Seeking the Mystical Child: Nurturing Young Children’s Identity, Faith, and Belief

Seeking the Mystical Child: Nurturing Young Children’s Identity, Faith, and Belief by Danette Littleton and Meryl Sole is a unique book that presents insights into children’s unnoticed spiritual worlds. The authors acquired voices and portraits of children from differing cultures through qualitative research. Interpretations of ancient and contemporary Judaism, Christianity, and Islam provided context. This book is for those who desire to understand children’s lived experiences, seen and unseen, of wonder, awe, and purity of heart. Seekers of meaning in the lives of children may find meaning for themselves in Seeking the Mystical Child: Nurturing Young Children’s Identity, Faith, and Belief.

Danette Littleton earned a Ph.D. at the University of Texas-Austin. She is a retired professor of music education and a former music teacher for children in elementary and preschool. Research studies on children’s spontaneous play with music were presented at national and international conferences and universities. Her work is published in journals, book chapters, papers, and books When Music Goes to School: Perspectives on Learning and Teaching and Knowing the Children We Teach: Essays on Music Learning, with co-author Meryl Sole, and children’s books, Side by Side: A Friendship in Black and White and Side by Side With New Friends.

Meryl Sole received an Ed.D. from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. Musical studies in music history, theory, and French horn performance prepared her for a career in higher education, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in music education at New York University and Teacher’s College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on early childhood music development, toddlers’ spontaneous crib songs, and musical parenting. Her work was presented at numerous national and international conferences and published in Psychology of Music and the Oxford Handbook of Early Childhood Music Learning and Development. She co-authored Knowing the Children We Teach with Danette Littleton.