We adults so often overreact to children's "violent" play, but as a teacher and sometime child advocate I see how much richer and more complicated their make-believe is than what we so easily pigeonhole as "violence." Vivian Gussin Paley makes clear what such fantasy means to children, and why we should understand and participate in it, in this wonderfully readable book!

This book takes a thoughtful look at how a group of kindergarten children act out in their play the violent thoughts and worries that they have. It is also about how their teacher struggles with the question of how best to help them deal with their violent play, which she finds quite upsetting. It is not preachy book, much less a quick fix on violence in America. But if you are a kindergarten teacher or a parent of kindergartener you will end up seeing your children's play in a whole new way.

This book is a tool for exploring the minds of young children. Rather than analyze the behavior of her kindergarten students, Paley gives us examples of their actual conversations and actions. She tries to gently guide her students to come to their own conclusions about the world and reality, rather than present her own ideas as the truth. That is why this book paints such a realistic and vivid picture of how a child's mind works. Through her stories, Paley shows us how and why children have a different concept of reality than adults. To a child, something is realistic if he can picture it in his head. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable that a mouse could be stronger than a man, or that Wally (Paley's most imaginative and unruly student) could grow up to be a mother lion. This book is a great resource for anyone who works with children, writes children's books, or has young children. It will give you a whole new perspective on children's thoughts and behavior.

If you are willing to learn from children, I recommend this fascinating book. Paley's taped conversations and stories from her Kindergarten classes reveal the engaged young minds at work; their creativity and inventiveness is genuine and persistent; experience is never so important as imagination.

The narratives that the children invent reveal how their minds work, how they search for meaning, and how the best explanations need not be the most rational.

I recommend this book for anyone who has children or who works with children. Also, I recommend it for anyone who is intrigued about why we search for meaning, why we tell stories, why we invent and create. "Out of the mouths of babes...."

I'm supposed to read this book for a child development course I'm taking here at school. That is, I'm supposed to read it a month from now, but I'm reading it for pleasure. For pleasure! I never read for pleasure, but I can't put this book down. Full of anecdotal material from a kindergarten class, this is as truthful a look at kids as will ever be published.

The Girl with the Brown Crayon is a non-fiction book that is also an autobiography. It does not describe the complete life of the author, but it does explain a year in her life and in her classroom. This book is intended for any one interested in becoming a teacher. I would recommend this particularly a lower elementary teacher, because it would help them to understand the wonderful things children and comprehend and accomplish at such a young age. Ms. Paley has a simple, straightforward writing style that is easy to read.
There is one sentence that sums up Ms. Paley's last year as a teacher. "...I resist the uninvented classroom." (p. 50) Throughout the year, Ms. Paley and her students are books of Leo Lionni. It is through these books that the students and Ms. Paley discover themselves. One student in particular plays a major role in the development of the class. Reeny "sees" things before any one else does. She also brings new interpretations to the class.
I would say that The Girl with the Brown Crayon was an interesting book. At the beginning the author warns us that it might not seem like a true story. She is right, the events to seem incredible. It takes a very special class full of very special students to have a year such as they did. Throughout the book the author is very analytical of herself. She keeps finding traits of herself that the characters in the books also posses. Due the fact that this is her last year of teaching, she is very reflective, and rightfully so. Ms. Paley is also a good teacher in the sense that she is constantly reviewing what she is doing with her class. It has become stereotyped that older teachers follow the same exact curriculum from their first year. Ms. Paley fights that, and is always inventing something new and creative for the class she is teaching that year, not the class she taught the previous year.
There is a common theme of a person versus society. Throughout the book the students discuss the feeling of the characters and whether what they did was appropriate or not. While the students were looking at the books with a very high intellectual level, it should have also been brought down to their level. For example, would they give into the peer pressure of giving up the golden wings? The key words in that sentence are peer pressure. Through out the entire book, this idea was never brought up. The students could think higher, but only when they were talking about wings. What about issues in their lives.
Overall, this was a very good book and I would recommend it to anyone that is looking to teach in the near future. Ms. Paley has wonderful ideas, which she brings into her teaching. Ms. Paley makes her children excited about what they are doing.

The Girl with the Brown Crayon is a book that displays a journey through a kindergarten classroom which can only be described as a unique adventure of self discovery. Vivian Paley is the author as well as the kindergarten teacher of this very classroom. During her last year of teaching, she meets an interesting child named Reeny who leads Paley as well as the rest of the class on an exploration through the books and illustrations of Leo Lionni.
The Girl with the Brown Crayon is a book which covers important topics that cannot be learned in any college course. It discusses issues of identity and acceptance seen and felt through a child. I enjoy Paley's excessive use of dialogue. It aides in capturing the emotions felt by the characters and allows experiences to become more realistic in the readers eyes.
Overall, I recommend this book to future educators. It will teach you to become more open to your students thoughts and ideas rather than constantly focusing on certain curriculum. It will allow you to see the vastness of opportunities education can hold for you and your class!

Paley's purpose for writing this book consists of helping to open our minds to the insights of children. She implies in her writing that we, as adults, can learn from children. Paley wrote about events that took place in her classroom during her last year of teaching. This book has many stories within itself. The theme or topic revolves around the children and how they react to literature and each other. This book is good that it opens us up to the world of children and how they think and feel. A good portion of the book is Paley's thought and feelings about what is going on with the children. It is good that we know her thoughts, but I would like to have read more about what the children were doing. I think more details about how the other children reacted and behaved would have been nice, other than concentrating a good deal on Reeny. Also when Paley writes about the stories she read to the class, I think she should have given a little bit more detail about the stories. Some people, including myself, may not have read some or any of Leo Lionni's books. Overall, it is a fun book to read.

This leading and innovative educator has fallen short in this effort. Paley talks about the courage to create a classroom where a the children can't say "No" to someone else playing. Unfortunately for the reader, what should have been an excellent published article was needlessly stretched into a full-length book. In order to make it even remotely long enough to be a book, Paley includes a story, which hits the reader over the head with the parallels to the "real" events of Paley's classroom.

Waste not your time reading this book, instead know that if you are a teacher perhaps you should institute a "you can't say you can't play" attitude in your classroom.

I would recommend this book to anyone in the early childhood field. I heard about it in an ECE class I was taking over the summer. The issue seemed so controversial it really intrigued me. At first I was sure I would disagree with the book's message, but after reading it my opinion really changed. The book itself is a quick easy read.

I'm a teacher and a mother of a preschooler, and someone who was *seriously* excluded as a child. This book had me in tears. Vivian Paley explores and challenges the commonly accepted practice of letting children exclude each other, showing how socially dominant children use exclusion as a weapon to enforce their dominance and what the negative consequences are for the group as a whole. She proposes a solution that may at first seem idealistic, but is just about building a culture of tolerance and problem-solving, and starting it from the youngest ages. A must-read for any teacher or parent.

What struck me about the book is the author's willingess to be open about her lack of understanding about racial barriers. The writing is self-reflective without being self-loathing.It's honest and very engaging.

In White Teacher, Vivian Gussin Paley describes her experiences as a young teacher. She tells of her reactions when faced with a classroom full of children who are different from her. By recounting her experiences as a child and reflecting upon them, she is able to better understand why certain children behave in certain ways. These reflections, given in a narrative form, inform the reader of the thought processes of Paley. Through these examples, one is able to better understand what the author was experiencing.

Paley's intention is to prepare future readers for the experiences she has had by giving the reader her reactions to them. She tells the reader what worked to make a bad situation better, as well as what did not. Most of the cultural differences Paley describes occur between her, a Jew of European descent and the African-American children in her classes. However, many of the lessons and principles used apply to all children. Her examples include children with different learning styles; comments taken out of context; children who are excluded from a group and those forming the groups based on a singular characteristic. The majority of the classroom settings are in half-day kindergartens.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who has ever had, or will face a multicultural situation - that would include pretty much all of us. There is an added value in this book for potential teachers. Paley shows how to effectively validate children's perceptions of the world and make them feel value and self-worth.

I stand in awe of Vivian Paley for the amazing self honesty she displays in examining her deep down attitudes towards race, which so many people would rather mouth cliches and not face up to. This book should be read in conjunction with Kwanzaa And Me, where the author continues to grow and change in her perspective. This book should be read by people of all races in all professions, not just teaching.

After reading, Vivian Gussin Paley's book, the boy who would be a helicopter, I found it to be a very interesting account of her experiences in teaching young children. In particular, I was really impressed by the way she engaged the children in telling their stories through acting them out, since this not only allowed the children to learn, but also Paley had the chance to learn more about the children through their stories. Of all the children, Paley was primarily focused on a boy named Jason because he was so different than the rest of her children. For example, Jason refused to play with the other children and when Paley tried to get him to join the group his typical response was his helicopter is broken at which point he would rush off to "supposedly' fix it.

What amazed me throughout the book was how Paley continued to encourage Jason to join them in their storytelling and refused to give up on him. In addition, despite Jason's differences Paley never labeled him. Quite honestly, I know teachers who would have labeled or viewed Jason as being a special needs child and wanted him out of their classroom. Yet, Paley was driven to help Jason and he eventually does make tremendous progress in her classroom. Of course, Jason's level of progress would not have occurred without Paley's patience and determination along with a positive learning environment, which sends an important message to teachers. Even at the end of the book, Paley never reveals what Jason's problem is or whether she feels he is in need of some special services. To me, I definitely recommend this book to any educator especially those who work with young children, since I think Paley has a real unique way of working with children and teachers could greatly benefit from reading about her classroom experiences.

Jeff Wagner

December 18, 2002

Book Review of the boy who would be a helicopter

After reading, Vivian Gussin Paley's book, the boy who would be a helicopter, I found it to be a very interesting account of her experiences in teaching young children. In particular, I was really impressed by the way she engaged the children in telling their stories through acting them out, since this not only allowed the children to learn, but also Paley had the chance to learn more about the children through their stories. Of all the children, Paley was primarily focused on a boy named Jason because he was so different than the rest of her children. For example, Jason refused to play with the other children and when Paley tried to get him to join the group his typical response was his helicopter is broken at which point he would rush off to "supposedly' fix it.

What amazed me throughout the book was how Paley continued to encourage Jason to join them in their storytelling and refused to give up on him. In addition, despite Jason's differences Paley never labeled him. Quite honestly, I know teachers who would have labeled or viewed Jason as being a special needs child and wanted him out of their classroom. Yet, Paley was driven to help Jason and he eventually does make tremendous progress in her classroom. Of course, Jason's level of progress would not have occurred without Paley's patience and determination along with a positive learning environment, which sends an important message to teachers. Even at the end of the book, Paley never reveals what Jason's problem is or whether she feels he is in need of some special services. To me, I definitely recommend this book to any educator especially those who work with young children, since I think Paley has a real unique way of working with children and teachers could greatly benefit from reading about her classroom experiences.

Jeff Wagner

December 18, 2002

Love her story-telling and its relationship to teaching - I use it in my ESL classes. Is Vivian related to the short story writer - Grace Paley?

Paley once again turns out a superb account of her observations as a kindergarten teacher. In "Boys and Girls", Paley focuses her attention on gender. She experiments with changing the way they play and in their P.E. classes. She comes up with some very good points about both the differences and similarities in young boys and girls. Most importantly though, she tells how play is the work of young children and the way that boys and girls approach that work in different matters. While she is speaking about gender issues, she is careful not to over-generalize because there are always exceptions to the rules of a classroom.

Why 4 Stars?: I have always enjoyed Paley's books and her comments about the development of kindergarten children. She truly has a gift for getting inside the minds of 5-year olds. Her books serve as a guide for teachers, parents and any adult who has any interaction with children. Many of her statements can also be applied to adults and the society at large not just her classroom.

Paley continues with her success in capturing the world of her kindergarteners in this treament of gender differences among younger children. She explores the comments made in class, providing the reader with an in-depth look into the kindergarteners' lives and how they see one another, especially in terms of gender. You'll laugh at what the kids have to say and wonder about Paley's observations concerning gender exclusion and segregation, as well as the children's general ideas of what it means to be a boy or a girl.

I thought this book was very informational. It opens lines of communication by focusing onvarios thoughts and ideas from people of all ethnic groups and cultures. I would recommend reading this book to all education majors.

I am an education major and read this book for an assignment. I am very impreesed with this book. I love the idea of using continuious stories to encourage students to think and question. I am especially fond of the relation that Ms. Paley and her colleague Lorraine share. If only conversations like theirs were held between Black and White teachers at every school!

Currently, I am a college student majoring in education. I chose this book for a class assignment and I enjoyed it. The author brought forth issues in regards to race, religion and just the mere diversity of the classroom. I feel this was easy reading addressing very strong issues, waying out the pros and cons of the multi-cultural classroom. I recommend this book to teachers, parents, students and anyone who share the concern for our educational system and the product of students that rise up and out into today's society.

I don't know what I expected from this book. I thought it would be a series of stories about children being kind. It actually ended up as a free-flowing continuous stream-of-consciousness tale on the part of the author. It was partly on the children, and partly on the reaction of the author and other teachers towards the small kindnesses that children give to one another in diverse situations. Even though Paley tells us about the interesting story-telling learning which she instigates, the story-telling is less important to the book then the kindnesses of the children. The story-telling is the means by which the kindnesses continue, a means to acknowledge that kindness has occurred, and that children are responsible for solitary acts that can have ripple-like effects.

What I find incredibly interesting and wish that Paley had dealt with is that this behavior of small children prior to the fourth grade seems to be 'taught' out of children, by the adults in their lives. I may be wrong about this, but the national problems with bullying seem to occur right after third grade (which most educators and parents know is a major transitional point). Where is it that we are teaching our children not to be kind to others?

This book is sweet and extremely interesting. Paley brings up the possibility of an intelligence based not on intellect, but on an inner sense of being able to 'see' when another person is hurting. I would have liked more information...this book raises more questions then it provides the solutions for....

While this is certainly not her best book that does not mean it is not a wonderful tale of Mrs. Paley's experience working with children. Like many of her other books, this is a narrative tale of individual events that have been strung together to show a common theme. In this book, Paley focuses upon her art of having children create their own imaginative stories that are then acted out by the other children in the class. She digs deeper though to watch how the children interact.

She tells of her observations and revelations that children are able to look past the minor defects and imperfections in a person's appearance or character and accept them for who they are. It is somewhere along our journey to adulthood that we lose that ability. Paley focuses upon the children and the actions that seem so remarkable to us that are so ordinary for them.

What this book lacks however is in-depth analysis of a group of children. This is not Paley's fault however. Since she has left teaching she does not have the time with a single group of children necessary to make such observations. It is still a wonderful introspective on the way adults and children differ in our social interactions.

Why 4 stars?: This book tells a nice and interesting tale of Paley's experiences with several classrooms around the world. She tells us of her observations of the why children are able to be unprejudiced and show true kindness to other children because they know no other way. Adults, on the other hand, seem to do it out of necessity. She reminds us that "The moral universe lies on the breath of schoolchildren." However, it would have been nicer to see some deeper analyses of groups and the individual episodes could have been strung together better. All in all, this is a nice and inspiring book for teachers and parents alike.

This is the first book by Paley I have read, and now I'm hooked! I am touched by her sensitivity and her openness to the wonder of the world of children. I felt that I was right there with her at the "storytelling table." An added bonus was her valuable references to Jewish storytelling traditions and her many biblical references. Anyone who works with children, especially "at-risk" children, would benefit from this book. An intimate and expressive work.