Description
Guiding us through these stories is Paley’s gentle analysis, both in the form of her own reflections, and in a series of letters between herself and her teacher pen-pal in Taiwan, Yu-ching Huang. As Paley and Huang trade observations and anecdotes, a central theme emerges: that children often use fantasy play to demonstrate friendship, communality, and love. Paley and Huang’s correspondence also provides a workshop model for teachers and parents ? how play should be understood and talked about, and how they can best support each other and the children in their care through the psychological, intellectual and social development that play provides. A delightful and wise meditation, The Boy on the Beach will inspire and encourage scholars, parents, and especially teachers in the trenches.
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Four-year-old Eli plays alone at the shore, inventing dramas out of sand and water. He is Builder, Fireman, Protector, and Scout, overcoming waves and conquering monsters. Enter Marianne and doll, Mother and Baby, eager to redefine Eli as a good father and homesteader. Their separate visions intertwine in a search for a common ground on which howling wolves and butterfly sisters can learn to understand and need one another.What can the richly imagined, impressively adaptable fantasy world of these children tell us about childhood, development, education, and even life itself? For fifty years, teacher and writer Vivian Gussin Paley has been exploring the imagery, language, and lore of young children, asking the questions they ask of themselves.In The Boy on the Beach she continues to do so, going deeper into the mystery of play as she follows Eli and Marianne through the kindergarten year, finding more answers and more questions. How does their teacher, Mrs. Olson, manage to honor and utilize the genius of play to create an all-inclusive community in which boys and girls like each other and listen to each other’s stories? Why is Paley’s fellow teacher Yu-ching in Taiwan certain that her children pretend to be kittens in order to become necessary to the group? And why do teachers in London see their childrens’ role-playing as the natural end to loneliness in the school community?Rich with the words of children and teachers themselves, The Boy on the Beach is vintage Paley, a wise and provocative appreciation of the importance of play and enduring curiosity about the nature of childhood and the imagination.
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