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CHOICE Review

A book about teachers as well as play. The three authors, teaching in diverse preschool settings, temporarily took the role of researchers to address questions about play that had arisen in their work. Each of the three research projects is informative. In one study, the cognitive and cultural elements in the play between mothers from various cultures and their babies are examined. Another study looks at the relationship between language and play, and the third investigates the play of young children in the preschool outdoor yard. Besides the specific problems they consider, the writers are concerned with the interaction between theory and practice, between research and teaching. The authors' methodologies draw from the observational and reflective model that historically characterized research in preschool education. By showing teachers as researchers, these studies encourage expansion of the traditional teacher role. The authors' experience in the classroom enables them to design studies that are directly related to the day-to-day play of young children. The authors discuss play in the context of social change as more young children spend increased time in structured school environments. This book is valuable as an addition to the growing literature on children's play and for the authors' thoughtful analysis of the teacher's professional role and status. Levels: graduate and undergraduate.-S. Sugarman, Bennington College