Introduction: Why interpret the clear?
Early literacy, play, and a teaching philosophy
Fantasy play and young children's search for meaning
Storytelling and story acting : meaning extended
Teaching as a moral act, classrooms as democratic spaces
Race, pedagogy, and the search for fairness
Fairness extended : superheroes, helicopters, and the unchosen
Epilogue: The classrooms young children need
Appendix A: Guide to implementation of Paley's storytelling curriculum
Appendix B: Sample stories
Appendix C: Sample transcript of child dictation
Appendix D: Becoming a teacher of stories.
