The Underground City

Anne Forbes

Softbound

$11.95

On the eve of his return to Scotland, Lewis Grant is dared to spend the night at a haunted desert oasis. Even the Bedouin refuse to visit Al Antara at night, knowing that a mighty djinn lives there. But this doesn't worry Lewis, who promptly rises to the bait.

Things do not go according to plan, however, and Lewis's arrival in Edinburgh is accompanied by a series of events that defy explanation. Set against the backdrop of the spooky Mary King’s Close, Neil and Clara Maclean find themselves embroiled with ghosts, super heroes, and bank robbers, not to mention the Christmas pantomime.

Will the MacArthurs get back from their holiday in time to avert disaster? Enjoy a third outing for them and their dragon, as monsters and mayhem return in a breathtaking tale of magic and nightmare.

(Ages 8-12)

The Swiss Family Robinson

Johann D Wyss

Unabridged

Softbound

$3.50

Here's a story that can bring an element of adventure and fantasy to the "house building" theme of the Waldorf third grade. Between the ninth year (age 8) and about age 10, children experience a sense of uncertainty when they look about the world. A lot is changing for them, and one of the biggest changes is that they now feel separated from the world in a way that is new to them.

The themes of the Waldorf third grade answer that uncertainty by focusing first on the Old Testament stories of wandering in the desert followed by the entry into the Promised Land and the ultimate "house building," that of the Temple in Jerusalem. Then, house building and farming become more concrete and personal within the theme: often, actually houses are built, garden plots tended and books such as Farmer Boy are read.

It is somewhere during or after this second half of the year that a book like Swiss Family Robinson can be a real treat. Here is a family who is shipwrecked and must start from scratch with no one but themselves on a desert island. Their resourcefulness and adventures are just the ticket for any child during this time. I can remember nearly devouring the book when I was about nine - I must have read it three or four times that year. Even the parts that are a bit far-fetched (how did Mother manage to put everything they'd need into that one bag, anyway?) make perfect sense to a child (after all, doesn't God always provide?), and the characters are all admirable and vigorous.

This is another favorite from my own childhood - I hope your children enjoy it as much.

Captains Courageous

Rudyard Kipling

Unabridged

Softbound

$2.50

Rudyard Kipling was, in my opinion, one of the best writers to ever wield a pen in English. His prose is almost like poetry, yet so filled with life that never once does his writing become more interesting than the story it tells. All his books, stories and poems are truly the stuff of greatness, and Captains Courageous is no exception.

We open with a spoiled rich boy being swept of the deck of a luxury ocean liner and into the sea. Luckily, young Harvey Cheyne is rescued by a passing fishing vessel.

As it turns out, his apparent misfortune in tumbline from a life of pampered luxury into the humble company of a fishing schooner becomes a blessing. Compelled by the captain to earn his keep, Harvey loses his affectations as he learns the rewards of an honest day's labor amid the gruff and hearty companionship of the crewmen. They teach him to be worth his salt as they fish the waters off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

This is Kipling's only novel to unfold in an American setting, and, like his others, it is packed with his humor and sense of adventure.

A great book for Grade 5 and up.

Kidnapped

Robert Louis Stevenson

Unabridged

Softbound

$4.50

This is a classic adventure novel, perhaps even the classic adventure novel. Set in the year 1751, Kidnapped centers around David Balfour, a young Scotsman orphaned by the death of his father. Betrayed by his uncle, the young hero is shanghaied and headed for bondage in the New World, until a swashbuckling highlander comes to his rescue. Stirring, suspenseful; considered by Stevenson to be his best fiction.

Grade 6 and up.

The Winterbringers

Gill Arbuthnott

Softbound

$9.95

Fantasy and magic in contemporary Scotland from the bestselling author of The Chaos Clock and The Chaos Quest [below] !

Josh is on summer holiday with his mother in Pitmillie in Fife, near St Andrews. Callie, a local girl, knows the area inside out. They notice that the weather is becoming inexplicably cold—even for Scotland! Unseen by anyone, the sea starts to freeze and ice begins to creep up the beaches.

Josh and Callie find the journal of a girl from the eighteenth century who talks about a Kingdom of Summer, and suddenly they find themselves thrown headlong into a storm of witches, ice creatures, magic, and the Winter King himself. A permanent winter threatens unless they can help restore the natural balance of the seasons. Can they stop the Winterbringers once and for all?

(Ages 9–12)

The Chaos Clock

Gill Arbuthnott

Softbound

$10.00

“What do you mean, we are the keys?” Kate asked incredulously.
“From time to time, certain people are born whose fate it is to aid or thwart the attempts of Chaos to destroy time. You and David are two such people. Look!”
As he spoke, the room turned misty around them.

Kate and David are eleven years old and best friends—playing football and doing their museum project together. But in Edinburgh, where they live, time is coming unstuck and the past is breaking loose. Old Mr Flowerdew needs their help in the war between the Lords of Chaos and the Guardians of Time, which is centered around the mysterious Millennium Clock at the Royal Museum.

Can Kate use her grandmother’s golden necklace to restrain the power of Chaos, and will David be able to help the Guardians, even if it means losing his mother all over again?

Ages 9-12

For more information, visit The Chaos Website, for fans of The Chaos Clock and The Chaos Quest. It includes exclusive bonus information about characters, free downloads, and the chance to meet Gill Arbuthnott.

The Chaos Quest

Sequel to The Chaos Clock

Gill Arbuthnott

Softbound

$10.00

It is eighteen months after the events of The Chaos Clock, and Kate and David are now at secondary school in Edinburgh. David is struggling to come to terms with his new stepmother, and Kate is being expected to take more responsibility for her younger brother.

But time never stands still for long. They soon become involved in a race to prevent the Lords of Chaos from tricking Erda, the Stardreamer, into losing her power. Even with help from Morgan the Hunter, can they prevent the barriers between times being blown away forever?

The Desperate Journey

Kathleen Fidler

Softbound

$10.00

Click here for Kathleen Fidler's The Boy with the Bronze Ax

The Desperate Journey tells the story of the Highland Clearances as they affect one small family. The Murrays are forced to load their possessions onto a cart and travel across Scotland to Glasgow. Here the children have to work in a mill and live in overcrowded and dirty lodgings. The family are offered the chance to join an emigrant ship bound for Hudson Bay in Canada, and make a perilous journey into a new life in the Red River Colony.

The spirit and resourcefulness of Davie and Kirsty shines through all their hardships as they witness the evictions and burning of the crofters' homes; endure the hardships of child labor in a Glasgow cotton mill; survive the Atlantic crossing on a disease-ridden ship; and witness bitter feuding among rival colonists.

Kathleen Fidler’s skill at bringing characters to life has enthralled generations of readers and will no doubt do so for many more years to come.

Ages 10-14

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

Written and Illustrated by Howard Pyle

Softbound

$10.95

I grew up at a time when Robin Hood and his Merry Men were a vibrant part of popular culture -- all the children I played with knew the stories as well as I did, and all of us loved Robin Hood and wanted to be just like him. The amount of pretend sword fighting and arrow shooting that we did was enough to leave even our energetic rabble ready for dinner and bedtime.

Looking back on my Robin Hood days, I still feel happy and grateful to have had them -- they provided all of us with wonderful adventures requiring real courage and derring-do. And, they gave us a model of someone who stood outside an unjust law, yet upheld a truer law and with a generous heart. Really, how could anyone ask for anything more for a child's imagination?

Howard Pyle's classic retelling of the Robin Hood tales is, in my opinion, the best available. The language is wonderful, Pyle's illustrations capture each moment while leaving lots of room for more imaginings, and he has told the greatest number of Robin Hood legends between two covers. Here are stories to nourish our childrens' brave hearts. Wonderful stuff!

Otto of the Silver Hand

Written and Illustrated by Howard Pyle

Softbound

$8.95

Pyle created a gem of story when he wrote Otto of the Silver Hand. With his wonderful command of language and consummate skill as an artist, he weaves the tale of Otto, the motherless son of a valiant robber baron in Medieval Germany. Young Otto is born into a warring household in an age when lawless chieftans are either fighting each other or despoiling merchant caravans. He is raised in a monastery only to return to his family's domain and become painfully involved in the blood-feud between his father and the rival house of Trutz-Drachen. Pyle captures the sound and feel of an ancient story in this book -- it's an adventure youngsters who hear or read it will not soon forget.

The Adventures of Odysseus
and the Tale of Troy

Retold by Padraic Colum

Illustrated by Willy Pogany

Softbound

$4.95

Master storyteller Padraic Colum beautifully captures the timeless adventure of Homer's Illiad and Odyssey as he weaves the ancient story afresh for young ears and hearts.

First, we follow Odysseus's son Telemachus into the hall of King Menelaus and Queen Helen, she whose face launched a thousand ships. From them we hear of the great battle that was the Trojan War, of the bravery of soldiers and princes on both sides of the walled city, and of the cleverness and craft of the Trojan Horse with which the Greeks won the war.

And then we learn how tragedy stuck Odysseus, how through a single act of disrespect to a powerful god, Odysseus was cast upon unfriendly seas and made to wander for 20 long years, as his wife Penelope struggled to postpone remarriage and his son searched in near-despair for a father he'd never known.

These adventures have woven themselves into the very fabric of our history and culture since they were first told over two thousand years ago -- and this book is a wonderful way to introduce children to them.

Sticks across the Chimney
A Story of Denmark

Nora Burglon

Softbound

$11.95

Sticks across the Chimney is a wonderful addition to any child's library and an exceptional book to offer 4th graders during the Nordic myths blocks of the Waldorf curriculum.

Ancient Denmark and Viking history spring to life when young Siri and Erik and their widowed mother buy a deserted farm with an ancient Viking grave mound on the land. Little do they know the challenges and adventures that await them -- not the least of which is learning to survive by one's wits without money! Later, mysterious and exciting events lead to the opening of the mound and the discovery of unbelievably ancient Viking treasures.

The interweaving of an exciting mystery and the adventures of surviving on the farm with tales of Danish Viking life and lore is irresistable to both children and adults. Brought back for all of us after too many years out of print, this is a book to welcome warmly back into our homes, classrooms and hearts!

The Worry Week

Anne Lindbergh

Pictures by Kevin Hawkes

Softbound

$12.95

There are twelve long months in every year, but we spend only one of them in Maine. As far as I'm concerned, that means that eleven-twelfths of my life are wasted. Alice is too absent-minded to care much where she is, but Minnow agrees. Only July is real for me and Minnow, because July is the month we spend on North Haven Island.

So begins eleven-year-old Allegra Sloane, and true to her form, when her parents are forced to cut their one month in Maine short, she contrives a plan with her sisters to enable them to stay on the island alone instead of returning to steamy old Boston.

At first, everything proceeds according to plan: the girls slip away from their parents (and avoid a visit to stuffy Aunt Edna!), and the promis of freedom beckons brightly. Unfortunately, their plan has a few holes in it. when the girls return to the cottage, they find it emptied of food. Allegra realizes it's up to her to provide for her impractical sisters. The bookish Alice (age 13) is more interested in reading Nancy Drew stories and declaiming Shakespeare, and Minnow (aka Edith, age 7)is preoccupied with gluing seashells to every canister in the house.

Forced to fend for themselves, the girls learn to live off the land, gathering berries and chanterelles in the woods and mussels from the shore. Allegra learns perhaps the most important lesson: parenting can be very stressful.

In the course of all their other adventures, they discover a "treasure" that binds them closer to their family and to New England's literary heritage.

Anne Lindbergh was a wonderful writer -- The Worry Week is another shining example of her warm heart and masterful skill as a storyteller. It is sure to be loved by girls ages 9 and older.

Treasure Forest

Book One of the Forest Inside Trilogy

Winner of the NAPRA 2004 Nautilus Award for Young Adult Fiction

Cat Bordhi

Hardbound

$21.95

Treasure Forest is flat-out the best juvenile fiction I have read in years and years. It has the page-turning adventure of the Harry Potter books (the difference being that it is carefully written and well-edited) combined with the heart-warm depth of C. S. Lewis's Narnia series. In the midst of all this depth and excitement, Cat Bordhi brings something more: a crystalline clarity, a sparkling delight with the World and Creation, an understanding of nature and of people that shines with great love. This is a story not to be missed, one destined to nourish generations of children and adults -- a story that ripples outward, like the rings after a pebble penetrates the water.

It begins with a question, the bequest of beloved departed grandparents:

How can you retrieve a treasure from the bottom of a pond without disturbing the water?

The question is Ben's, but his quest for the answer involves his sister Sarah as well.

Immediately on the heels of the bequest, which also includes Grandmother's house by the forest, the villain of the story creeps into the scene, disrupting and destroying as he goes. Daggett is one of the most complex, modern villains to ever intrude upon the lives of fictional characters. Daggett knows, loves and understands nature, but can't in the least comprehend the world of people. As a result, he frightens and harms even those people whose love he longs for -- a villain for the 21st century, to be sure.

The mystery and magic which follow take us into the nooks, crannies and catacombs of life; into Nature as it exists in the Forest, and into the nature of the human heart. On the way, there are memorable characters, exhilarating discoveries, courageous deeds, and a treasure more precious than gold.

I would recommend this book for all children and adults over the age of seven. Even teenagers love this book, and I know that you will be as melancholy as I was to turn the last page. (The good news is that Book Two is underway!)

Cat Bordhi is also the author of A Treasury of Magical Knitting and Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. Although she promised to behave herself and leave knitting out of Treasure Forest, she didn't quite manage it. On her website, you can find patterns for the forest socks her mother knits Sarah and the knitted treehouse (really!) Ben learns to make www.catbordhi.com

Minn of the Mississippi

Holling Clancy Holling

A Newbery Honor Book

Beautiful and detailed color and black & white illustrations

Softbound

$11.95

Another favorite book from my own childhood, Minn of the Mississippi is a great story, a wonderful natural history of the Mississippi River, and an outstanding geography/history lesson all rolled into one.

Minn is a snapping turtle who begins life as an egg laid at the source of the Mighty Mississippi. [I still remember my amazement when I learned while reading Minn at around age 9 that the Mississippi River also begins as something so small a child can stand astride it. The only part of the Mississippi I had ever seen was under the bridge we crossed every year to get to my grandmother's house in southern Iowa -- I had assumed the river was always about half a mile wide.]

One thing leads to another, and over the course of many, many years, Minn makes his way down the full length of the Mississippi, at last making his home among barnacle encrusted treasures left on the Gulf bottom by pirates and adventurers of long ago. Minn's travels bring him into contact with most of the wildlife that makes its home in and near the river, many of the people, and evidence many peoples gone long before.

I just love Minn of the Mississippi and the story that is told here. One of the remarkable things that H. C. Hollings does here and elsewhere is to create a story where the animal at the center of the action remains an animal (i.e., no talking, thinking or anthropomorphic behavior), yet evokes in the reader a great sympathy and involvement. And he does this while teaching a huge amount about nature, geography and history! It doesn't get better than this.

Pagoo

Holling Clancy Holling

Softbound

$11.95

The stories of Holling Clancy Hollings rest as some of my childhood favorites - I still remember the thrill of getting to check them out of the library (again and again!) and my rapt absorbtion in the stories of creatures and things that were such great adventurers. As the captivating page turners rolled out their tales, I learned so very much about the aspect of the natural world in which the story took place. Hollings stories are a rarity in that they are great books and while also being great learning tools.

Pagoo is an intricate study of the teeming life of tide pools, told through the adventures and misadventures of Pagoo, a hermit crab.

Paddle-to-the-Sea

Holling Clancy Holling

A Caldecott Honor Book

Softbound

Captivating illustrations in color and black & white

$11.95

An Indian boy living along the shores of Lake Superior carves a small canoe with a "Paddle Person" in it. He names it "Paddle-to-the-Sea" and sets it on its journey from Lake Superior all the way to the Atlantic Ocean. As Paddle-to-the-Sea travels, we journey with him through all the Great Lakes, meeting boats and barges and seafarers along the way. Paddle even goes over Niagra Falls and through the locks on the St. Lawrence River. And after surviving all those adventures, it should come as no surpirse to learn that he eventually crosses the whole Atlantic Ocean and arrives in France!

A great book with a riveting story. I don't think the natural and social life of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway has a better chronicler than Holling.

Tree in the Trail

Holling Clancy Holling

Softbound

Full color and black & white illustrations

$11.95

As with Big Tree (below), Tree in the Trail uses the life of a tree to portray both the passing of history and life cycles of nature. Where Big Tree uses a Redwood to survey the founding moments of Western Civilization, Tree in the Trail is about a Cottonwood and the things that happened within the tree's view over two hundred years along the Santa Fe Trail in the American Southwest. There are animals and people that bring to life the history, both natural and human, of this amazing part of the world. And through all the dramatic changes, the tree continues to stand and grow.

Like Holling's other books, this one is packed with story and teaching; with life itself.

Seabird

Holling Clancy Hollings

A Newbery Honor Book

Softbound

$11.95

In the days of the great square-rigged sailing ships, a seaman and his ship are saved from a collision with an iceberg by the swooping flight of a seagull off the shores of Greenland. In gratitude and for future good luck, Ezra Brown, the seaman, buys some ivory ashore and carves a beautiful ivory gull. Together they travel the seas on their whaling ship. Later, when the seaman is captain of his own ship, they sail together on the swift Clipper Ships to the South Seas and the Orient.

Seabird continues to ride the waves with Ezra's son, and then with his grandson, traveling on the fastest sailing ships, then on the steam ships that replaced them. At the end of the book, Ezra's great-grandson takes the Seabird along as he flies the skies, soaring through the air as he pilots the new airplanes around and around the world.

Another wonderful book by Hollings.

Buzzy and the River Rats
Book 1 - Buzzy Moves In

John Clarke Hoffman

Softbound

$12.95

One morning in the summer of 1954 in the Catskill Mountain town of Delhi, NY, the Fancher family moved into a vacant house on Elm Street. Buzzy Fancher's arrival heralded the beginning of many adventures for the group of boys who rallied around him and called themselves the River Rats. Their adventures sometimes brought them face to face with the tough uptown Trucker gang, but most of all they experienced the excitement, friendships, mishaps and young romance of growing up in 1950's small-town America.

The subject matter is quite appropriate for children from about grades 3 through 6 or 7, depending in large part on the particular interests of the child. This is a great "first novel" for children reading fluidly at about 5th grade level or beyond. These stories are wholesome, interesting, and well-written; told by a teacher who lived them (or wished he had!). Highly recommended.

Buzzy and the River Rats
Book 2 - Exploring the Town

John Clarke Hoffman

Softbound

$12.95

It is the autumn of 1954 in the Catskill Mountain town of Delhi, NY. John Hoffman, Buzzy Fancher, and the other members of the River Rat Gang are in eighth grade at Delaware Academy. The excitement of Halloween is in the air. Their adventures begin with an elaborate prank involving an antique fire ingine. Winter brings tobogganing and romance, spring an encounter with the tough uptown Trucker gang in Stutz's junkyard, and summer a raid on a girl scout campout at the Pine Hill Reserve. These great stories capture the both excitement and the security of growing up in 1950s small-town America.

The subject matter is quite appropriate for children from about grades 3 through 6 or 7, depending in large part on the particular interests of the child. This is a great "first novel" for children reading fluidly at about 5th grade level or beyond. These stories are wholesome, interesting, and well-written; told by a teacher who lived them (or wished he had!). Highly recommended.

Buzzy and the River Rats - Book 3
Romance and Adventure

John Clarke Hoffman

Softbound

$12.95

It is late in the summer of 1954 in the Catskill Mountain town of Delhi, NY. John Hoffman, Buzzy Fancher and the other members of the River Rat Gang are about to enter ninth grade at Delaware Academy. As a last summer adventure they explore the old Delaware Academy school building nd get more than they bargain for. Autumn finds the River Rats plotting to disrupt the high school Halloween party. Winter brings togogganing and exploring an abandoned barn; spring, an encounter with the tough uptown Trucker gang in teh old powdered milk factory.

The Buzzy stories are for all ages and capture the excitement, friendships, mishaps and young romance of growing up in the 1950's in small-town America.

A lovely continuation of the series!

Buzzy and the River Rats Set
Books 1, 2 & 3

Regular price for all three: $38.85

Purchased together: $35.85

Big Tree

Mary & Conrad Buff

Softbound - charming illustrations throughout

$12.95

What a wonderful way to allow children to discover (and to renew your own discovery!) the vastness of time, the potentials of life and the beauty of creation! This is the story of a Sequoia tree named Wawona which extends from the time before recorded history, when he was a little seed packed tightly in a cone with two hundred others. The story takes us to the recent past when, over three hundred feet tall and having survived magnificently the widely varied attacks of insects, fires, drought and more throughout the twenty-five centuries of his life, Wawona almost falls prey to the greediest and most clever of them all - human beings.

Wawona's history, his life, forms the main body of the text which is highlighted by insertions that tell of the significant events that were happening across the ocean as Wawona grew and thrived. This juxtaposition offers a wonderful vastness and perspective while it highlights both the exceptional longevity of the Sequoias and the key events of of Western history.

When children is ready to learn about the life of plants (in Waldorf schools, this is begun in 5th grade), this is the book to hand them. Big Tree will have a treasured place in either the classroom or home - this is a wonderful book!

The Little House Books
Boxed Set

Laura Ingalls Wilder

Illustrated by Garth Williams

Softbound, all 9 volumes, boxed set

$53.55

When our children were growing up, we read these books together so many times that the pages almost wore out from handling. There is so much about Laura Ingalls Wilder's recreation of her childhood (and that of her husband) that is just exactly right for our very modern children. Her portrait of the warmth her family shared with each other, even in the midst of what to my experience would be extreme hardship, is something that simply feeds our children what they are hungry for (and feeds their parents, as well, I might add). These stories also bring into view how it is possible to grow up stable and strong despise ever-changing homes, places, and circumstances. I don't know many children today who haven't had similar experiences of moving from place to place, and observed with my own children that they found both comfort and strength in knowing that other children before them had also moved rather frequently.

Then, of course, there is the fact that these stories are among the very best depictions of pioneer and farming life available. The life on a prosperous farm tended by an industrious family is described so well that most Waldorf Schools include Farmer Boy as part of the third grade farming block. The rest of the books give such vivid and accurate portrayals of pioneer life on the prairies that historians still reference them as outstanding descriptions of daily life during the mid-1800s.

And did I mention that children love them? They do. A lot.

These books are ideal as read-to's from age 4 upward. Many third graders will be able to read them on their own.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple

Karen Cushman

Paperbound

$5.99

The author of those great Medieval tales, Catherine, Called Birdie and The Midwife's Apprentice has created another great story - this time set in California during the Gold Rush. California doesn't suit Lucy Whipple - not the name, not the place. But moving out West to Lucky Diggins, California, was her mama's dream-come-true. And now her brother, Butte, and sisters Prairie and Sierra, seem to be Westerners at heart, too. For Lucy, Lucky Diggins is hardly a town at all - just a bunch of ramshackle tents and tobacco-spitting miners. Even the gold her mama claimed was just lying around in the fields isn't panning out. Worst of all, there's no lending library! Lucy vows to be plain miserable until she can hightail it back East where she belongs. But Lucy California Morning Whipple may be in for a surprise - home is a lot closer than she thinks. Ages 8 - 12.

Julie of the Wolves

Jean Craighead George

Paperbound

$5.95

This is another book that I first heard read on NPR, many, many years ago. I loved it then from beginning to end and think you will, also. It is about a young Eskimo girl, known to her village as Miyax. To her penpal friend in San Francisco, she is Julie. When Julie believes the village is no longer safe for her, she runs away, intending to walk to San Francisco and her friend's home. But she soon finds herself lost in the Alaskan wilderness, without food, without even a compass to guide her. Slowly she is accepted by a pack of Arctic wolves, and she grows to love them as though they were family. With their help, and drawing on her father's teachings, Miyax struggles day by day to survive. But the time comes when she must leave the wilderness and choose between the old ways and the new. Which will she choose? She is Miyax of the Eskimos - but Julie of the Wolves. For adventurous children ages 10 and up.