The Kingdom of Childhood: Growing up at the Sudbury Valley School

What do students say about life at Sudbury Valley? This book is a remarkable series of vivid personal recollections of school, in the words of former students. Drawn from comprehensive, reflective interviews, each account presents a picture of school days from the unique perspective of a student, telling what they did, and how they felt about their Sudbury Valley School experience. “I always thought I was grown up. At every age I felt, not grown up, but a whole person; not a little kid or a big kid, just ‘me.’ Like, ‘Of course I’m not six. I’m just “me,” a person with a vote.’ I wasn’t a less powerful person than this fifteen year old, or adult, and I thought that was normal. So I think I always felt grown up, especially at the School Meeting. Sometimes I would attend, campaign for what I believed in. There was a lot of stuff I would just phase out on. Sometimes I wouldn’t attend at all for long periods of time. But it wasn’t because I was disaffected. I was busy, and there wasn’t anything that I felt that I should campaign for or needed to put in words.”