The Association for the Study of Play (ASP) is the sponsor of the seventh volume in the Play and Culture Studies Series. The ASP is a professional group of researchers who study play.

The purpose of this series is to advance knowledge about play and culture. Volume seven presents current theoretical and empirical research on play and culture from a variety of disciplines including psychology, education, and sociology. The book begins with an overview of the twentieth-century and moves from conceptualizing play to significant and timely topics, such as the relationship between play and literacy. Applications to practice and policy implications are presented and include play with action figures; playgrounds; play as an integral part of the human experience; and the value of play with books for toddlers. Research activity and interests of contemporary play scholars are highlighted and discussed in relation to projected problems and needs facing us as we enter the new millennium, such as childhood obesity; play as a venue for social interaction; and play as a method of developing skill for interaction at the local and national levels as adults.

Exceptional issue. This publication not only has something for everyone (academics, educators, parents, communities, agencies and players) but the practical and theoretical contributions are timely, informative, and sometimes fundamental. Not since Albert Ellis (1973) have so many models for explaining play's role been represented in one publication.... Readers will not be disappointed in this work. Sluss and Jarrett have compiled a masterpiece, and they should be congratulated for so capably advancing our scholarly interests in play. -- Anne Marie Guilmette * American Journal of Play *

Dorothy Justus Sluss is the Associate Dean of Teacher Education and Professional Services in the School of Education at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Her research interests include constructivism, early childhood education, teacher education, and play. She has been published in Young Children; Childhood Education; the Journal of Research in Childhood Education; and has recently published Supporting Play: Birth to Age Eight.

Olga Jarrett is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Georgia State University in Atlanta where she teaches child development, science teaching methods, and action research for an urban alternative certification masters program. Her research interests are: role of play in science, role of teachers in the play of children, recess, and bullying. Her research has been published in such journals as: Developmental Psychology; School Science and Mathematics; Journal of Elementary Science Education, Journal of Geoscience Education, and Journal of Educational Research. She is the past president of The Association for the Study of Play and secretary of the American Association for the Child's Right to Play (IPAUSA).