Friday Book Review: The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Just in time for Easter, what a classic this book is! "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes" by Du Bose Heyward, pictures by Marjorie Flack would be a welcome addition to any child's wholesome bookshelf! Written in 1939, this lovely tale is about a little girl bunny with a dream to be one of the *five* Easter Bunnies who deliver eggs to the children of the world. Typically, it is the male bunnies who earn this title, and the others laugh at her notion, but she never gives up, even after she has grown and become a mother to her large brood of 21 baby cottontails!

She teaches her babies how to care for the house and runs a tight ship before they make their way to the Palace of the Easter Eggs to see "Old Grandfather" who will be choosing a new Easter Bunny to join the team of five...

Never giving up her dream, Little Cottontail Mother watches as the other bunnies compete for the spot. Old Grandfather takes notice of her and calls her forward with interest. After a series of engagements, he recognizes she is wise, kind, swift (from chasing all those babies around), and clever and he names her as the fifth Easter Bunny!

The tale continues with her most important mission on Easter morn, to deliver a very special egg to a little boy who has been ill for a year. The journey is most difficult and is entrusted to this special momma bunny...with great effort, she makes it over the mountain, but then an accident happens and she tumbles down the to the bottom, injuring her foot, just as the sun is about to rise.

Before all hope is lost, she feels a tap on her shoulder from Grandfather Bunny who commends her for her bravery and awards her Gold Shoes, which he places on her feet and she flies up over the mountain to safely deliver the egg to the beautiful sleeping boy. She returns home to her well tended house with her 21 bunnies sleeping peacefully in their beds and on the wall of her home, she hangs her special pair of tiny little gold shoes.

Here is a clip of a post I wrote on this book last year:

~ Speaking of bunnies, one of the cutest books I've read about them recently is entitled, "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes" by Du Bose Heyward. It is an Easter story about a female country bunny who dreams of becoming one of the Five Easter Bunnies, is laughed at by the other bunnies, yet never loses sight of her dream, even after becoming a very busy momma bunny to 21 youngsters! It definitely has a feminist twist to it, despite it being written in 1939 & brought a few tears to my eyes. She does put her bunnies to work at a young age, is rather strict with them, but they have a nice rhythm going & it served the story well. My girls enjoyed it, as well & I loved the magic of the little gold shoes...it was recommended to me by another Waldorf momma out there :)

You can read much of the book here to decide if it's one you'd like to read to your children. The illustrations are absolutely precious. I wanted to review it with enough time to order it from your library or pick up your own very special copy! It will appeal greatly to little girls of the world and was so needed in the 1930's during a time when there was much oppression of the female race.

Hope you enjoy "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes"!

p.s. another adorable book for this holiday reading was recommended by Lynn of Raising Little Shoots is Tasha Tudor's adorable story "A Tale for Easter". We checked it out from the library and really think it's beautiful. It has gorgeous illustrations for which Tudor is so well loved. The story is sweet and simple, encompassing traditions from days bygone, but never forgotten...two gems for your Easter reading!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! A Lovely Story by Christine Natale

The Little Dancer

Long ago, in the beautiful green land called Ireland, there was a wee little goat girl. Her name was Brigit. She lived with her mother in a tiny cottage somewhere between the sea and the rolling green hills. They were poor but happy. Brigit’s mother was a weaver. She could weave the finest linen and most beautiful wool plaids ever seen. They had some chickens who ran free in the grass around their cottage and a milk cow. But Brigit’s great delight was her small flock of six goats. Every morning, Brigit got up with the sun, put a little bit of bread and goat cheese in her bag, took her stick, which was taller than herself and said “Good-bye” to her mother.

Brigit went out to the little goat pen and opened the gate. The little goats came skipping and scampering out and pressed around their little goatherd. She kissed each one on its forehead and lead them all on the well-known path to the green meadow.

Brigit was never lonely with her goats. Each one of them was her friend. They always made her laugh when they leapt up high in the warm spring sunshine and butted their little heads with their brothers and sisters. Brigit liked to copy her little goats. She liked to skip and twirl and leap in the warm sunshine, too! Brigit loved to dance!

She had learned lots of sweet Irish songs from her mother and she sang to herself and danced all day long. She was always happily tired when she returned in the evening and put her pretty goats to be. Sometimes, she could hardly keep her eyes open as she ate the warm bread and soup her mother had waiting for her. Brigit lay down in her little bed with its fine white linen sheets and dreamed about dancing all night!

One day, one of Brigit’s little goats scampered off from the little flock. He was a mischievous little goat named Tomkin. Brigit had to scamper off after Tomkin and she chased him into the wood by the meadow. Brigit found the naughty little goat and shooed him back to the flock. As she was walking back to the meadow, she heard a strange noise. It went Tap! Tap! Tap! It sounded a little bit like a woodpecker, but not as fast. Tap! – Tap! – Tap! It went again. Being as curious as any little girl, Brigit walked softly toward the tapping sound.

Behind the trunk of a great ash tree, she saw a funny site. It was a little man dressed all in green. He had a green jacket, a green cap and a long white beard. He had a little pipe between his lips with smoke curling above his head. He was not bigger than Brigit herself and she was still a very little girl.

The little man was sitting on a log making shoes! He looked up at Brigit and Brigit looked back at the little cobbler. She remembered her manners. “Good day to ye, little Father!” she said.

“Top o’ the morning to you also, wee colleen!” answered the little man.

“Oh what lovely shoes you are making” said Brigit. The shoes were made of soft leather and they looked perfect for dancing.

“Aye, colleen”, replied the little man, “Lovely they are to be sure and fit for a little princess.”

“I wish I was a princess,” said Brigit, “So that I could buy those shoes!”

“It matters not” answered the little man, “You could not by them at any price. They are not to be had for gold. Begorrah, I have all the gold I need already.”

“So you are making them for someone special?”

“Aye, that I am!” answered the little man, with a gruff voice, but a twinkle in his eye. “I am making them for you!”

“For me!” exclaimed Brigit. “But you don’t know me. We have just met. Why are you making me such a fine present?”

“Because you have given me great joy, although you didn’t know it. Every day you come to the green meadow and sing and dance. I have sat in the shadows and watched you day after day. Even in the shade, my old leprechaun heart has been warmed by your music. I thought to myself, why not make some dancing shoes for the little colleen to protect her wee feet? And so I have!”

Brigit had no way of knowing that this was the longest speech the leprechaun had ever made in his whole life. But she did know that no one ever had a better friend. “How can I ever thank you?” she asked.

“You thanked me before you knew it. You have paid me with music and joy.”

The shoes were ready and Brigit tried them on. Of course they fit perfectly! Brigit danced a jig for the leprechaun right there and then. She twirled around and the little man was gone.

Brigit hurried back to her flock and took off the shoes and put them in her bag. She showed them to her mother that night and her mother was amazed! “What a special friend and what a special gift!” mother said.

Brigit danced in the meadow for many years after that. She never saw her leprechaun friend again, but she always knew that he was watching and enjoying her music. As Brigit grew, the shoes magically grew with her. They never became soiled or worn out.

And when Brigit grew into a lovely young lady she left her mother’s cottage and became a dancer. She went to many places in the green land of Ireland and gladdened the hearts of all who saw and heard her.

Christine Natale (posted with her permission)

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What an adorable story! Enjoy with your little ones and thank you for sharing this with all of us, Christine!!!!

Getting Ready for St. Patty's Day!

With the frost he kindled fire;
Drove the snakes from brake and brier,
Hurling out the writhing brood
With the lightning of his rood.
~Edwin Markham

Our St. Patrick's Day display has been out for the past week and we've been enjoying some of our favorite Irish tales. Tomie dePaola is a favorite and his book, "Patrick Patron Saint of Ireland" inspired the needlefelted St. Patrick I made. Tales of leprechauns and some of his other work, like "FinM'Coul" and "Jamie O'Rourke and the Pooka" have been enjoyed the past few nights (these books are appropriate for ages 6+, depending on the sensitivity of the child).

We've been enjoying some time outdoors. We even have been blessed by some shamrocks of our own!

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.
~Irish Blessing

And today, inspired by some other bloggers out there, my Irish lasses and I decided it was time to hang some of our own wool outside on the trees for the little birdies to build their nests...


And our beautiful Plum Tree is in full bloom...It's going to be an amazing spring! The bees are very busy (can you spot the beautiful one in this picture)?

I also found an old blog post about our Irish celebrations and the Spring Equinox celebration last year here. Time to start spring planting! Happy early St. Patty's Day to everyone...I have a lovely story I'm so excited to be able to share tomorrow ;D

Language Arts Block II: Vowels... Letters I and O

~ "I" of sticks ~ "O" of stones

I'm a little bit behind on my posts. This was some of the work we did last week on our two vowels - the 'I' and the 'O'.

After our circle time, we started with the "I" by using sticks to make the shape of the letter. We followed along with the "6th Sense Language" to move to the sound of "I" with eurythmy styled verses and movements. We used our alphabet books and looked at pictures of things that begin with "I" and tried to think of more words that weren't featured in the books.

I read to the girls "The Griffin" from the Brothers Grimm, which tied in nicely to the "Gwinna" story we were reading (which also featured a griffin).

In our Main Lesson Books, we drew an igloo and an ice cream cone.

Charley embellished hers with an ice skate, ice, and on the left hand side is her inchworm (which has its own special section since, "you'd never see an inchworm in the ice, Momma...").


As part of our circle time, I've been enjoying the Wynstones Press "Spring" verse "A caterpillar crawled to the top of a tree..." as listed in the wonderful March Circle Time post by Lynn of "Raising Little Shoots". She does a wonderful job listing her circle time activities each month and uses a lot of great ones from the fabulous Wynstones Press series.

Using silks hand dyed by Syrendell, we rolled up our little caterpillars to act out the verse, curling them up into their chrysalis' and then...


when spring came and they emerged as butterflies, we opened the silk, held it in the middle and flapped it like a butterfly as we pranced around the house.


Then we moved onto "O"...


We ate some oranges...


And in addition to our alphabet books as the "6th Sense Language" book, we enjoyed "The Gnome" by The Brothers Grimm and also "Why Mr. Great Horned Owl Hatched the Eggs" by Clara Dillingham Pierson from her nature stories book, "Among the Forest People".

We also drew in our Main Lesson Books.


This week, we will be doing our last vowel and will tie them all in with a couple of stories. I'm also excited to talk a bit about a wonderful music program that we've been exploring :D

Friday Book Review: Gwinna

"Gwinna" by Barbara Helen Berger was our read of the week. We chose it to fit with our study of vowels, "I" and "O" ~ and that there is a griffin in the story, which was one of the Grimm's fairytales we read this week (that post, hopefully tomorrow). The name of the main character is Gwinna and it is a story about owls - perfect!

Some of you may or may not know that I am a big fan of Barbara Helen Berger and I don't quite understand why her books aren't gracing the shelves in Waldorf Bookstores - maybe they are, but I sure haven't seen them. Her name is probably familiar to some, as the author of such breathtaking picture books as

~ "Grandfather Twilight"
~ "A Lot of Otters"
~ "All the Way to Lhasa: A Tale from Tibet"
~ "When the Sun Rose"
~ "The Donkey's Dream"

and many more...

Her stories are very reverent, honoring the spirit. I think Pagans would especially appreciate them as they are very in tuned with the nature forces, though Christians will also appreciate the spirituality (The Donkey's Dream is the nativity story told through the eyes of the donkey). They are beautifully illustrated and so dreamy. She uses lots of metaphors and I love that. I had done a review last year of "Grandfather Twilight", a brief summary of "A Lot of Otters" and "When the Sun Rose" which can be found here. I found A Lot of Otters to be very AP :D

Gwinna, now out of print, is her longest book - a chapter book with 16 chapters. It is a story of a husband and wife who desperately want a child, but the months pass and still no baby. They gather their courage and travel into the forest to seek out the "Mother of the Owls" who lives deep in a cave and is feared by the locals.

The Mother of the Owls, an old crone/Mother Earth of types (even the stones are her children), wears a shawl of feathers under which many animals reside. She hears the couples plea and grants their wish, removing a feather from her shawl and telling them that they must hang it over the child's bed for protection. She tells them the child she will give them, a little girl, will be different from the other children and upon her 12th birthday, the Mother of the Owls will come for her. The couple agrees, promising to do as the Old Crone advises.

When they arrive home, there in the cradle, is a baby girl. They name her Gwinna and she grows just as the other children grow, with one exception...she has little nubs on her back which seem to be growing and growing into something more. The mother bounds her back with ribbons to hide the change and as Gwinna reaches the 12th year, her parents begin to panic and bury the feather of protection.

This part of the book is rather dark so some sensitive children might not do too well with it until they are older, though as children who have been exposed to age appropriate fairytales, reading it without too much emotion, my girls did fine with it (at age 7). Gwinna hears the owls and feels called to them one night as a band of them fly to claim her. Her mother and father and the house they live in grow very cold and turn to stone.

Gwinna wanders away and finds herself at the cave of the Mother of the Owls. She is welcomed and embraced as the crone removes her garments and unwinds the ribbons to reveal Gwinna's beautiful owl wings. She is nursed back to health and given fine new clothing and shoes. The tale continues with Gwinna developing a friendship with a little owl called Tobin and she learns to fly. She embraces the Mother of the Owls, whom she affectionately calls Grandmother.

I don't want to spoil too much of this fantastical tale, but it involves a journey to learn the song of the mountain, where Gwinna befriends a dedicated Griffin and a magical tree who gives her life to become a sacred harp that Gwinna had always yearned for. Only when Gwinna learns to let go of something she really loves, does she learn to play the harp - taught by the wind. With her song, she brings life back to her home, healing her mother and father from the stone curse and even restoring Grandmother to full health.

I wish I could play the harp or lyre as it would tie in so beautifully with this story. This book celebrates handwork through woodworking, as Gwinna and the Griffin (a master woodcarver who transforms into a grandfather figure) make the harp with their own hands. They take hair from grandfather's beard and Gwinna's hair to string it with and a fire transposes it into the magical harp it becomes.

This lovely book is probably best for ages 7 and up, maybe waiting until age 8 or 9 for more sensitive children. It involves the 4 elements, the seasons, Mother Nature and fantastical elements, like the Griffin and the beautiful talking tree.

Here are a few illustrations from the book - there are not a lot of illustrations, but the ones in there are very beautiful and fantastical:




We found this to be a very special book, worthy of a spot on our permanent bookshelf.