Childhood by Design

This volume, edited by Megan Brandow-Faller, is a very welcome addition to the growing literature and the ensuing methodological renewal. * ResearchGate *
Childhood by Design expands upon a common body of research that includes work by Gary Cross, Miriam Forman-Brunell, and Brian Sutton-Smith and, like their books often did, it should prove fascinating to students as well as to scholars. And, also as their work did, Childhood by Design poses some new directions in material culture studies. * American Journal of Play *
A significant new addition to this area ... Childhood by Design has much to offer those interested in childhood and its physical manifestations, particularly to those with an interest in constructions of girlhood. * Cultural and Social History *
Childhood by Design takes toys seriously as material embodiments of cultural and political values capable of shaping children’s beliefs through play. Yet in its careful treatment of design, the volume explores not only toys’ intended uses, but also imagines the ways that children might resist, adapt, and reinterpret the cultural aims that toys seek to impart. Contributions draw upon diverse material evidence from collections around the world to produce nuanced accounts of the role of design in children’s toys. Ambitious in its geographical and historical scope, this rich interdisciplinary volume combines the concerns and approaches of history, art and design history, and childhood studies in an original exploration of children’s material culture. -- Meredith A. Bak * Assistant Professor of Childhood Studies, Rutgers University-Camden *
This sweeping collection that interpretively and imaginatively crosses fields and continents brings to light the agency of toys in “crystallizing the modern invention of childhood,” and especially girlhood. The uniformly outstanding essays trace more than 400 years of significant historical figures and forces—from aesthetics and ideologies to philosophies of childhood and patterns of consumption, play to pedagogy, discourse to design, anxiety to creativity, and colonialism to appropriation—dynamically informing dolls, doll houses, books, etc. Richly illustrated with objects along with advertisements and embroidery, catalogues and scrolls, this far reaching collection, that contributes importantly to contemporary and scholarly debates, is a major contribution to material culture, visual culture, children’s, and dolls studies, not to mention the history of play, toys, and girls. The innovative methodologies and theoretical frameworks of these accessibly written studies by truly interdisciplinary thinkers from across the academy, are instructional, informative, and inspirational to scholars and students alike. I love this book! -- Miriam Forman-Brunell * Professor of History, University of Missouri-Kansas City, USA, and author of Made to Play House: Dolls and the Commercialization of Girlhood (1998) and Dolls Studies: The Many Meanings of Girls’ Toys and Play (2015) *
[T]his book [is] important and [will] open researchers to many avenues... in a field that continues to open up to new issues. * Strenæ *