ABSTRACT

In dramatic play, children pretend as if real-world objects and people had other identities. This chapter focuses on book-related dramatic play, which is defined as involving symbolic transformations that explicitly or implicitly reflect the meanings signed in books' text or illustrations, or in the book-reading events in which children encounter books. At present there are two lines of research investigating theoretical connections between dramatic play and books—each differing in focus. A third line of research, usually conducted with older children, has investigated the impact of book-related drama on students' reading. The chapter describes the book-related play of one group of well-read-to 2-year-olds. It focuses on two broad research questions related to the play–reading connection: What kinds of book-related play do very young children engage in at preschool and at home; and What is the role of book-related dramatic play in the children's literacy learning.