James Rumford, My New Favorite Author

I have been a really big fan of Steve Jenkins for quite a long time but I've found a new favorite author: James Rumford. I am now completely obsessed with his books!

I started several years ago with Rain School (Aug 4, 2018) and then Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad (Sep 29, 2018). I didn't realize for a long time that they were by the same author. The first title I use for the Housebuilding block in Waldorf; the second I use for the Montessori Fourth Great Lesson, which is the Story of Written Language. I love that it's about how beautiful Arabic calligraphy is. When I was preparing to teach Ancient Egypt again I got Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs. When I was reading that earlier this week I discovered that he lives in Honolulu. Since I was talking with someone in Hawai'i at the time I said, maybe you'll meet him someday at an Author Talk at the library! How fun would that be?

And I thought about Rain School and Silent Music and Seeker of Knowledge, and how much I like all three of them and how different they are, and I thought, I wonder what else James Rumford wrote?

So I began to look into it and WOW! This guy is the coolest.

Here are the titles I'm planning to get. I'm not including the books in Latin. Or the books he wrote on how to learn Chadian Arabic and Kinyarwandan. Really!

Beo-Bunny



Beowulf, a Hero's Tale
"James Rumford forges his own account of the tale of Beowulf using only Anglo-Saxon words still present in the English language. These iron-strong words recall the boldness of the original poem and echo the sounds of the ancient language for today's readers."



The Black Orchid Code



Bright Star: The Story of an African King



Calabash Cat



Chee-lin: The Story of a Giraffe



The Cloudmakers



Dog-of-the-Sea-Waves: The Hawaiian Monk Seal
sequel to Island-below-the-Star



Don't Touch My Hat



From the Good Mountain: How Gutenberg Changed the World



From the Good Mountain: A Companion Guide for Adults & Children - How Books Were Made in the Fifteenth Century
"This companion guide not only amplifies what is in the children's book but gives an account of Gutenberg's life and explains the processes involved in making books in fifteenth-century Europe. Topics include: paper making, tanning, gold beating, ink making, type casting, press making, typesetting, letter press printing, book design, illumination, and bookbinding."



A Gift from the Past



Island-below-the-Star



Jumah's Gift



Kahalaopuna



Mango Rain



Max and the Dumb Flower Picture



Miss Margaret, Cat Magnet



Nine Animals and the Well



Rain School



Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphs


Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing



Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad



There's a Monster in the Alphabet



Tiger and Turtle



Traveling Man: The Journey of Ibn Battuta 1325-1354



Tutu's Quilt / Ke Kapa Kuiki a Tutu



You Can Write Hieroglyphs

And, yes, jamesrumford.com is a thing. Maybe my class can write to him!

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