Library Lady's Corner

Book Review - Verses and Poems and Stories to Tell March 10 2024

Dorothy Harrer's Verses and Poems & Stories to Tell is a charming collection that embodies the spirit of childhood wonder and the rich tradition of storytelling. Through a delightful mixture of verses, poems, and fairy tales, Harrer invites readers into a world where the mundane meets the magical.

Now Available - Stories From the American Journey January 23 2024

This book is a collection of beloved stories from an author who has spent four decades teaching. These narratives showcase adventurous and talented individuals whose actions and visions embody the nation's ideals. Spanning the breadth of America, these tales highlight those who stood up for justice, championed free thought, innovated, reshaped communities, revolutionized business, or simply showed kindness and support to others.

The Waldorf Class Play and Reccomended Reading January 11 2024

From grade one through grade twelve, the annual class play is an essential feature of the life of every Waldorf class. The play is often the defining event of the year, the event most clearly remembered and most often referred to, long after much else of what happened is lost to memory.

Light in the Darkness- Winter Solstice in Waldorf Schools December 20 2023

In Waldorf schools, December with its disturbing weeks of the deepest darkness begins with the Winter Garden. The children experience darkness and the return of the light as each individual candle gets lit and the light fills the room with increasing brilliance.  The picture of the light of each of us in community is a perfect one.  Hope and confidence in the light’s return is expressed quite literally.

Many Waldorf schools celebrate St. Nicholas’s Day on December 6th.  St. Nicholas loves children and his stories are all of rescuing children from danger, unkindness, starvation, and despair.


Welcome to the Tenth Anniversary of BUY NOTHING FRIDAY! November 23 2023

Join us on a brigade of peace and inner stillness as we continue the mood of Thanksgiving and read, play, create, and sing with children, family, and friends and work in the opposite direction of the hectic mayhem of the commercial world.

We will join forces to make a light-filled Friday following the glory of Thanksgiving: nothing crazed, nothing competitive, only peace, quiet and FUN!

Download the Buy Nothing Day Packet

Buy Nothing Day 2023


Sprinkle a Little Magic for that Special Child’s Holiday Time! November 21 2023

Gnomes Galore

What could be better than a little Gnome-enclature to twinkle things up with some golloping good gnome stories – by the master of sparkle in a good story, Jakob Streit.


Martinmas and Waldorf Lantern Walks November 09 2023

The Waldorf Lantern Walk, a cherished tradition observed by many Waldorf schools in November, aligns with the celebration of Martinmas. Martinmas is not only a feast day honoring St. Martin of Tours but also coincides with Veterans' Day in the United States.

Samhain –– Hallowe’en begins in Ireland October 31 2023

It figures that the land of Banshees, fairies and Leprechauns would be the starting place for a holiday like Hallowe’en. The Celtic word “Samhain” is actually pronounced “Sow-in.” This word literally translates as “summer’s ending.” After the harvest was gathered and stored, livestock had been sorted for

Bees — and Books about Them! September 27 2023

Can there ever be too many books for the young about bees? In our time of worries about the diminishing number of bees in the world, stories that help us all, children especially, to feel connected to bees through appreciation and gratitude, through love, are important. Fostering a lifelong sense of wonder and protectiveness for these tiny creatures who give us honey, nourishment, bees wax, and who pollinate fruit trees, herbs, and all flowering plants is imperative to the bees and our own survival.

Book Review: Handbook of Research on Waldorf Education — Jost Schieren, Ed. August 25 2023

Here, at long last, is a book which identifies the scientific underpinnings of Waldorf Education!!

Published by Routledge, the internationally acclaimed academic publisher, this book defines the exclusion of Waldorf Education for 100 years from circles on educational science, missing the opportunities for mutual stimulation and collaboration.


Book Review: Louis Braille - A Blind Boy Invents Braille July 24 2023

How can we stand firm in love and gratitude when misfortune descends upon us? Trust in the purposefulness of all that comes our way is a difficult skill to master! Louis Braille demonstrates to us a humbling answer to this challenging question and to mastering the demanding skill of trust.

This latest release from Waldorf Publications has us excited like never before. Louis Braille, a Blind Boy Invents Braille is another masterful telling of a story by Jakob Streit, made possible by the Streit Family Foundation in Switzerland and by Nina Kuettel, the fine translator.

The Pentathlon: Crown Jewel of Grade Five in a Waldorf School! June 19 2023

May is the month of new life, of spring, dancing, and tag sales in upstate New York, Waldorf Publications’s home. In Waldorf Schools around the world, it is the month of the Pentathlon, a poetic re-rendering of an athletic ritual from ancient Greece. It is a rite of passage significant in the lives of eleven-year-olds lucky enough to attend a Waldorf school.

The Poetic Meaning of End of Year Reports in Waldorf Schools May 16 2023

Children, students, everywhere strive for excellence. All children who have not been traumatized by extraordinary experiences or abused by adults one way or another, want to learn, to be smart, to understand this large and confusing world into which they have been born. Some children hide this yearning. If they find out early that those delivering education, in whatever form, have decided they are not excellent, or have not met invisible expectations, they might become seemingly insouciant, uncaring, indifferent to what is happening in a learning environment. Some children crumble and dissolve into confusion, striking out at whatever they can identify that might be “right.”

Wesak - one of the most important days in the Buddhist calendar! May 05 2023

Wesak, also known as Vesak, is one of the most important days in the Buddhist calendar and is celebrated by millions of Buddhists worldwide. Wesak commemorates Gautama Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and death as the founder of Buddhism. Wesak's origins can be traced back to ancient India, where Gautama Buddha was born and spent most of his life. The event recalls the day Buddha attained Nirvana, or enlightenment, under the Bodhi tree. According to Buddhist scriptures, Buddha attained enlightenment after several years of meditation and self-reflection. Depending on the lunar calendar, it is celebrated on the full moon day of May or June.

Just in time for Earth Day! The Green Curriculum in Waldorf Schools April 21 2023

A Twelve Part Series
From Roots to Bloom

A few years ago on AWSNA’s “Green Pages” Sarah Hearn, Waldorf graduate from the New York City Rudolf Steiner School, with help from a class teacher or two, wrote a series of short articles on the many ways in which the curriculum in our schools connects a child to the Earth, awakens a devoted love of Nature and grows environmentalists who carry a passion for caring for the Earth and all its gifts. Sarah has agreed to have these little articles republished as a guest blogger here. She called her series “From Roots to Bloom,” to emphasize the growth in a human being as reflected in the plant kingdom. We are delighted about Sarah’s giving us permission as this overview of the “green curriculum” bears repeating many times. Embedded as it is in all that’s done in Waldorf schools, it’s wonderful to see it teased out for a minute to reveal some of its better parts!


Holi — The Hindu Festival of Colors, India March 08 2023

Water balloons, powders of vibrant colors, feasting, music, dancing; the festival of Holi is celebrated in March in the Hindu calendar during the full moon. It celebrates the coming of spring and the triumph of good over evil.

This festival, dating back to the 4th century CE, memorializes the story of Vishnu, the god who comes to earth in one of his several incarnations as a human being — this time as Narasimha— and is the celebration of his defeat of the demon twins, Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha.


Homework (or the lack of it) in Waldorf Schools March 05 2023

Over the last decade or so homework has taken center stage in many child development debates and research projects.

Imbolc, Groundhog Day, St. Brigid’s Day, Candlemas Day and the Celtic Calendar of Celebrations February 01 2023

By the ancient Celtic calendar, the year was divided into four seasons. The mighty passage of the sun through these periods signaled the change of seasons—as it does for us today. These days and times vary slightly from year-to-year. For 2023 the dates for the Northern Hemisphere are:

The Summer Solstice (June 21) marks the longest day of the year when there is more daylight than on any other day of the year.
The Autumnal Equinox (September 22) marks the day in fall when there is an exact equality of daylight and darkness.


Yearning for Light in the Darkness: The Many Holidays Embracing the Winter Solstice December 19 2022

Are you afraid of the dark?  Many people are, and many children are. Children come from the light-filled world of the stars and must adjust to an earth-life that alternates between light and darkness: day and night; peace and turmoil; love and hatred. These are all the extremes that come with living a human life.

Saint Nicholas and Building a Capacity for Self-Reflection in the Young - A Waldorf Perspective December 05 2022

December 6 is the day marked to celebrate the legendary Saint Nicholas (15 March 270 – 6 December 343)—the prototype for our North American Santa Claus. His feast day is often celebrated in Waldorf schools, though in some schools his celebration has been disapproved and removed for being too Eurocentric or too harsh for children. His legends are rooted in German lore and in Dutch stories (Sinterklaas* is his name in Dutch). But vestiges of this remarkable saint pop up in many places throughout Europe, Turkey, parts of Dutch-colonized African countries, North America and elsewhere.

Traditionally when Saint Nicholas appears to children, he wears the garb of an early Christian bishop* (so he wears a funny mitered hat, as some children would tell you) and he carries a large golden book. In this book are written all the good deeds children have done on one page, and on the opposing page, unfortunate deeds and challenges facing the child are written. Saint Nicholas addresses each child with these balancing facts of the little one’s life.


The Winter Garden in Waldorf Schools November 27 2022

Many young children are afraid of the dark. Actually, many grown-ups are afraid of the dark, too. Late autumn and early winter, when the days grow short and the darkness dominates everything, festivals help mark the time until the light begins to fill the days again. The important message for children is that we each carry a light within that becomes important in wintertime.

Thanksgiving and Buy Nothing Day! November 25 2022

Come along with Waldorf Publications on a determined stand against the frenzy of “Black Friday”!

Martinmas and Lantern Walks in Waldorf Schools November 09 2022

Many Waldorf schools host a Lantern Walk in November and around Martinmas, the feast day for St. Martin of Tours — also Veterans’ Day in the United States. St. Martin, the patron saint of beggars and outcasts, was known for his unassuming nature and ability to bring light and warmth to the impoverished.

El Día de los Muertos - November 1 and 2 November 02 2022

In Latin American cultures, and especially in Mexico, el Día de los Muertos is celebrated on November 1 & 2, coinciding with “All Saints and All Souls Days” in the US, which is, of course, preceded by Hallowe’en on October 31st.