Playful visions : optical toys and the emergence of childrens media culture Introduction: the ludic archive Templates toys and text: optical toys in nineteenth century childrens culture Language in motion: the thaumatrope establishes a multimedia convention Seeing things: optical play at home Movable toy books and the culture of independent play Color education: from the chaotic kaleidoscope to the orderly spectrum Democracy and discipline: object lessons and the stereoscope in American education 1870 1920 Conclusion: oversized optics in the digital age<br> In this richly detailed work Meredith Bak explores how the historical legacy of optical toys figures into the formation of childrens media culture. Baks analysis draws on her own archival research as well as scholarship in a variety of disciplines including film and cinema studies media archeology history literature and childhood studies. The book is organized around a close analysis of the use and context for nineteenth and twentieth optical media the thaumatrope phenakistoscope zoetrope praxinoscope movable toy books kaleidoscope and stereoscope. While these mechanisms are fascinating in themselves they are often seen merely as precursors to more fully developed film and cinema technologies. Bak restores these devices to their original context middle class nurseries and living rooms and reveals how the types of play that they encouraged were engaged with changing ideas of childhood the psychology of vision and the education of the senses. One reviewer remarks The authors article length work is already being cited by colleagues in the field of Film and Media Studies particularly the capaciousness of its innovative approach to media formats that link historical forms to contemporary media.