Books by Vivian Gussin Paley

Four-year-old Eli plays in the sand on the beach, playing fireman, protector, and scout, battling waves and defeating invisible monsters. But then a new playmate, Marianne, arrives with her doll, and the boy's stories adapt to accommodate hers: the fireman saves the doll from drowning, but then the doll's mother and father put it safely to bed.

In Boys and Girls, the author took readers inside a kindergarten classroom to show them how boys and girls play. In this edition, the author goes deeper into the mystery of play as she follows a group of children through the kindergarten year.

In A Child's Work, innovative and widely respected educator Vivian Gussin Paley offers a manifesto against the decline of children's creative time, making the case for the critical role of fantasy play in the psychological, intellectual, and social development of young children.

Paley sets out to discover the truth about the multicultural classroom from those who participate in it. Here are the voices of black teachers and minority parents, immigrant families, a Native American educator, and the children themselves, whose stories mingle with the author's to create a candid picture of the integrated classroom.

'Paley's vivid and accurate descriptions depict both spontaneous and recurring incidents and outline increasingly complex interactions among the children. Included in the narrative are questions or ideas to challenge the reader to gain more insight and understanding into the motives and conceptualizations of Mollie and other children.'-Karen L. Peterson, Young Children

In Mrs. Tully's Room tells the story of the comforting and compelling community created by the center's gifted director. This book offers hope to parents and practical guidelines for daycare providers on how to use their imaginations, and those of their charges, to enrich the children's minds and hearts.

Visiting a London nursery school, Paley observes the schoolchildren's reception of another visitor, a handicapped boy named Teddy. A predicament arises, and the children's response offers Paley the purest evidence of kindness she has ever seen.

Wally's Stories is Vivian Paley's lively account of her kindergarten classroom, where children are encouraged to learn by using their fantasies and stories. The book describes the evolution of both teacher and students as they grow to understand each other through this unusual teaching method.