Book Reviews

Introduction to PlayJane Waters-Davies, ed.
London, UK: SAGE, 2022. List of figures
and tables, about the editor, about theauthors, acknowledgments, introduction,
closing remarks, references, and index.
272 pp. $36.00, paperback.
ISBN: 9781529743562
Introduction to Play is an edited volume
that comprises the work of scholars ofchild development and education, editedby an associate professor of early childhood education, Jane Waters-Davies.
It provides a relational, contextual, andecological guide to study play and play’s
inextricable link to children’s holisticdevelopment. Chapters in the book share
a commitment to a socio-constructivist
take on child development, amplifying
the argument that there exists an ongoing interaction between the interests andcuriosities of children and the responses
to these interests and curiosities by adults,interests and curiosities supported byproviding play opportunities for children
from their early months. Additionally,Waters-Davies holds, the institutions andstructures built on these conceptions serve
to reinforce or block children’s access toplay opportunities. Although, from thebeginning, she modestly welcomes herreaders by announcing the “unashamedlyintroductory” nature of the book, actually
the breadth of the topics it covers and its
synthesis of the recent literature make itstand out.
The first two parts of the book—“What is Play?” and “Why is Play Important?”—are devoted to understanding playfrom both developmental and rights-based
perspectives and to deconstructing therelationship between adults’ perceptionof play and the support they provide forplay opportunities. The next two parts—“Where Does Play Happen?” and “International Perspectives”—focus on playin relation to the macrosystems of playthrough an exploration of topics such associetal perception of the natural environment, play in the contexts of emergency
situations, digital contexts of play, play inearly years curriculum in the United Kingdom and beyond, and social and spatialaspects of inclusion in relation to play.
The most prominent policy frameworks

110Book Reviews(Welsh government play policy, The WellBeing of Future Generations Act) andnational curriculum examples (Curriculum for Excellence) that the book draws
from are based in the United Kingdom,which is the national context for WatersDavies’ experience as a teacher in London,
as a professor in Wales, and as a memberof the advisory panel of the Welsh government. These are globally relevant examples
for readers interested in the demystification of the pillars and processes that leadto sustainable play provision at a national
level (in chapter 11).
Waters-Davies reintroduces several
concepts throughout the book in a waythat situates each concept about play incontext. This also allows the reader with a
specific interest to know which chapter to
go to, whereas the multidisciplinary reader
reading from the beginning to end willencounter a multidimensional, ecological study of such concepts. For instance,
the topic of adult intervention in play, ispresented in “Types of Play” (chapter 3) inthe form of adult tendency to worry about
and interrupt children’s rough-and-tumble
play based on misunderstanding this typeof play’s physical and social meaning andbenefits.
“Play, Learning, and Development” (chapter 5) illustrates play experiences that embody learning opportunities
that might be put at stake when, say, ateacher draws a line to separate painting and playing, perhaps leading to a disruption of children’s play with the paint(an activity that happens as children copy
their peers who are doing so).
“Play, Early Language, and Communication” (chapter 6), draws on the act ofadults asking questions about children’s

pretend play rather than fully engaging inchildren’s play and discusses play within
the context of its affordances for exploring peer-peer interactions and pursuingmeaningful adult-child communication
opportunities (its author uses transcripts
from her original work on playgroundhuts published in 2011).
Reflection points and case studiesbased on everyday life and community
settings provide opportunities for readers to understand and visualize play cues
and behaviors that allow play to be recognized before it can be understood andsupported.
In this sense, I personally took a special delight in the introduction of playwork theory early in the book (chapter 1)
for I believe that it skillfully sets the tone
for an understanding of a child-led andintrinsically motivated activity done forits own sake. I also found the insights andwork of philosophers and educators wholistened to children and tuned into theirneeds (chapter 4), some from within thecontexts and times “where children weremeant to be seen and not heard” (p. 43),
especially thought provoking in the context of the highly controlled and regulated
environments of the risk society in which
we live (chapter 14). Seeing play throughthe lens of a risk society reveals the extent
to which the sense of danger and how to
guard against it pervade the lives of adults
living and working with children andmakes it difficult to focus on cultivating
exploration, freedom, imagination, andcreativity.
It is particularly important in theaftermath of the local and global economic, ecological, and health crises thatprofessionals from multiple disciplines

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concerned with children’s lives dedicate
a sustained effort to understanding andrecognizing play and its central placein children’s holistic development andwell-being. Waters-Davies provides aguidebook for those who are interested
in accomplishing this ambitious goal, notonly for students of play and their professors, but for everybody who intends toadvocate for play.
—Bengi Süllü, City University of New York,New York, NY

The Handbook of
Developmentally Appropriate
Toys
Doris Bergen, ed.
New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021.
Foreword, preface, introduction, about
the authors. 302 pp. $75.00 paper.
ISBN: 9781475849202
This book is the result of a well-coordinated encyclopedic effort to overview andengage with the many forms and shapesthat toys take (today and in the past) andwith their possible effects on child development. The work of its numerous authors
is well coordinated, applying similar structures and looking through similar lenses ata vast array of playful objects that sometimes exceed what we would traditionallycall “toys.” The product of this effort is asort of “Doomsday book” of toys that withvery few exceptions lists the many different objects that children can engage playfully. From this perspective, Doris Bergen’sbook is a true handbook, both in style andcontent. The writing is simple and linear,generally devoid of obscure academic
jargon and oriented toward a wide audience of teachers and educators who mightwant to consult the book for practicalmatters, rather than for scientific inquiry.
The authors skillfully combine both scientific research (especially in pedagogy
and developmental psychology) and theirextensive lived experience as educators.
The book is structured in chapters,
each focusing (with the exception of theintroductory and concluding ones) ona different kind of toy, about which theauthors list possible types, recall its history, discuss its appropriateness for different ages and genders, note its adaptability
for children with special needs, summarize the main research trends about it, andfinally provide recommendations. For thisreason, more than a book to be read fromthe first page to the last, the Handbookof Developmentally Appropriate Toys is abook to keep in one’s library and to consult
when designing a new educational activity
or when information on a particular toy
is needed.
The structure of the book itself offers
an interesting contribution, as the very
construction of its chapters presents asort of typology of toys. There are chaptersthat define sets of toys based on what they
represent (replicas of kitchen objects, ofworkshop and crafting tools, of vehicles, ofpeople—that is, dolls and puppets), basedon the actions they allow children to do(construction blocks, riding toys, climbing
toys, throwing toys, musical toys, wearable
toys—i.e., dress-up clothes), or based on
the actions they do themselves (flying toys,
such as airplanes, kites, and drones). Other
sets are defined around cultural production types (Indigenous toys), or the types