Bamboo Book Recommendations

Reviewed by Joli Forbes

All titles are available for purchase in the Bamboo Shop

Nature’s Art Box

By Laura C. Martin

Vines, twigs, cones, moss, sand, clay, shells and flowers … these are the earthly tools used by Nature’s Art Box. Budding artists and experts alike will find hours and hours of art projects and art lessons among the pages of this wonderfully illustrated book.

A total of “65 projects for crafty kids” fill the pages including cantaloupe seed necklaces, dried flower gardens, magic wands, gourd buffalo rattles and Spanish moss houses and woodland creatures.

Intertwined into the projects are sections on “nature skills” and “art skills” which contain words of wisdom for artists everywhere. Whether you’re looking to occupy a fun-filled afternoon, or create a beautiful gift, this book is sure to have a little something for every age and every level of artistic ability. 

Sparkle Stories

Teaching our children to read is a modern necessity and is reinforced in school, TV programming and libraries across the country. But where do we teach our children how to listen to stories and to keep attention to a single subject matter in a fast-paced world? SparkleStories.com has figured out a modern-day solution by implementing an age-old answer.

SparkleStories.com is an online story website that is aiming to expand upon the daily ritual of reading to your children by exposing them to the timeless ritual of storytelling. We are able to teach our wee ones (and ourselves) to sit still, use our memories and our imaginations by listening to stories with them.

A subscription to Sparkle Stories offers a way to show by example the art and learned qualities of relaxing, snuggling and listening with your children. Every week new stories are put into your subscription folder in your onlineSparkleStories.com account and you can follow any one of the five stories into its next chapter or pick up a sixth series that offers songs and games as well.

Gentle stories about fairies, nature, adventure and life fill the audio with exciting and soft subject matter that is appropriate for all ages. Bamboo is a big fan of Sparkle Stories!

Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide

by Sayward Rebhal

The Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide walks the reader through life before, during and after breeding and covers preparations; vegan nutrition before, during and after pregnancy; “troubleshooting the trimesters;” and postpartum issues and wonders.

When I was pregnant I had a giant book full of scary possibilities associated with my body and the body of the baby. This small paperback is written by a woman of consciousness for women of consciousness and it’s in plain talk—not sugar coated, I should warn you—and wouldn’t you know, it’s not scary at all! Imagine that! Author and mother Sayward Rebhal has a clear and concise way of putting things straight-up and filled with hope!

Oh how I wish I’d had this book while still having babies! And having had babies, let me tell you how true and educational this personably-written memoir and advice book is! It is an amazing resource for all women sustaining a plant-based diet, and especially if they’re planning on being breeders! 

make your place: affordable, sustainable nesting skills

Written and Illustrated by Raleigh Briggs

This book is like the “good hippy’s anarchist cookbook!” And the lowercase title conveys the humble nature of the learned author.

After using all your harsh home chemical products for spring cleaning, recycle those bottles or reuse them to fill them back up with homemade tinctures, cleansers and salves; and this book will teach you how. (As a reference book it will also make a great resource for those of us who are inclined to begin planning for and making homemade gifts for the holiday season!)

Forthright writing and universally fundamental information on every page makes this a must-have for humans in the modern world! Recipes for first aid, house and body cleansers, and a back section on planting herb gardens for use in these recipes—are just some of the wisdoms contained within the short and sweet paperback published by the eccentric and prolific, Microcosm Publishing out of Portland, OR.  

Summer Nature Activities for Children

By Irmgard Kutsch and Brigitte Walden

The Rudolf Steiner College Press has published this wonderful German book (this is one of four seasonal books) in English for families who are teaching their children the ways of the natural world. Based on the teachings of the Children’s Nature and Garden Center in Germany, this book aims to strengthen children’s will while teaching life skills and connecting little ones to the summer season.

With big projects like building spiral herb gardens, breeding butterflies, building a clay oven and baking bread, this book is full of hands-on, old-world know-how that keep our kids happy and healthy through the summer months. 

And, as any Waldorf-inspired book would, there are seasonal poems, songs, and activities that use the entire mind, body and spirit. These are the kinds of summer behaviors that remind parents that their children are physically able and willing to do much more than watch TV or play video games during the warmest season of the year! Get ‘em outside, direct them safely into a supervised project and watch ‘em grow tall and strong like a garden flower! 

To Be an Artist

By Maya Ajmera and John D. Ivanko

Scared to choose becoming an artist over a desk job like I was? To this day I’ve longed to call myself an artist. However, I was taught by my parents and society that becoming an artist was an option for the wealthy and/or the whimsical…not someone poor and practical like me. Choosing to live as an artist seemed a luxury as opposed to a way of life and that’s where this lovely book comes in.

This beautiful children’s photo book teaches the world who an artist is and what they do. Pictures from Mexico, the United States, China, Columbia, Slovak Republic, Africa, and all over the world show young artists blowing flutes, painting canvases, sculpting with twig and with clay and dancing jigs and ceremonial dances from all over the world. Co-written by innkeeper and eco-author John D. Ivanko, the book is one of several Global Fund for Children books in a series and part of the proceeds are donated in support of global children’s organizations.

The photos remind readers that art is a part of everything we do and the traditions and celebrations we all come from. It is not at all a luxury reserved for the privileged but it is all around us and it is all that is beautiful in everything we do.