Children, Youth and Environments Vol. 19 No. 1 (Spring 2009) ISSN: 1546-2250 A Place for Play: A Companion Volume to the Michigan Television Film: Where Do the Children Play? Goodenough, Elizabeth (2008). National Institute for Play; ISBN 9780615202822. The book A Place for Play is an anthology of interviews and short essays with experts from Where Do the Children Play?,a 60-minute documentary from Michigan Television. [Seeaccompanying video and study guide review.] Edited by Elizabeth Goodenough, A Place for Play expands upon the documentary by highlighting the voices of childhood development experts, environmental psychologists, educators and professionals in the broad, important field of “restoring childhood.” These vignettes discuss the importance of children’s play, summarize research findings that explain the cognitive, physical and emotional benefits of play, and explore several child-centered design initiatives that help restore children’s connection to nature and imaginative play. The overall goal of this book is to encourage children, adults, and educators to bring back creative, imaginative and self-directed play, as well as to foster the restoration of intimate playscapes for today’s children growing up in urban and suburban neighborhoods. A Place for Play begins with a foreword by Richard Louv, whose popular book The Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, spawned a national movement to “Leave No Child Inside.” Louv captivates the reader with a question that many of parents, educators, and scholars may have asked before: Why are so many of today’s children so “bored”? Louv speculates that the shift away from “free-range” play to an indoor playscape dominated by screens and electronic babysitters has caused children to lose their sense of exploration, imagination and creativity. Goodenough extends Louv’s argument in her introduction, highlighting the 2007 379 UNICEF report card on the well-being of children among 21 wealthy nations, which sadly shows the United States and United Kingdom at the bottom of the list. Goodenough reminds us that such reports and other negative trends among today’s children and youth underscore the grave consequences of our loss of free time, contact with nature and spaces for selfdiscovery and play. This sets the stage for the rest of the book, which not only discusses the erosion of childhood, but efforts and initiatives dedicated to restoring children’s sense of freedom, creativity, and access to playscapes. A Place for Play is presented in five parts, weaving experts’ stories about and opinions of the importance of play and playscapes for children’s healthy development. Part I of the book, Play Takes Place, defines play as a “set of behaviors that is freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated” (11). Here, the writers illuminate the hidden history of places and the importance of children’s self-directed creation of playscapes, ultimately questioning how we can bring children back into play. The writers argue the need for restoring play in preschools and kindergartens, and authors like Jack Zipe and Margery Franklin discuss how the celebration of children’s creativity through drama, stories and language can help children “become narrators of their own lives.” Part II, Researching Fun summarizes important research from scholars dedicated to understanding the childenvironment relationship, underscoring the important link between children’s overall health and unstructured play in nature. First, Sandra Hofferth reminds us that today’s children are spending more time indoors than previous generations, with a marked increase in sedentary activities. Nancy Wells then reports on the restorative and cognitive benefits of exposure to nature—preparing the reader for Robin Moore and Nilda Cosco’s discussion of how exposure to nature through gardening enhances children’s concentration as well as impacting children’s physical and psychological development. Other well-known scholars in this section (Robin Moore, Louise Chawla and Stuart Brown) summarize studies that show the importance of childhood involvement in community 380 organizations and argue that researchers need to listen to and “involve” young people in order to best understand what they value in their communities and how they use their environment. In addition to Part II’s emphasis on the mental and physical health benefits of children’s exposure to nature play, Part III,Rooting for...