"It is fortunate that once again two of the field’s keenest ‘watchers of children’s play’ . . . have teamed up to make an important contribution. . . . Through the presentation of richly developed case studies of four diverse children . . . the authors demonstrate their powers of observation and their skills in utilizing a dialog format to make important points with clarity and impact."

–From the Foreword by Edgar Klugman

"What a refreshing tribute to teaching as a never-ending process of theory building! Master Players will help us think about something we may never have thought of before–playing to learn as distinct from learning to play."


–Carol Brunson Phillips, Director, Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition

Developed as a companion volume to the very successful The Play’s the Thing, this book defines and analyzes the concept of master player based on videotaped observations of preschool children at play. By interweaving sequences of play together with their dialog about them, the authors model how teachers can work as a team to develop their understanding of a particular child and of the value of children’s quality play and how they can support it. The in-depth discussion between the authors reveals the multi-faceted nature of play, individual differences in both teachers’ and children’s styles, and the complexity of intervention decisions made by teachers.