Early Years educators have always had a particularly secure feel for what lies at the heart of vibrant education, for "a principled understanding of learning." Here Mary Jane Drummond reminds the reader, not only that professional knowledge exists outside ring binders, but that, prior to their emergence, we did know some very important things we would do well to return to. In reconnecting to the richness and depth of twentieth-century pioneers she reminds the reader how things might yet be. All the writers she cites emphasise that children's "most urgent need is freedom to grow and think," an insight that it as is true for teachers as it is for children: the time is ripe for some critical remembering.