Books
My books are filled with stories about the artful, meaningful, stunningly beautiful schools for young children in Reggio Emilia, Italy where my family lived in 1991-1992. After returning to the United States, I worked in St. Louis, Missouri at The College School for 16 years. The books include stories of cultivating the principles and practices inspired by the Reggio Approach in schools on our home ground.
Bringing Reggio Emilia Home
Bringing Reggio Emilia Home is the first book to integrate the experiences of one American teacher on a year long internship in the preschools of Reggio, with a four-year adaptation effort in one American school. The lively text includes many “mini-stories” of preschool and kindergarten age children, teachers and parents who embark on the journeys of learning together. These journeys take shape in language, in drawings, in tempera paint and clay, in outdoor excursions, and in the imaginations of both the children and adults. This formative and accessible work features photographs of the children (both in Italy and the United States) and samples of children’s work, including some in full color.
“Between 1989 and 1993, just three educators from the United States were granted permission to spend a year as interns in the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Louise Cadwell was one of them…[then] in St. Louis, the journey of Louise continues as a shared experience toward a deeper understanding of the potential of children and adults, constructing a network that sustains their mutual conversation in many languages.” – From Foreword by Lella Gandini
Bringing Learning to Life
In Bringing Learning to Life Louise Cadwell builds on her enormously popular book, Bringing Reggio Emilia Home. Cadwell helps American educators understand what it means to use ideas from the Reggio Approach in their classrooms. In new and dynamic ways, Cadwell once again takes readers inside the day-to-day practice of a group of early childhood educators. This time she describes the growth and evolution of the work in the St. Louis Reggio Collaborative over a 10 year period.
“There is a pervasive theme in this book that is embedded in the very way that Louise Cadwell considers the reality that she describes. One could call it wonder.
The book speaks of a fresh, new perspective that the protagonists of this fascinating story have brought into their classrooms and indeed their lives. Reading this book will give you the chance to reflect on how much change and transformation-as well as curiosity, love, and relationships-are vital for a school.” – From Foreword by Carlina Rinaldi
In the Spirit of the studio
As the authors state in their opening chapter of In the Spirit of the Studio, “prepare to be amazed.” This beautiful book describes the revolution that the Reggio Emilia Atelier (studio) brought to the education of young children in Italy, and follows that revolution across the ocean to North America. It explores how the experiences of children interacting with rich materials in the atelier affect an entire school’s approach to the construction and expression of thought and learning.
“It’s now widely understood that the preschools of Reggio Emilia are among the most important educational endeavors of the last century. Theoretically grounded and eminently practical, drawing on experiences in Italy and the United States, this book probes deeply into the atelier, the heartland of a Reggio inspired school.” – Howard Gardner, author of Changing Minds and Good Work
