Once back Vivian Paley takes us into the inquiring minds and the dramatic worlds of youngsters studying within the kindergarten classroom.

As she enters her ultimate 12 months of educating, Paley tells during this booklet a narrative of farewell and a narrative of self-discovery--through the options and blossoming spirit of Reeny, a bit woman with a keenness for the colour brown and an remarkable experience of herself. "This brown woman dancing is me," Reeny proclaims, as her crayoned figures flit around the lecture room partitions. quickly adequate we're drawn into Reeny's awesome dance of self-revelation and social gathering, and into the literary flip it takes while Reeny discovers a kindred spirit in Leo Lionni--a author of books and a teller of stories. Led by means of Reeny, Paley takes us on a journey throughout the panorama of characters created via Lionni. those characters come to dominate a complete yr of debate and debate, because the young children argue the virtues and weaknesses of Lionni's creations and his topics of self-definition and an individual's position within the community.

The woman with the Brown Crayon tells an easy own tale of a instructor and a baby, interweaving the topics of race, id, gender, and the fundamental human must create and to belong. With attribute allure and beauty, Paley discovers how the unexplored territory unfolding sooner than her and Reeny involves mark the very essence of faculty, a typical center of reference, anything to consider deeply and extend on extravagantly.