Recommended Readings Children’s play by W. George Scarlett, Lamis Al-Solaim, Sophie Naudeau, Dorothy Salonius-Pasternak Published by Sage Publications, 2004ISBN 0761929991, 9780761929994 Reviewed by Sarah Husain Enlivened with illustrations and case studies, this book gives an exceptionally readable account of the development of children's play from infancy through to adolescence. It also

branches out to include humor, sports, and modern developments in electronic games, as well as uses of play in therapy. It will be a great resource for practitioners and play workers, and indeed for parents who wish to be informed of current thinking and research. It has the unique worth of being unusually comprehensive with respect to play stages, gender differences, private lives, neighborhoods, humour, collections, video games, responses to stress and the uses of recess and play therapy. We particularly liked the demonstration of the continuing role of make believe from early childhood on into the theatric, literary and electronic foci of adolescence. By looking at both the structure and content of play the authors help us understand the developmental significance of this complex way of being in the world. Each chapter contains exactly the topics we want to study and adds surprises that counter the folk-psychology of today.
This book looks at the many facets of play and how it develops from infancy through late childhood. Authors W George Scarlett, Sophie Naudeau, Dorothy Salonius-Pasternak, and Iris Ponte take a broad approach to examining how children play by including a wide variety of types of play, play settings, and play media.The book also discusses major revolutions in the way today's children play, including changes in organized youth sports, children's humour, and electronic play. Children's Play addresses diversity throughout the book and explores play on the topics of gender, disabilities, socioeconomic class, and culture. Rather than segregate culture into a single chapter, culture and diversity issues run throughout the book to give readers a deep understanding of how pervasively culture shapes children's play. Discussions include considerations of age changes in how children play, gender differences, socioeconomic class differences, differences based on disabilities, cultural differences, and typical versus atypical settings and environments.