Hi everyone,
After a development time of almost three years, we’re absolutely delighted to release Delphi the Dreamer – our second philosophy for children novel and scheme of work! Following on from Delphi the Philosopher, these new resources are an ideal introduction to philosophy for older children, a great next step for younger children, a fantastic way to explore metacognition and offer a range of mind-blowing enquiries into reality and identity for any classroom.
This one has been a real labour of love for us. The story was written mostly during lockdown, and Rosie spent almost 18 months adding over 250 beautiful illustrations to bring the story to life. All alongside teaching our classes of course! We’ve taken our time to make Delphi the Dreamer a truly unique experience for the children, introducing many classic philosophical problems through memorable storytelling, while teaching children to take their listening, questioning, reasoning and explaining skills to the next level.
Delphi the Dreamer is now available to download, in a range of formats.
Already a Delphi Philosophy member?
Fantastic! That means you can now access all of our new resources from Delphi the Dreamer directly from our Members Area here.
Not yet joined us? Well - becoming a member means that for £30 you can download everything we have to offer – that’s now two full schemes of work and novels, nearly 25 fully illustrated stories and enquiries, the complete set of resources for Delphi’s Guide to Athens, guidance materials and more!
If you just want to see how this new resource can be used in your school, then have a look at the School Version of Delphi the Dreamer, containing the full set of resources for teachers, which is available here for £25.
Just want to read the story to your kids? Or just for yourself? We can understand that! The Home Version of Delphi the Dreamer is available to read in full here for only £5.
Want to know more? Here’s a run through the story! If one takes your fancy, you can download each chapter as a stand-alone enquiry for just £2.99.
When human beings wake up, their brains immediately launch into some very important questions. This can happen very quickly, and we often don’t remember we’ve asked them.
Question one: Who am I? This is a perfectly normal question to ask in that split second after waking up. The answer sometimes isn’t obvious. I’m Delphi, thought Delphi.
Question two: Where am I? The brain wants to sort this out as quickly as possible too. I’m at home, Delphi thought. In the front room by the fire.
Question three: Is this real or am I still dreaming? This one can be tricky.
In this mind-bending story, Delphi sets out to prove that she is no longer dreaming. But this turns out to be much more difficult than she imagined – especially when a masked stranger keeps appearing and offering her a wager – one that could cost even her soul.
Delphi is visiting the docks at Piraeus with her father. However, his last instruction to her had been to ‘wait here’ and ‘not to argue with anybody’, but Delphi had done that and was a bit bored now. Besides, an old sea captain had told her about the mystery of ‘The Ship of Theseus’ – a ship that somehow has become two ships. She might even be able to get a few coins for doing a few jobs like shifting a heap of grain - but she soon discovers that even a task like that might be much more complicated than she imagined. Delphi takes on two ancient logical problems in this intriguing and argumentative nautical adventure!
Everyone sometimes dreams of being someone else. However, when Delphi meets Plato in the Agora to show him the new mirror she has bought, she decides to make this dream into a reality. What if she wasn’t Delphi at all, but a girl named Pythia? When she discovers her friend’s real name isn’t even Plato, he gets dragged into her daring plan too. What if she was an adult? And what if, dare she think it, she was a boy? Imagination and self-discovery combine as Delphi and Plato try and work out, exactly, who they are.
Delphi receives a mysterious visitor to her home. The woman looks oddly familiar, and seems to know the way around the house. She is soon joined by many other guests, from a rowdy two-year old girl and a stroppy teenager to an ancient older woman, and there seems to be something that connects all of them. But what could it be? Delphi gets to know herself in a way that she never could have imagined, in this touching and surprising tale about who you were, who you are and who you might very well be.
It’s a well-known fact that you can’t step in the same river twice. Well known that is, to everyone except Delphi, who is fairly sure you can step in the same river twice if you splash around fast enough. However, when she is challenged by a naiad, a local river spirit, Delphi starts to think it might be a bit more complicated than that… She better think quickly too, otherwise she could turn out to be in deep trouble. Delphi takes on a philosophical classic, and faces her demons, in this lively, yet dangerous tale.
Delphi’s pet tortoise has always led a quiet and peaceful existence. At least Delphi thought so, until one night when Zeno starts speaking to her. It turns out he was once a famous racing tortoise, whatever that is, and even beat the legendary Achilles in a footrace across the beach. Delphi hears his stories and, even using all the logic she knows, still can’t make sense of how a tortoise can outrun Achilles, and even flying arrows. Delphi learns the meaning of the word ‘paradox’ as she takes on this famous ancient logical problem, inspired by Aesop’s fables and Greek philosophy.
Delphi’s dad is missing. But even worse than that, the city of Athens has become… strange. An odd creature that might be a rabbit (or might be a duck), hops (or waddles) through the streets and many of Athens’ citizens have taken to sitting in an underground cave, watching a shadow puppet show on the cave wall. The show’s name is Reality – and Delphi is going to need all her philosophical knowhow to show them the truth. In this dramatic retelling of Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave, Delphi must find a way to rescue her friends and father, and help them face the truth, no matter how difficult it is.
Where do you go when you need help? Delphi’s dad has been captured, the adults are pretending to be emperors and teapots, and there is a good chance she is still dreaming. But surely the gods can help? When Delphi enters the Parthenon and finds a forest inside, she knows it can’t be real – however when she discovers an unfamiliar, ticking contraption she decides that someone must have made it. And if that’s true for the watch… Delphi takes on William Paley in this moving and thought-provoking story about whether you can prove that gods exist – or whether it is something you can never truly know.
Delphi had made the mistake of making a deal with a Demon in her dream – to name something that is, without doubt, real, or lose her soul. The time has now come for Delphi to give her answer, but all she has in her mind are the echo of words: Get rid of everything that you can doubt – and find what you have left. But once Delphi has rejected everything she thought she knew, what could there be? In this mind-blowing two-part finale to Delphi the Dreamer, Delphi takes on Descartes’ famous assertion of ‘I think, therefore I am’. But what does this truly mean? And who exactly is she?
We really hope you enjoy exploring our new story! The website has been extensively updated - so you can find out much more about Delphi the Dreamer and all our other resources, at www.delphi-philosophy.com. Remember you can get everything we have to offer immediately by purchasing a membership here.
After such a big update, we’re now aiming to have smaller, more regular updates – so you can expect more from us during 2022!
We hope you are all staying safe and well, and thank you for all your support. Every purchase, download, bit of feedback or share means the world to us.
Dave and Rosie
Delphi Philosophy