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Cats and Sixty Foot Whales: Reflections on Children’s Books

August 26th, 2025 | 15 min read

By Tara Thieke

The most expensive preschools in America bear a pine-scented resemblance to those senna-tinted photographs of a world before plastics, albeit with no unseemly hint of poverty. Within the world of Waldorf, Montessori and Wild Forest schools the hand dominates the machine, wood and stone beat oil and metal, and the screen has been banished. Just as organic milk is more expensive than soda pop, simple hand-crafted toys have become the hallmark of the wealthy.

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Tara Thieke

Tara Thieke is a homemaker and writer. She can be visited on Twitter at @taraannthieke.