: 5 to 8 "In school, we have lots of rules. At home, there are lots of rules too. I'm learning that with with art, there really are no rules. That's what makes it so great. Artists like Georgia O'Keeffe, Jackson Pollock and Pablo Picasso created new ways to make paintings... " I encourage any adult who loves bringing art to children to consider this book. It illuminates the value of bringing a child into the world of creativity.
Published: 2009 Theme: Gratitude Best for: ages 5 and up "Minli gaped at the dragon in front of her. It was brilliant red, the color of a lucky lantern, with emerald-green whiskers, horns, and a dull stone-colored ball like the moon on his head. He was half-covered by...the silvery lake of water his tears had formed all around him." What joy, to find such a superb collection of Chinese folk tales, woven together into one adventure story with a beautiful message about gratitude.
Published: 1918 Theme: Nature Spirits Best for: 5 - 8 "Ivra was different. Because she was only half-fairy, any human could see her whether his eyes were shadowed or not, if he would only look hard enough...When a human did see her, he was likely not to believe in her. He would just think he was day-dreaming." Here's a children's book that understands and loves the unseen folk: the fairies, the tree sprites, the good witches, and more. Ethel Cook Eliot was a master storyteller...
Published: 2013 Theme: Artistry Best for: 5 to 8 "Each day something new and surprising dripped out of Daozi's brush. His straight lines splintered into trees. His hooks caught fish. His dots burst into eyes, then pigs and monkeys. From a stroke, a horse's tail flew by." This children's book is exquisite from beginning to end, from front cover to back cover. The story is an imaginative version of the life of the great Chinese artist Wu Daozi...
Published: 2007 Theme: Contentment Best for: 6 and up "The Queen could always tell when the King had visited the hermit, for he would be, for a short time, calmer than usual, not straining at his restrictive clothing, not complaining or yawning. She would find him sitting mute on his throne,...gazing placidly around the room." This children's book is just pure and simple fun. I found the book in a used book store, and was immediately struck by its beauty...
Published: 1955 Theme: Historical Fiction Best for: ages 10 and up "The troops from Andover appeared in there dashing red uniforms, every button shining, leather gleaming...The church bells chimed. Then a great shout went up. For there was President Washington – a tall, commanding man, riding horseback to enter the town." Here's a children's book that is so informative, it's a little hard not to compare it to a dull textbook that might teach the same subject. The subject matter is navigation, discoveries, and life at the time of the American Revolution.
Published: 2010 Theme: Courage, Racial Discrimination Best for: 11 and older "Would Mama like the colors I picked? Would she be mad about me taking them pieces from her apron? I turned the quilt in the air, looking at it this way and that. Soon I would be running out of thread.Wasn't but a few inches hanging down like the tail of a kite." Gee's Bend is indeed a real place. The women of Gee's bend have a tradition of creating quilts that dates back to early American history. In recent years, their quilts were discovered...
Published: 2013 Theme: Imagination Best for: up to age 8 This is a children's book without a single word. Is it great children's literature? Absolutely, because the literature comes from the children themselves.
Published: 1943 Theme: Self-Reliance Best for: 9 to 12 "Dick was there, of course, but, with his mind on the new boat, or on birds, or on cutting up wood in a scientific way, he did not seem to realize that they were going to sleep in a hut in the wood with nobody in it but themselves, a hut with holes in its roof and no glass in its window." Each of Ransome's books carry the excitement of: children out on their own, creating wild adventures in nature, having close calls that are always resolved, and learning absolute self-sufficiency and resilience...
Published: 1930 Theme: Magic of the Ordinary Best for: 9 and up "Night putting her arms around the sea. No helping wizard. Just the earth going to bed the same as it had done for a million years.. .Were no more wonders worked since sprites and fairies left the haunts of Man? Yet it was magic too, this...the sun sinking in the sea at dusk and rising on the land at dawn." This children's book is about belief in the unseen worlds, and learning to see the magic that is also possible in daily life. The characters in the book are fascinating, and unlike those we might meet in other books...
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