Under Deadman's Skin : Discovering the Meaning of Children's Violent Play

The five- & six-year-olds in my class have invented a new game they call suicide. I have never seen a game I have so much in which all the children involved are so happy. So begins Under Deadman's Skin, a deceptively simple--and compellingly readable--teacher's tale. Jane Katch, in the tradition of Vivian Paley & Jonathan Kozol, uses her students' own vocabulary & story telling to set the scene: a class of five- & six-year-olds obsessed with what is to their teacher hatefully violent fantasy play. Katch asks, "Can I make a place in school for understanding these fantasies, instead of shutting them out?" Katch's classroom journey--one that leads her to rules & limits that keep children secure--is an enabling blueprint for any teacher or parent disturbed by violent children's play.