The Case for Make Believe:Press and Reviews

Book Description

In the critically acclaimed Consuming Kids (The New Press, 2004), Susan Linn, the nation's leading advocate for protecting children from corporate marketers, provided an unsparing look at modern childhood molded by commercialism. In her new book, THE CASE FOR MAKE BELIEVE, Dr. Linn argues that while play is crucial to human development and children are born with an innate capacity for make believe, the convergence of ubiquitous technology and unfettered commercialism actually prevents them from playing. In modern day America, nurturing creative play is not only countercultural—it threatens corporate profits.

At the heart of the book are gripping stories of children at home, at school, and in a therapist’s office using make believe to grapple with real-life issues from entering kindergarten to the death of a sibling. In an age when toys come from TV shows, dress-up means wearing Disney costumes, and parents believe Baby Einstein is educational, Dr. Linn lays out the inextricable links between play, creativity, and health, showing us why we need to protect our children from corporations that aim to limit their imaginations.

Press and Reviews

Boston Globe (7/14/08)

USA Today (6/25/08)

Associated Press (3/16/08)

Boston Globe (6/3/08)

Wichita Eagle (5/15/08)

Consuming Kids:  Press and Reviews

Book Description

A shocking exposé of the $15 billion marketing maelstrom aimed at our children and how we can stop it.

With the intensity of the California gold rush, corporations are racing to stake their claim on the consumer group formerly known as children. What was once the purview of a handful of companies has escalated into a gargantuan enterprise estimated at over $15 billion annually. While parents busily try to set limits at home, marketing executives work day and night to undermine their efforts with irresistible messages.

In Consuming Kids, psychologist Susan Linn takes a comprehensive and unsparing look at the demographic advertisers call "the kid market," taking readers on a compelling and disconcerting journey through modern childhood as envisioned by commercial interests. Children are now the focus of a marketing maelstrom, targets for everything from minivans to M&M counting books. All aspects of children's lives—their health, education, creativity, and values—are at risk of being compromised by their status in the marketplace.

Interweaving real-life stories of marketing to children, child development theory, the latest research, and what marketing experts themselves say about their work, Consuming Kids reveals the magnitude of this problem and shows what can be done about it.  

Reviews & Interviews

Publishers Weekly

Library Journal

Washington Post Review

Rocky Mountain News

Wall Street Journal

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