Acknowledgments

I want to thank everyone at Career Press for believing in this project, and my agent, Maryann Karinch, who helped me get this off the ground and whose sense of play is always infectious. Thanks to the hundreds of kids over the years who have let me play with and observe them, and who taught me so much in the process. I also want to thank the people who were so generous with their time in talking to me and playing with the ideas that are in here, including Frank Coker, Stephanie Cota, Jennifer Deare, Bill Doyle, Beth Greenberg, Rick McCabe, Amber Shockey, Steve Sullivan, Wendy Welch, and Ursula Ziegler. Their willingness and the courage to make up their own lives—and literally play them into existence—is consistently inspirational.