This is a new volume from the Association for the Study of Play. This book presents a healthy interchange of ideas about play, which is one of the hallmarks of the Association's work.

When players play, there is a transactional process at work, whether for children on a teeter-totter or pandas playing with peers. In this edited volume, nine experts on play show how play transactions are an important dynamic of play across cultures, age groups, even species. A rich array of play contexts is evident across the nine chapters, encompassing varied continents, age groups, and sorts of players. The play processes of giant pandas, of home-visiting therapists, of Polynesian women, and of autistic kids are included here. The healthy interchange of ideas about play, one of the hallmarks of the Association for the Study of Play, is a process that is cultivated in this new volume.

Chapter 1
Chapter I: PLAY AND CULTURE Commentary: Play and Culture
Chapter 2 The Cultural Roles of Emotions in Pretend Play
Chapter 3 Nine a Slide Basketball in the Kingdom of Tonga: A Case Study in Negotiating Gender Roles
Chapter 4 Is Hazing Play?
Chapter 5
Chapter II: TRANSACTING PLAY Commentary: The Richness of Play Research
Chapter 6 Keeping It Real: An Examination of the Metacommunication Processes Used within the Play of One Group of Adolescent Girls
Chapter 7 Autistic Children's Play with Objects, Peers and Adults in a Classroom Setting
Chapter 8 Effects of Partner Play Fighting Behavior in Giant Panda Cubs
Chapter 9
Chapter III: ADULTS IN CHILDREN'S PLAY Commentary: Inquiries into the Roles of Adults in Children's Play
Chapter 10 It's Only Play if You Get to Choose: Children's Perspectives of Play, and Adult Interventions
Chapter 11 The State of Recess in Pennsylvania Elementary Schools: A Continuing Tradition or a Distant Memory
Chapter 12 The Toy Bag: An Examination of Its History and Use in Early Intervention for Infants and Toddlers with Special Needs
Chapter 13 About the Contributors