In The Case for Make Believe, Harvard child psychologist Susan Linn tells the alarming story of childhood under siege in a commercialized and technology-saturated world. Although play is essential to human development and children are born with an innate capacity for make believe, Linn argues that, in modern-day America, nurturing creative play is not only countercultural—it threatens corporate profits. A book with immediate relevance for parents and educators alike, The Case for Make Believe helps readers understand how crucial child’s play is—and what parents and educators can do to protect it. At the heart of the book are stories of children at home, in school, and at a therapist’s office playing about real-life issues from entering kindergarten to a sibling’s death, expressing feelings they can’t express directly, and making meaning of an often confusing world. In an era when toys come from television and media companies sell videos as brain-builders for babies, Linn lays out the inextricable links between play, creativity, and health, showing us how and why to preserve the space for make believe that children need to lead fulfilling and meaningful lives.

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but that adage is put to its test in Molly Make-Believe, a charming romance novel from Eleanor Hallowell Abbott. When up-and-coming businessman Carl Stanton falls ill and is prescribed weeks of bed rest, his fiancee Cornelia decides to go ahead with her plans to visit relatives in the South. A flurry of love letters follow -- but their true provenance leads the ailing Carl down an unexpected path.

Presents over 125 activities and projects for creative fun with young children, including storybook play, cooking, costumes and masks, puppets, fingerpaints, games, and mini-plays.

Natasha Lisenko is twenty-two years old. She's clever, creative, and hasn't left the house in five years. Her sister, Lena, is an energetic, popular, occasionally cruel high-school cheerleader--or was, the last time Natasha saw her. One day, after a fight at school, the sisters took separate routes home-and the mystery of Lena's disappearance has haunted the family ever since. Natasha works her way through delayed adolescence, college applications, and an evolving relationship with her tutor. Her parents work to move forward without their daughter, and without answers to the questions surrounding what happened that afternoon. When the case is suddenly re-opened, Natasha is forced to make a decision. Reality or imagination? Make believe or truth? Or can she-as she's been doing for the past five years--go on existing someplace in between?

Representations in visual arts and fiction play an important part in our lives and culture. Walton presents a theory of the nature of representation, which shows its many varieties and explains its importance. His analysis is illustrated with examples from film, art, literature and theatre.

An attempt to cover all aspects of children's make-believe. The authors examine how imaginative play begins and develops and provide examples and evidence on the young child's invocation of imaginary friends, the adolescent's daring games and the adult's private imagery and inner thought.

The guides include questions for discussions, plot summaries, and author biographies.