Words Alone

“It’s good to have a Goffstein,” said The New York Times Book Review. Here’s something even better—twenty-six of M. B. Goffstein’s best-known, and best-loved, books for children and adults.



Groundbreaking when first published, and perhaps more resonant today than ever, Goffstein’s work champions the value of simplicity, nature, self-reliance, spiritual connections, and living a creative and meaningful life. With humor and insight, Goffstein enlarges our world from seemingly small details. With lyrical artist biographies, poetic gems, stories of family and making one’s way in life, Words Alone is also a celebration of a singular writer and artist.


The text of each story is published without the original illustrations because Ms. Goffstein believed the words stood alone. This collection includes: The Gats!, Sleepy People, Brookie and Her Lamb, Across the Sea, Goldie the Dollmaker, Two Piano Tuners, A Little Schubert, Me and My Captain, Fish for Supper, My Crazy Sister, Family Scrapbook, My Noah’s Ark, Natural History, Neighbors, Laughing Latkes, An Artist, Lives of the Artists, A Writer, My Editor, Our Snowman, School of Names, Artists’ Helpers Enjoy the Evenings, Artists’ Helpers Visit New York, An Actor, A House, a Home, and Sweet Sleep Canoe


Originally published for children, but always intended just as much for adults, this collection will be appreciated by anyone who appreciates a small story, perfectly told.

This is one of four volumes in the collected writing of M. B. Goffstein series: Words Alone: Twenty-Six Books Without Pictures, Art Girls Together: Two Novels, Daisy Summerfield’s Art: The Complete Flea Market Mysteries, and Biography of Miss Go Chi: Novelettos & Poems