Books For Pagan Families!
Resources For Parents
Homeschooling How To's
A quick note about "pagan child friendly book" reading
suggestions
Books for Young Readers
Middle Readers
Older Readers
Family Read Togethers
Mythology
Misc
Resources For Parents
O'Gaea, Ashleen. The Family Wicca Book, 1993
Llwellyn, St Paul,MN 55161-0383
This book is great for ideas for raising kids in a Pagan
environment. How to bring the concepts onto your child's life,and how these concepts give guidance to and a framework for models of behavior. Also how and why, you should include
your children in your religious life. (good tips on how to come out of the broom closet too!)
Serith, Ceisiwr. The Pagan Family: Handing The Old Ways Down.
1994, Llwellyn, St. Paul,MN 55161-0383
A good book for bringing a strong religious tradition into your
family's life. Highly recommended along with the book above.
McArthur, Maggie. Wiccacraft For Families: The Path Of The
Hearthfire. 1994, Phoenix, Custer, WA 98240
Here we have fun, living traditions. Lots of songs, poems
food, and rituals, for each holiday. Kid oriented. Also Rites ofPassage, Family Shrines, birthday rituals, and more. With this book, along with the 2 above you would have a fairly complete
working family tradition.
Starhawk and the Reclaiming Collective. Circle Round
This is one of the newest offerings from the well known author. full of stories and craft ideas. Each holiday is covered as wellas Rites of Passage.
Campanelli, Pauline. The Wheel Of The Year.
1989, Llwellyn, St Paul,MN 55161-0383
-----------------------, Ancient Ways
1991, Llwellyn, St Paul,MN 55161-0383
These two books are meant for adults. If you have been looking for
ancient traditional activities, as well as some new ones,Things that would have been passed down from generation to generation, these books are it! Loads of ideas for living in tune
with The Wheel. Things to do to celebrate each holiday. It reclaims some of the meanings behind some common holiday
symbolism, breathing life and meaning back into them. These ideas if lived and practiced in your day to day life can
easily be made to include your kids.
Carey, Diana & Judy Large. Festivals, Families, and Food.
1982, Hawthorn Press, Bankfield House, 13 Wallbridge.
Stroud, Gloucestershire. GL5 3JA
This book is not Pagan, I believe it is a Waldorf book. However it
contains a wealth of wonderful games and ideas forcelebrating the many holidays throughout the year. Including many holidays that we tend to think of as Pagan.
Gosling, Kelly. Wiccan Children's Activity Book.
From the Wiccan Church of Canada.
Colouring and Activity book for all 8 Holidays. At $15.00 a BargainHome Schooling How To's
Llwellyn, Grace. Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and get
a Real Life And Education
1991,Lowrey House Publishers.P.O. Box1014, Eugene, Oregon
97440-1014.
This book is the ultimate unschoolers handbook. I would recommend this
one to anyone even if you don't have teenagers.When I read it the first time I kept thinking you can't do that with a teenager, you can't do that with a teenager, over and over.
Then I thought about my own education, and realized you can and should. It was a great confidence booster in the first years
and an excellent source of information and resources. If you have a teenager who is afraid to homeschool
I would have them read it.
John Holt Books
| HOW CHILDREN FAIL, 1964, rev. 1982, John Holt |
| HOW CHILDREN LEARN, 1967, rev. 1983, John Holt |
| WHAT DO I DO MONDAY, John Holt |
| FREEDOM AND BEYOND, John Holt |
| LEARNING ALL THE TIME, John Holt |
Or any other book from this man. He was one of the great pioneers of unschooling and homeschooling. There aren't enough
words to express the admiration I have for this man. He was a great humanitarian, and likely understood children better than
any person I could point to. Nearly every other homeschool reference quotes him and for good reason. These are keepers to
be purchased and kept on the coffee table for easy reference. In fact buy 2 copies of each, (one for lending) because you will
want to share these but wont want to risk not having them at hand. Some of these are available in book store or can be
purchased through John Holt's Bookstore at The Growing Without Schooling website.
Growing Without Schooling
This is an unschooling magazine. It is brimming over with resources, ideas, useful information, and contacts. This secularmagazine is worth its weight in gold, and the price of a subscription. you may find out more information at the website.
Growing Without Schooling
A quick note about "pagan child friendly book" reading suggestions
Notes: These books are all fairly favorable images of witches and or magic. Where the images are not favorable there are other points in the story that make up for it. There are many wonderful books on the market that have nothing to do with witchcraft, magic or mythology these do not need to be listed here(but if I think of any that I consider worthy they might be added in the future).This is a review of the books that are for one reason or another pagan child appropriate in my opinion. If you have reviews of books not on this list that you think should be added please email them to me and I can add them. If you disagree with my opinion you may email me as well. 
Books for Young Readers
Nicholl,Helen. Meg and Mog series.
| Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll. | |
| Meg and Mog (Picture Puffins) by Helen. Nicoll, Jan Pienkowski. | |
| Meg and Mog Birthday Book by Helen Nicoll, Jan Pienkowski. | |
| Meg and Mog Birthday Book by Helen Nicoll, Jan Pienkowski. | |
| Meg and Mog show by David Wood. |
Sadly these are out of print. You may try the Library or something like amazon.com. Excellent witch imagery. These books are
so charming and even though she is wearing the "traditional witches hat" the stories are so nice that it makes up for it. They all
feature a witch Meg and her cat Mog and her owl. They are usually doing something fairly mundane such as planting
and growing pumpkins.
Barker, Cicily Mary. Flower Fairies
This one is another series. These beautiful books draw fairies in a way that you could believe that you might not have seen thembecause you weren't looking close enough. The flowers are accurately depicted and there is a fairie and a poem for each one.
On an interesting note the talents of this incredible artist were developed while she was home-schooled ( she was bed-ridden
for many years). These books could be enjoyed by many older and advanced readers as well.
DePaola, Tomie. Strega Nona Books
| Strega Nona Distican, Incorporated 1975 |
| Strega Nona Distican, Incorporated 1979 |
| Strega Nona Meets Her Match Putnam Publishing Group 1993 |
| Strega Nona Lectorum Publications, Incorporated 1996 |
| Strega Nona:A Literature Unit By: Patsy Carey, Susan Kilpatrick, Theresa M. Wright Teacher Created Materials, Incorporated 1993 |
| Merry Christmas, Strega Nona Harcourt Brace Children's Books 1991 |
| Merry Christmas, Strega Nona |
| . Pasta Possibilities:An Integrated Activity Approach to "Strega Nona" & Other "Magic Pot" Stories By: Janet Christie, Wendy Boynton Peguis Publishers, Limited |
| Strega Nona Simon & Schuster Childrens 1997 |
| Strega Nona's Magic Lessons Harcourt Brace Children's Books 1982 |
| Strega Nona Meets Her Match Putnam Publishing Group 1996 |
Okay I really like these books and so do my kids,(all of them not just the younger ones). Stega Nona literally means
"Grandmother Witch" and I think that should be enough reason alone for these books to be added to your book shelf.
The Selkie Girl Illustrator Warwick Hutton , Retold by Susan Cooper
Out of print.Silver Cow Susan Cooper, Warwick Hutton Margaret K Mcelderry Books 1991
Mother Goose
Older and complete versions are preferable
Middle Readers
Lang, Andrew. The colour Fairybooks, Dover Publishing
Particularily the Blue Fairy Book.
Jacobs, Joseph. Celtic Fairy Tales
--------------.More Celtic Fairy Tales
--------------.English Fairy Tales
All Dover Publishing
Curtin, Jeremiah. Myths and Folk Tales of Ireland.
De La Mara, Walter. Songs of Childhood
MacManus, Seumas. Donegal Fairy Stories
Gardener, Alan. The Owl Service.
And any other of his books
Alexander, Lloyd. Book of Three Series
Watch these ones he tampers quite heavily with the traditional storylines, and frequently potrays the evil witch. These mayneed some careful omitting to be acceptable. Read them yourself first to decide.
Rhall, Rhiannon. The Mabinogian.
A symplified version of the traditional tales. An excellent read. The Welsh spelling conventions may put challenged readers off.
I have not had a chance to read or review the Harry Potter Books but I think they need little
in the way of reviewing since they are a hot topic in the news right now. One note of interest
though the fundies hate them because they are too pagan
Older Readers
Wilton Katz, Wellyn. Sun God, Moon Witch
-------------------. Out of the Darkness
Any of her books. This prolific Canadian Author is one to watch her books are informative as well as entertaining. I can not recommend them highly enough. I first picked up one of them from a second hand book store, I believe my daughter has read
almost all of them since.
The Midwives Aprentice.
I will add the authors name as soon as I can get the book away from my kid long enough.
Out of the Burning Time.
Same as above.
Mates, Carol. The Burning Times
Careful some painful realities presented, I suggest pre-reading first
McCaffrey, Ann. Dragon Riders Series.
These were great when I was a child and they haven't lost anything with age.
Norton, Andre. Witch World series
Bradley, Marion Zimmer. Forest House
----------------------. Mists Of Avalon
----------------------. Lady of the Lake
----------------------. Darkover Series
These are for much older readers. There are some adult situations in some of them that might not be appropriate for your kids.
Family Read Togethers
Bradbury, Ray. The Halloween Tree.
I have to be honest here I have not read the book, the movie is incredible and around our house is the traditional start to the Samhain holiday.
Young, Ella. Celtic Wonder Tales
I have only heard these on audio books but if you can find them in either form they are a collection of the very best of the cèilidh traditions.
Cooper, Susan. Dark is Rising Series
Somewhat too focused on the good/evil model, a fairly good anyway, especially book 3
L'Engle, Madeleine. A Wrinkle in Time Series.
Le Guin, Ursula. The Earth Sea Trilogy
Tolkien,J.R.R. The Hobit
-------------. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Lewis, C.S. The Cronicals of Narnia.
Yeats,W.B. Fairy and Folk Tales of Ireland.
Greene, Graham. Wind in the Willows
Index to Resources
Mythology
King Arthur Stories.
Ford, Patrick. The Mabinogi
Colum, Padraic. The Children of Odin.
Holland, Kevin Crossley. Beowolf
Lanier, Sidney. The Boy King Arthur.
Gantz, Jeffrey. Early Irish Myths and Sagas.
Bittleston, Adam. The Sun Dances: Prayers and Blessings From the Gaelic
Graves, Alfred Percival. Great Mythology 1&2
A little too academic for most kids but it will give you a good grounding to teach these myths. Less bigoted than the easier to readBulfinch's that is used in most public schools.
Bulfinch's, Mythology.
Any but give a read through yourself first. His attitude is these mythologies (Greek, Roman, Norse) should be learned becauseso much of our literature is based on them, but that this is what ignorant people believed before they heard of the word of the
one true god. I'm not kidding but these commentsare easily edited out, or can be used as a launching point to discuss the
problems of hate-literature and bigotry.
Ross, Anne. Druids, Gods and Heroes From Celtic Mythology.
Stewart, R.J. Celtic Gods, Celtic Goddesses.
Index to Resources
Misc
Newmar, Dana. The Complete Teacher's Almanack: A Practical Guide To All Twelve Months of the Year.
West Nyaek, NY The Center for the Applied Research in Education
Arthen, Deirdre Pulgam. Walking With Mother Earth.
Parramon, J.M. The Four Elements
Barrons Educational Series
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