Kathy Beckwith

Playing War Kathy Beckwith First edition

"In these times, when violence and war are constantly in the news, children need our help sorting out the fantasy of war play from the painful realities of

war. By bringing up the impact of war on one child, who gets upset when his friends engage in war play, and showing us his friends? caring responses,

Playing War does what no other children?s book before it has done. It provides the forum adults and children need to feel safe talking about the real

human impact of war." --Diane Levin, Ph. D., Professor of Education and author of Teaching Young Children in Violent Times and The War Play

Dilemma One hot summer day Luke and his friends decide to play their favorite game of war, using sticks for guns and pine cones for bombs and

grenades. Sameer, who hasn?t lived in their neighborhood for very long, hesitates to join in. When he tells Luke and Jen and Jeff and Danny that he has

been in a real war, they don?t believe him.

"No way! You haven?t told us anything about that! A real war? Did they let kids be soldiers? Did you have an M-16?"

Then, as Sameer explains what happened to his family, the other children start to see their game in a new light.

While Playing War is a book about understanding what war can be like for families, and that it?s not a game, it?s also a sensitive story about the power

of friendship and how children can learn from one another.