At Home with the Poppets invites children to revisit the charming world of the Poppets, to hear about the daily lives of Freddie, Phinnie, Margie, Millie and baby Lawri. They will learn more about each of the children and how they and Mother and Father Poppet work and play together. As in Four Seasons with the Poppets, this book also speaks to a child’s senses, allowing them to imagine different sights, sounds, smells, tastes and touch. The Poppet books spark a child’s imagination, leading to creative play. When children use their imagination, it develops their ability to problem solve.

As with any enduring fairy tale, children will want to listen to Four Seasons with the Poppets again and again, to revisit the charming world of the Poppets. The seasonal stories speak to a child’s senses, describing picturesque scenes. In spring, how pretty the forest looked when the flowers were in bloom; in summer, the animals would come visit to hear Margie’s and Millie’s songs; in fall, gathering pine cones for Mother Poppet’s fires; in winter, ‘The roasted acorn smelled just like Christmas dinner should smell.’ Throughout the story are life lessons: appreciation for and conservation of the world around them, inclusion and encouragement of others, teamwork, and neighbourliness. Children are comforted, learning about the continuity of the seasons. “When Father Poppet saw how the sun made the frozen creek look like a sparkling white path, he decided to whittle ice skates for the children next spring, out of soft green wood, that would dry and harden in time for Christmas next winter.” When children use their imagination, it develops their ability to problem solve.

Poppets are dolls used for sympathetic magic, and are designed in the likeness of individuals in order to represent them in spells to help, heal or harm. The word poppet comes from the Middle Ages in England, originally meaning a small doll or child, and it is still in use today as a name of endearment. The term is older than the phrase ‘Voodoo doll’. Pagan Portals – Poppets and Magical Dolls explores the history of poppets and offers a practical guide to making and using them in modern witchcraft. It also covers seasonal dolls, from Brigid dolls, used in celebrations for the first stirrings of spring, to fairy dolls enjoyed in tree-dressing at Yuletide. Other topics covered include spirit dolls, ancestor dolls and dolls as representations of mythological beings and creatures from folklore. The newest book from Lucya Starza, author of Every Day Magic: A Pagan Book of Days.

Why, beginning in the late 1960s, did expressive objects made by poor people come to be regarded as "twentieth-century folk art," increasingly sought after by the middle class and the wealthy? Julia Ardery explores that question through the life story of