Customer Reviews

Come and Play: Children of Our World Having Fun

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We chicks have never had any use for "coffee table" books, given that (a) we can't even find our coffee table, due to the heeps of books we have stacked all over the coop, and (b) the idea of books being used primarily for decoration or pretense tends to ruffle our feathers in the worst way. But gosh darnit, if we could find our coffee table and if we did put just one book on it for show, it might very well be this one.

Come and Play is a gorgeous photo collection of children all over the world having a blast doing what kids do best: playing. Chilean kids hanging from monkey bars. Chinese goobers playing ping pong. Norwegian peanuts building an ice sculpture. Accompanying poems written by elementary students in editor/teacher Ayana Lowe's classes in New York City provide the perfect, child-friendly complement to the luminous photographs.

We dare you to flip through the pages of this book and not feel like planet earth would be a better place if we could all play a good game of freeze tag together, or paddle around the world's shorelines in styrofoam boxes. And we bet you a pint of whoppers that you (and the kids in your life) can't get through this book without a huge smile on your face. Come on, try it. Come and play. You'll be glad you did!

This book swirls around the world through time with a mixture of stunning black and white and color photographs of children at play. The prose or "word riffs," contributed by children from across New York City, captures and expresses the moments of play in each photograph. Though separated through time and distance, each child managed to relate to an unknown child or children through the common denominator of play. In Alta Norway, 2001, three children, one clutching a teddy bear, were captured in a photograph seated in a dog sled:

Rosy Cheeks

I am the teddy bear.
Cozy.
In the back.
If you make the picture bigger,
maybe you'll be able to see
the snow dogs pulling.
The dogs wear socks
to keep their feet warm.

The photography was provided by Magnum Photos. In the back of the book there are numbered tiny thumb print sized photos with a brief description of the photograph, the place, date and photographer's name. A worldwide map pinpoints the location of the numbered photographs. The end pages are "autographed" with the distinctive handwriting and doodling of many children. This is a marvelous book to browse and reawaken your own playtime memories or those of your own children. This is a marvelous book that will be enjoyed by all age groups. Play has no boundaries and laughter has no rules.