Summary

Through compelling examples, Brian Edmiston presents the case for why and how adults should play with young children to create with them a 'workshop for life'.

In a chapter on 'mythic play' Edmiston confronts adult discomfort over children's play with pretend weapons, as he encourages adults both to support children's desires to experience in imagination the limits of life and death, and to travel with children on their transformational journeys into unknown territory.

This book provides researchers and students with a sound theoretical framework for re-conceptualising significant aspects of pretend play in early childhood. Its many practical illustrations make this a compelling and provocative read for any student taking courses in Early Childhood Studies.

Choice Review

Using his son's early play experiences from three through seven as a particular case, Edmiston (Ohio State Univ.) reviews the literature of play, moving beyond Freud's and Piaget's formulations by employing Bakhtin's concept of dialogic imagination. As a part of his examination of the evolution of ethical identities, Edmiston also challenges stage theories of children's moral development. In this thoughtful, stimulating analysis of the ethical dimensions of children's play, Edmiston argues for the value of mythic play, in which children confront issues of good and evil by enacting heroes and villains of classic and contemporary tales. Through play children have agency and when adults join their play as equals, there is an opportunity for mutual exploration of these topics. Although some readers may be disconcerted when a child under seven reads books and watches films about Dracula, Wolfman, or Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Edmiston makes a convincing case for following the child's interests, even if initially, as it did Edmiston, the play makes the adult uncomfortable. This is no simple argument about violence in children's play, but a nuanced reimagining of the educational possibilities of play that should inspire many valuable discussions. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. S. Sugarman emerita, Bennington College