Living Passages for the Whole Family
Celebrating Rites of Passage from Birth to Adulthood

Shea Darian

Softbound

$21.95

Shea's latest book is a treasure for any family, any time. Throughout its more than 300 pages, she offers up celebrations for more than 20 of life's most important moments, many of which I have never witnessed anyone celebrating before. Her love of life and love for the human heart shine joyously on every page - Living Passages is itself a celebration of the steps we all must take along the pathway that is our life.

I believe that this book is destined to breathe healing life into the world long after all of us have moved on to other realms - it is just that powerful, just that love-filled. It is my fondest hope that it finds its way into hearts and homes everywhere, and becomes a source of renewed joy, hope and love to all who are touched by its goodness.

Inside you will find:

• Creative ideas for celebrating contemporary rites of passage from birth to age 21
• Guidance for making soulful connections to secular rites of passage in the 21st Century
• Over 20 rites of passage ceremonies for infants, children, youths and adults
• Over 30 songs to honor life transitions
• Ideas for celebrating birthday passages
• Guides for imparting age-appropriate rights and responsibilities in a young person's life
• Soulful wisdom & encouragement for parents
• Ideas for parents and caregivers to reclaim and heal life passages from the past

Birthday

Norah Romer

Illustrated by Heather Jarman

Softbound

$12.95

Five young children wait to travel with Father Time from Heaven down to Earth, on their Birthday.

Absolutely just right for our little ones!

The Birthday Book
Celebrations for Everyone

Ann Druitt, Christine Fynes-Clinton, Marije Rowling

Softbound

$33.00

A ‘bookshelf must’ to be dipped into whenever a birthday celebration arises. On a practical level, the advice it contains about organizing children’s birthday parties will, I am sure, save many parents’ pre- and post-party headaches.

—Sue Webb, Perfect Parties

Birthdays are milestones on our journey through life. The authors say, "We wrote this book for the many people who wish to find ways of bringing beauty, meaning, and a touch of magic into the celebration of birthdays."

Packed with recipes, stories, songs and games, and ideas for cards, decorations, and presents, The Birthday Book is spiced with quotations from famous birthday celebrants and amusing historical anecdotes.

Features:

• A complete resource for birthday celebrations from age one to 100+.
• How to organize a party—invitations, games, prizes and food.
• Party suggestions for teenagers, 18 to 21 year-olds, twins, and small children.
• Unique celebrations for those on holiday, ill, Christmas birthdays, and rainy days.
• Birthday traditions from around the world

The Winding Road
Family treasury of poems and verses

compiled by Matthew Barton

Softbound

$26.00

What pleasure awaits those who not only dip into this book at random, but who also search for the particular poem or verse which has personal meaning. What a gift for the family—and how wonderful to think of a new book growing with the family and being passed on, thoroughly finger-smudged, tear-stained and page turned.”

—Jamila Gavin, author of Coram Boy

Matthew Barton has gifted us with the most sensitively gathered collection of verse available in print. With poems for children from toddlers to teenagers, The Winding Road has beautiful verse for all interests, ages, and situations. You simply can't do better than to have a copy of this book at hand, ready for you to dip into when looking for "just the right poem" to share with your child -- I promise you, you'll find it.

Over 200 poems, from Gaelic Blessings to Navajo prayers, from William Black to Eleanor Farjeon and Billy Collins, on the following themes:

• The Clay that Shapes: Before Birth
• A Shock of Light: Birth
• Raining Double Blessings Down: Blessing, Naming and Baptism
  
• To Shine on Earth: A Young Child's Brithday
• Arise, Arise! Morning Verses with Young Children
• Bread Is a Lovely Thing to Eat: Graces
• Sleep's Unlatched Door: Evening and Prayer
  
• Feet Find a Way: First Milestones
• Sorrow's Springs: Illness and Upset
• A Wind Where the Rose Was: Bereavement
  
• The Ground to Stand On: Stepping Out and Growing Away
• I Am Good Fortune: Leaving Home
  
• Waldorf School Verses
  

A Child's Seasonal Treasury

Betty Jones

Hardcover

$22.95

This beautifully bound (including a ribbon page marker!), large format book is well-named, for it is indeed a treasury. From cover to cover, it is filled not only with poems, but with songs, games, riddles, fingerplays - even recipes for cookies, cakes, breads teas and more to carry the whole family through the four seasons. This book is so good, I'm wondering how I managed to raise my children without it!

The Children's Party Book
For Birthday's and Other Occasions

Anne and Peter Thomas

Hardbound

$25.00

From A to Z, this is the most complete, idea-laden, sound advice giving, enthusiasm inspring book I've seen on the subject of how to give and what to do at children's parties. The Children's Party Book ranges in content from guidelines for parties and games for children of different ages, to a lovely discussion of what a birthday is and can be for a child. Then, it plunges into page after page of ideas - things to make; party themes to create; party hats, invitations, decorations & favors to easily make from inexpensive materials. And then there's games, games, games - some sure to produce giggles and cheers, others that will evoke studious concentration, and still others that will leave the players happily collapsed on the lawn after joyous exertion. As if that weren't enough, there is also a section on puppet shows - how to make the puppets and stage, what to perform, and some puppet plays to get you going.

Altogether, a great book - wish I could be there when you try it out!

The Children's Year

Stephanie Cooper, Christine Fynes-Clinton, and Marye Rowling

$24.95

When we bought this book many years ago, we were both excited and intrigued by the more than one hundred projects and great ideas for celebrating life that are nestled between its covers. As it turned out, Nancy got to use the book for about a week and a half before it turned up "missing" in our third grade daughter's room. She had found it beside Nancy's work basket and decided after one look that it must have been intended for her! Perhaps it was, because she has used it ever since for inspiration for gifts, solace on rainy days, and, now that she is a teenager, as a touchstone to the strength of her own childhood. We hope it serves your family as well as it has served ours.

All Year Round

Ann Druitt, Christine Fynes-Clinton, Marije Rowling

$26.00

Two of the authors of The Children's Year teamed up with Ann Druitt to present us with a book that begins where The Children's Year leaves off. All Year Round is packed with an astonishing number of inspirations for celebrating life on Earth through acts of simple joyous creation. This simple, beautiful creativity and joyously respectful way of honoring the spiritual seasons of the earth will enrich your family's life as they delight your children.

The Nature Corner

M v Leeuwen
and J. Moeskops

$15.95

The Nature Corner is a wonderful resource for anyone wishing to add this to their child's experience of home. There are detailed instructions on setting up the basic table, including directions for making the draping cloths. Themes of the seasons and some of the festivals (most, but not all with a Christian theme), are portrayed with full directions for making the animals and dolls shown in the color photographs. There are instructions for making some of the dearest little mice, fluffiest of sheep, and the most charming gnomes ever. Do enjoy your creative romp through nature's year!

Festivals with Children

Brigitte Barz

Softbound

$15.95

After too long an absence, this book - beloved for its compact yet inspiring descriptions of the Christian festivals - is again available. Brigitte Barz describes the nature and character of each festival, its symbols and customs, and gives practical suggestions for celebrating these festivals within your family. Festivals with Children is much more than a craft book - it awakens an understanding ifor the festivals and inspires meaningful family celebration.

Festival Images for Today

Fourteen Lectures by
Carlo Pietzner

Softbound

$15.95

This anthology of 14 lectures points to the correspondence of microcosmic or human rhythms with the macrocosmic cycles of the year - acknowledged in what we call festival celebrations. Pietzner describes the inhalation and exhalation of our sense experiences during the course of the year, the connection of deep esoteric traditions and Christian striving with the gentle progression of nature, and the attempt to focuse our consciousness toward specific and important moments during the year.

I especially like that he makes an effort at every turn to link the phenomena and images of daily life with the grand events of the festivals that create each year anew. His insights are warm, human, caring and loving - his intent to help others by bringing us ways to enliven our world is so apparent. I think that if you are looking for a way to both understand and celebrate the festivals of the year, you will love this book

Stories for the Festivals of the Year
Told for Children

Irene Johanson

Softbound

$19.95

I had never heard of this little treasure of a book until a few weeks ago. In fact, I had never seen a copy until those I had requested sight unseen arrived at my door.

It's been a long time since I was in a community where simple yet deep and beautiful stories were told at festival times -- Irene Johanson has brought that all back to me and offers it to anyone who opens her book. Although these tales for the Christian festivals are indeed told for children, it is hard for me to image anyone who could listen to or read these stories without loving them.

Most of the stories are quite short, which is good not only because they can be told at bedtime, but because there is so much imaginative gold contained in each that these small portions allow the heart to wrap itself completely around the stories and lets the mind imagine each one to the fullest.

Contents:

• Easter, Ascension and Whitson - 9 different stories
• Legends about St. John (the Baptist) - 10 stories
• The Marriage of the King's Son (for Michaelmas) - 3 stories
• The Animals' Joy at Christmas - 6 stories
• Star Legends for Epiphany - 6 stories
• Holy Week - 6 stories

Traditions
Integrating the Days of Awe and Chanukah into the Waldorf Grades Curriculum

Erica Jayasuriya

Softbound

$20.00

For anyone who has been wanting to learn more about the Life within Judaism, and especially for those who have wished for more help in presenting some of the traditions within a Waldorf context, this joyous book is here to help. Filled with enthusiasm, beauty and love, you really can't do any better as a place to learn and glean ideas. The cover picture of Marc Chagall's Blue Violinist is a mere hint of the delights and joys within. Clearly, Erica Jayasuriya loves these traditions and has found a wellspring of beautiful ways to share them with children.

Earthways - Simple Environmental Activites for Young Children

Carol Petrash

$19.95

In writing Earthways, it is as though Carol Petrash took the idea of making a daisy chain and allowed it to blossom into a myriad of activities that are not only satisfying and fun, but serve to connect both children and adults to the living Earth. Whether you live in a bustling metropolis or in the quiet of the woods, you will be able to find the materials you need to experience the creative bounty of nature. Anyone who enters this magical kingdom with Ms. Petrash will find refreshment for the adult soul and a gentle guiding hand for the growing child.

Festivals Together

Sue Fitzjohn, Minda Weston, Judy Large

$27.00

Many of us want an experiential understanding of the ways that different cultures and religions have found to love the Earth and unite with the cosmos. This book is an answer to that longing. Though focused on joyous activity, each festival is introduced with a deep respect, compassion and comprehension - the seeds that will enable these celebrations to flower within our hearts.

Festivals Together presents celebrations from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh faiths and incorporates regional expressions of north and west Africa, the Caribbean, China, India, Ireland, Japan, New England, the Phillipines, and more.

Festivals, Family and Food

Diana Carey and Judy Large

$22.00

Festivals, Family and Food has become a classic of its kind. It is not only a guide to celebrating festivals, but an inspiration for celebrating life itself. Packed with ideas for crafts, games and delicious food, this book stands as an invitation to the joys of family life and an inspiration to share those joys with others.

Sing a Song of Seasons
Singing with Children Series

Songs from the seasons of nature to sing with young children

A Naturally You Can Sing Production

Arranged by Mary Thienes-Schunemann, Musician and Waldorf Educator

Songbook and CD

$21.95

Sing the new songs! Sing with Joy! . . . not only with your tongue, but with your life!

- St. Augustine

So begins - and rightly so! - this gift of a songbook for parents, teachers and children. Mary Thienes-Schunemann has created exactly the songbooks that I have for years heard adults who care for children begging for. As with her other songbooks, this one is packed with beautiful, mescal, expressive songs to share with young children - AND it comes with CD you can use to hear Mary sing all the songs in a voice so pure and simple it can bring tears (of joy and gratitude) to your eyes. And thus, in joy and beauty you can learn these songs and share them with your beloved children - who will grow with smiles and gladness and song at their singing.

Listen to a music clip 1 2 3

Saint Nicholas

Jakob Streit

Softbound

SORRY - OUT OF PRINT

Warm your heart during the Christmas season with this story of St. Nicholas. Master storyteller (and Waldorf teacher) Jakob Streit tells weaves the history and legends of the St. Nicholas together into a glowing tale, filled with light and love.

Streit's story takes us from Nicholas' childhood through his often adventurous adulthood and on into his sainthood. Each story is a loving portrait of human potential and a pathway along which we can learn to open our hearts wider and wider. Everything that says "Christmas" is captured in this beautiful little book.

The Light in the Lantern
Stories for Advent

Georg Dreissig

Softbound

$12.95

Mary and Joseph's path to Bethlehem is fraught with difficulties, but a small miracle happens on each day. The story of each miracle brings us a little closer to Christmas, until we finally reach the stable in Bethlehem where the light in the lantern is waiting in anticipation of Jesus' birth.

This is a beautiful way to convey to children the mounting joy that culminates in Christmas -- a beloved classic filled with heart-treasures.

Christmas Roses
Legends for Each Day of Advent

Includes retellings by such wonderful storytellers as Selma Lagerlöf and Jacob Streit

Hardbound

$39.95

What a find this book is! Everyone who shares these legends with their children (or themselves, should no children be available to give you an excuse) will discover something much more than beautiful stories, bathed in truth and light. I promise you that by the time you close the book on Christmas Eve you will notice that your entire life has been lifted into a rosey realm where Love reigns and peace abounds. Each and every one of these legends has been chosen for it's ability to reach the human heart and retold with a rare grace.

The legends are presented such that there is a tale to be read every evening from December 1 through the 24th. The book was published with the intent that it accompany a special Advent calendar, but it stands beautifully on its own.

Christmas Roses is a feast for the heart - do enjoy!

The Old Shepherd's Tale

Christopher Nye

Paintings by Henri Sørensen

Heirloom quality hardbound, dust jacketed, large format

$16.95

This story brought tears to my eyes, it is so poignantly beautiful, the perfect compliment to the festival of Christmas.

An old shepherd shares the stable with his animals on the night Mary and Joseph arrive and give birth to the infant Jesus. Miraculously, the stable fills with angels and with light, and the ox, the donkey and the cow are able to speak to each other and to the old shepherd. Each animal gives a special gift to the Child - the donkey (speaking for all donkeys) offers protection and safe passage into Egypt; the ox shares his strength with the Child, strength enough to become a carpenter and eventually carry a large cross; the cow offers the nourishment of her milk, that the Baby may become a strong man.

The shepherd goes on with his life of tending these and other animals, but when able to do so, shares the miracle of that night with those who do not know of it: a man beating an ox to make it labor harder, runs to find a second ox to help the first when he learns of the ox's gift to the Child; the shepherd buys starving donkeys, grazes them back to health and then sells them to a good home; the forgetful milkmaid never again leaves the cow unmilked once she learns of the cow's gift.

The shepherd sees the greatness of these beasts -- and shares that vision with us in this story that goes straight to the heart. For all ages.

The Emperor's Vision and Other Christ Legends
(formerly titled, Christ Legends and Other Stories)

Selma Lagerlöf

Softbound

$12.95

This is one of my favorite collections of stories surrounding the life and reality of Christ. Selma Lagerlöf's telling of these tales - ranging from the story of the surly shepherd of Bethlehem, to the war-hardened soldier at Herod's feast, to St. Veronica's act of grace toward the Emperor Tiberius - is profoundly beautiful and deep. These stories are timeless and will appeal to a wide range of children and adults - some stories are best told only to older children while some can become family treasures at a very early age. All of them will remain a cherished treasure in the hearts of those who hear them.

The Holy Night

Selma Lagerlöf

Illustrations by Ilon Wikland

Hardbound

$17.00

Of all the tales in Selma Lagerlöf's Christ Legends and Other Stories, this one has always been my favorite. It is really a story within a story, and both stories are as near to my heart as any I've ever encountered.

The one story is about Selma as a very young child who is remembering how loving and deep and kind her grandmother was; and how very empty life became when grandmother died. Before that, though, Grandmother told many, many stories, each ending with "This is as true as that I see you and you see me." And on one Christmas Day, Grandmother and Selma were both left at home because one was too old and the other too young. Both were sorry not to be taken to early Mass to hear the singing and to see the Christmas candles. And as they sat together Grandmother began to tell a story . . .

Thus begins the inner story of this tale, one of the truest of the many legends that have sprung up as humanity tries to grasp the wonder of the First Christmas. A man goes out to find fire to warm his wife and newly born son. He comes at last to a shepherd, who sits by the very fire he is seeking -- but the shepherd has a hard, angry heart and is in no way inclined to be helpful to the father. From there we hear how all the world worked to help that father and soften the heart of the shepherd.

This is a story that still sends tingles of wonder through my body and brings tears to my eyes just to think about it. I hope you and your children come to love it as much.

Lara's First Christmas

Alice O. Howell

Softbound

Sorry - out of print

Backorders Accepted

$9.95

The day I sat down to review this book, I felt as if I had been given a Christmas present -- the kind that are wrapped in beautiful paper with big ribbons and then, when you open them, there inside the box is just what you've been hoping for. That's how wonderful Lara's First Christmas is -- a warm, loving tale that everyone in your family is sure to want to hear each and every Christmas season. It will bring you warm-hearted smiles, giggles of delight, and tears that come from a place far within. In the end, you'll know that life is a gift and that life is good - love indeed rules the world.

Lara and her parents are refugees, fleeing a country "in the East" on the eve of World War II. They find themselves marooned in an isolated little hotel in snowbound Norway. Left all alone, Lara finds two eccentric old English guests who teach her to ski. And she discovers deep love and wisdom from the grandfatherly carpenter Andreas, who teaches her that Christmas really is a universal event, open to every heart and every faith.

A warm, luminous story about the real meaning of Christmas—from the author of The Beejum Book.

Christmas Stories Together

Estelle Bryer and Janni Nicol

Softbound

$19.95

Here is a treasure torve of 36 tales for children aged 3-9. The stories range from Advent through Christmas, ending with the Holy Families flight into Egypt.

This book is alight with the genius of storytelling. It tenderly shows how to weave a pattern of stories over Advent and the twelve days of Christmas

- Nancy Mellon, author of Storytelling with Children

Celebrating Christmas Together
Nativity and Three Kings Plays with stories and songs

Estelle Bryer and Janni Nicol

Softbound

$19.95

Create the wonder of Christmas with your children at school or at home - starting with a simple Advent Calendar and Crêche. The Nativity Play is spell binding - whether told as a story in verse, narrated whilst children act the parts, or performed entirely by children.

This Christmas treasury includes:

• The Nativity Play with staging directions and instructions for simple costumes and props
• Songs and music to accompany the play
• How to create a Crêche
• Making an Advent Calendar
• The Three Kings Play
• Christmas stories

The Christmas Story Book

Collected by
Ineke Verschuren

$29.50

The Christmas Story Book is one of the best anthologies of Christmas tales available anywhere. The stories are a colorful colleciton, carefully choses to show the spirit of Christmas in many different facets. The book is divided into five sections: Advent, the Birth of the Child, Christmas night through the ages, Christmas in the world, and the Three King's time. Authors include Hans Christian Andersen, Leonid Andreiev, Jane Clement, Maxim Gorki, Gerhard Klein, Selma Lagerlöf and many more.

The Christmas Star
Well-loved songs for the Christmas season from Advent to Three Kings Day to sing with your beloved children

Mary Thienes-Schunemann

A Naturally You Can Sing Production

Songbook and audio CD
Parent/Teacher Resource

BACK IN PRINT!!

$21.95

In olden times, when a person wished to express something sacred and holy, they were not allowed to speak about it, they could only sing. It was recognized that singing contained a higher power than speech and was a holy activity. There are still echoes of this ancient practice in some cultures of the world today. The memory is still present that how we use our voices to sing and speak can contribute to healing and peace, in our hearts and in the world.

- Mary Thienes-Schunemann

Tears filled my eyes several times as I listened to the CD that accompanies this extraordinary song book. It was not just that the music and singing were so very beautiful, nor was it that the songs were so well chosen, nor even that they brought back some of the best memories of my life. It was that Mary's music is all these things and something much more as well - The Christmas Star is quite simply a sun-drenched outpouring of hope and love. What could have been just one more nice collection of Christmas carols has, through her healing artistry and deep sensitivity, come into the world a gleaming, golden gift of life offered to our children and their children beyond.

I can't think of a better gift for your children, your family, yourself - a true celebration of the Light of Love kindled in the darkest season.

Listen to a music clip 1 2 3

Mary's Little Donkey
and the Flight to Egypt

Gunhild Sehlin

Softbound

$12.00

Our family read this story every advent for years. I divided the book into 24 parts, reading each one after we opened the next door of the advent calendar for that night. The copy of the story we had did not contain the Flight into Egypt, so our reading stopped at Christmas Eve. Had we been able to do so, I would have divided the Flight into Egypt into 11 parts and read one each of the Holy NIghts following Christmas Eve. I still can't think of a better - and simpler - way to celebrate that time of year. You can begin your own tradition when your oldest child is about 4. Your younger children will be captivated by the interest of the eldest and can fully participate in this evening ritual.

The stubborn, dirty little donkey who is of no use to anyone in Nazareth becomes a quick and willing helper under Mary's care. But Mary and Joseph have to leave Nazareth in obedience to Caesar's decree, and the donkey carries Mary to Bethlehem where the Child is born. The donkey hopes to carry Mary and her son quickly back to Nazareth, but instead they have to flee to far-away Egypt . . .

Gunhild Sehlin worked for over twenty years as a UN children's worker in Jordan and Jerusalem.

The Easter Story Book

Collected by
Ineke Verschuren

Illustrated by Ronald Heuninck

Softbound

$19.50

This collection of over thirty stories, legends and folk tales reflects the season around Easter and early summer. In this season there are also a number of other important religious festivals: Ascension, Whitsun and St. John's.

Some of the stories, like "St. Veronica," are placed in the context of the great Easter and Whitsun events. Others, like "The Bargemaster's Easter," show the effect of these events on the human heart. For younger children, folk tales from all round the world illustrate at a deeper imaginative level the theme of sacrifice and the triumph of love and loyalty over adversity. The motif of resurrection, in which the character throws off an outer skin and emerges in a new, truer and shining guise, recurs again and again.

This collection is another one of those treasures that can grace your family life for many, many years. Excellent.