Childrens Play in Literature

While we owe much to twentieth and twenty-first century researchers careful studies of childrens linguistic and dramatic play, authors of literature, especially childrens literature, have matched and even anticipated these researchers in revealing plays powerauthors well aware of the way children use play to experiment with their position in the world. This volume explores the work of authors of literature as well as film, both those who write for children and those who use children as their central characters, who explore the empowering and subversive potentials of children at play. Play gives children imaginative agency over limited lives and allows for experimentation with established social roles; plays disruptive potential also may prove dangerous not only for children but for the society that restricts them.