Starhawk's
Writings
The
Last Wild Witch
The Last Wild Witch (2009)
with illustrations by Lindy Kehoe
Starhawk's
new children's book
from Mother Tongue Ink Publishing
creators of the popular We'Moon calendars: www.wemoon.ws
"The Last
Wild Witch is thoughtful, moving and beautiful. All of us who treasure
wildness will want to share it with our children and our friends.”
—Alice Walker, Pulitzer prize-winning author, poet, activist
"The Last Wild Witch reminds us that courage, nonconformity,
and attention to intuition are the real things that will save the wild
world we love."
—Ariel Gore, author, and founder of Hip Mama magazine
"Once there was a perfect town, in a perfect world, where there were
rules for everything and a right way and a wrong way to do everything,
and nobody ever broke the rules—except sometimes."
So begins Starhawk's new eco-fable, The Last Wild Witch. When
the wind is in the west, and the last wild Witch is brewing her magic
brews and singing her magic songs, some of the wildness might get inside
you!
Children will delight to this magical story. Adults will find that Starhawk's
tale is a jumping-off point to explore a vision of a world that honors
the wild.
The perfect town in the perfect world, introduced in the first pages of
Starhawk's The Last Wild Witch, could be Any Town, USA: rows
of cookie-cutter houses, everyone governed by absolute rules—and
kids who can sense that there's something more out there than just being
perfect.
The tale, written in simple language with a rhythm that steadily grows
as the story progresses, deals with many issues and questions of deep
concern to both children and adults. It touches on the creation of rules,
the necessity of some and the arbitrary nature of others, and the eternal
difference in worldviews and perceptions between innocence (kids) and
experience (adults). It shows how this affects the ways we choose to live:
conformity vs. individualism, engineered town vs. the wilds of nature.
How do we let the wildness in—into our lives, to our vision of what
community means? How do we recover our sense of being part of the natural
world? Can we let nature's own patterns inform the way we meet our human
needs, so that we can heal and regenerate the world around us?
By letting our children lead the way, through their imaginations and affinity
with pristine nature, there is hope that we have not sat down to tea with
our last wild Witch. These thoughts are brought to life through the shamanistic
beat of Starhawk's words, and the vibrant, swirling art of Lindy Kehoe's
paintings. Readers will see the auras and feel the pulse of their neighborhoods,
and discover the beauty of the wildness that waits not too far from their
own doorsteps. You might want to read this one aloud, even if you're by
yourself.
May, 2010: The Last Wild Witch has won a Silver Nautilus
Award! The prestigious Nautilus Awards “recognizes books and
audio books that promote spiritual growth, conscious living and positive
social change, while at the same time they stimulate the imagination and
offer the reader new possibilities for a better life and a better world."
Check out the other 2010 Award Winners at: www.nautilusbookawards.com/2010_Silver_Winners.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3ROPNDyqQQ
A fun little promo for Last Wild Witch, on YouTube.
Extras for teachers and parents:
The
Last Wild Witch poster
Lindy Kehoe's gorgeous vision of the Witch will bring a bit of the wild
to your child's room.
"The Last Wild Witch Teaching and
Discussion Guide"
Download this informative guide—with discussion questions, language
skill-builders, art projects, music circles, and science projects—created
just for this book by Natalie Zaman, Pagan and certified teacher (English
K-12).
Reviews:
Midwest Book Review:
"The Last Wild Witch is a wonderful way to teach tolerance,
respect for nature, and valuing differences. The incredible surrealistic
colored paintings are the ideal palate to complement this imaginative
teaching tale."
www.midwestbookreview.com/cbw/oct_09.htm#Picturebook
BabyCenter's Momformation blog:
"This quietly powerful story covers a lot of thematic ideas including
tolerance, activism, and environmentalism. ... The rich and vibrant paintings
by Lindy Kehoe complement Starhawk’s narrative perfectly. ... The
sinuous shapes and lines of her images pull the reader into the forest
much like the witch’s music pulled the children from their beds
to revel in their own wildness."
http://blogs.babycenter.com/momformation/2009/10/18/what-li’l-ones-are-reading-the-last-wild-witch/
To Order: please support independent bookstores— you can order The Last Wild Witch from 100Fires.com. Click on the banner below to order:
