Overview

This book is about playful texts picturebooks and novels which play on words and/or images in the same way that children play in games of make-believe, transforming the everyday world of common sense meaning into a self-reflexive playworld which works to disclose, and subvert, the rules which sustain it. Taking their cues from the metacommunicative dimension of make-believe play, the texts employ transparent strategies which serve simultaneously to draw attention to the making of textual meaning and to disclose the processes by which those meanings are made. Playful texts specialise in multiple storylines, unreliable narrators, language play and visual games, parodies and nonsensical lists. We can therefore say that playful texts are essentially metafictive texts: texts which encourage young readers to reflect on the meaning-making procedures of narrative fiction. This process, it is argued, enhances cognitive development in a number of vital areas, especially in the area of metalinguistic awareness the ability to identify and talk about the properties of language that is so critically important in the development of language and literacy skills.

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9781781791189

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Reviews

Plummer, a Montessori teacher, defines 'playful texts' as texts that play on words and images in the same way children play make believe and encourage young readers to reflect on the meaning-making procedures of narrative fiction. The book takes a scholarly approach in examining texts that include multiple storylines, unreliable narrators, language play and visual games, parodies, and nonsensical lists. --Kate Quealy-Gainer, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, April 2016

This book succeeds by offering its readers an interesting account of why play and playful texts matter. In a world where schooled literacies are narrowing and where test stakes continue to rise, it is heartening to find an author who takes playfulness so seriously. Children's Literature

Author Information

After working for Australian State and Federal governments in environmental protection and social policy, Anne Plummer changed direction to qualify as a teacher with the Association Montessori Internationale. She has worked extensively with children in primary classrooms and individually. Her research interests include Montessori grammatics, childrens literature, and the ontogenesis of literary reading.

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