Susan Linn discusses and signs The Case for Make-Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World April 28, 2009

From the author of Consuming Kids, a clarion call for preserving play in our material world, a book every parent will want to read.

In the nationally celebrated Consuming Kids, Susan Linn provided an unsparing look at how modern childhood is molded by commercialism. The resulting threat to children's play is the subject of her timely and fascinating new book. In The Case for Make Believe, Linn argues that, while play is crucial to human development, nurturing creative play in modern-day America is not only countercultural—it's a threat to corporate profits.

At the heart of the book are gripping stories of children at home, at school, and in a therapist's office using make believe to grapple with real-life issues from entering kindergarten to the death of a sibling. In an age when toys come from TV shows, dress-up means wearing Disney costumes, and parents believe Baby Einstein is educational, Linn lays out the inextricable links between play, creativity, and health, showing us why we need to protect our children from corporations that aim to limit their imaginations.

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