Chapter 2
Mythic and everyday play
Figure 2.1 Calvin/Wolfman and his father
Like Calvin’s father, once I could only see my son as a little boy. I was sometimes as shocked as he was with Calvin’s behavior when between the ages of about three and seven, his mother and I had to put up with the sudden appearance of werewolves in our home. We grew to expect the arrival of vampires, zombies, mummies, giants, witches, dragons, demons, and hunchbacks. In addition we became acquainted with various creatures that appeared from swamps, caves, forests, outer space, black lagoons, and mad scientists’ laboratories. As Michael began to read independently, the monsters and heroes that fascinated him disappeared inside the covers of books, lurked in the hard drive of our computer, and shrank on to miniature battle fields. By the time Michael was twelve, instead of actually meeting disturbing creatures on a daily basis we could expect to encounter Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, or Stephen King on a bookshelf, Star Craft on the computer screen, or Warhammer figures on the dining room table. Knowing that Favat (1977) had reported how young children much prefer fairy tales to realistic stories, I was not surprised that Michael by age three loved The Tale of Peter Rabbit and the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. However, I had not anticipated, and was not ready for, his soon-to-come intense relationship with picture-book versions of tales like Beowulf and with movies like Dracula.
