Description
Alan Whitehead, Waldorf teacher of both students and teachers, in his book The People Pool says of Steiner, “He recommended on every hand the telling of ‘folk’ tales (‘marchen’)…‘Folk’ tale means, as the quoted passage makes clear, the story of one’s own people and place – the children’s own story. Remember what he said, ‘They were themselves a part of the story’. The folk story is something that is continually created anew, as the circumstances of the folk change. They serve a particular time and place of a given people of folk.” The stories below provide those stories.
Additionally, in teaching different blocks, Waldorf Teachers historically make an effort to find an authentic voice to invite to the classroom to tell stories that are not their own. But what if this isn’t possible? A book is the second best way to invite an authentic voice into your classroom!
“…A worthwhile addition to picture book collections.” —Booklist.
“Executed with chromatic splendor–a unique combination of brillinace and restraint.” —The Horn Book”
AI-LING LOUIE graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and received her graduate degree from Wheelock College. After teaching school near Boston, she returned to the New York area, moving to New Jersey.
ED YOUNG was born in Tientsin, China, grew up in Shanghai, and came to the United States when he was in his late teens. A graduate of the University of Illinois and the Los Angeles Art Center, he has illustrated many beautiful books for young people, among them The Emperor and the Kite, a Coldecott Honor Book (written by Jane Yolen); Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes (translated by Robert Wyndham);The Terrible Mung Gwama: A Chinese Folktale; Bo Rabbit Smart for True: Folktales from the Gullah (by Priscilla Jaquith); and High on a Hill: A Book of Chinese Riddles. The artwork for Yeh-Shen was more than two years in the making, and Mr. Young made two trips to China to do his careful research into the traditional costumes and customs of the people in the area in which this tale is set.
