Today, I'm happy to be spotlighting a book that I believe can enhance one's life by helping us to rediscover the joy an wonder of play. Check it out and enter to win a copy!

Book Title: Play to Live: Life Skills and Joy Through the Natural Talent to Play by Brian VanDongen
Category: Self-help/ Inner Child; creativity, 119 pages
Genre: Adult Non-Fiction (18+)
Publisher: BVDPlays
Release date: April 30, 2019
Tour dates: June 17 to July 5, 2019
Content Rating: G

Book Description:

Play To Live: Life Skills and Joy Through The Natural Talent To Play by author Brian VanDongen takes you back to your childhood to remind you about what being a child is all about. Playing! We all have those fond childhood memories of growing up playing with our friends in social settings. Developing social skills and learning how to handle friendships and relationships.

What we didn't realize at the time was that those skills we learned for the building blocks which lay the foundation for the rest of our lives. What are our children learning right now? How are they playing now and what part are we playing in how our children interact with the world around them.

For many children, their idea of play and playing now consists of talking to friends online and playing with electronic devices, staying safe indoors, and not venturing further than their own small safe world which we have created.

Inside Play To Live you'll discover:

• Understanding what it means to play.
• Where play has gone and what has changed?
• How playing inside the box promotes the simplicity of play.
• Why risky play is not the same as dangerous play. Are we too overprotective?
• That climbing up the slide is just as important as sliding down.
• Getting muddy outside and rediscovering nature is imperative.
• That play is serious business and so much more.

Inside Play To Live: Life Skills and Joy Through The Natural Talent To Play you'll read about case studies and reports followed by tips, tricks, and information to help you. If you would like to rediscover what it means to play, then grab a copy of Play To Live right now!

To follow the tour, please visit Brian VanDongen's page on iRead Book Tours.

Brian is a life-long "parks and rec kid." Now, he is a parks and recreation professional.

Brian has created, designed, and implemented transformational recreational programming for thousands of residents. ​ Through his work as a park and recreation professional, Brian helps people play and find their natural talent to play.

He believes everyone has that talent, but it is sometimes hard to find or even suppressed in today's society. ​ Fortunately, play at its most basic level is easy, fun, healthy, and desirable. That playful talent just needs to be unleashed.

Brian has helped thousands of people find their natural talent to play and become happier and healthier people through the power of play.

Connect with the author: Website ~  Facebook ~  Twitter ~ Instagram

If this hadn't been the selection for our book club I don't think I would have taken the opportunity to read it. But I'm glad I did. It's the first time I read a play considered a classic other than Shakespeare, of course. This play was first performed in Chicago on December 26, 1944. It consists only of four characters and delivers a powerful look at the desperate situation of Americans in the 1940s. The setting takes place in an apartment building in a seedy neighbourhood.

Amanda is a former Southern belle whose husband walked out on their family years ago. She has a son named Tom who works in a warehouse but hates it (he writes poetry and secretly dreams of becoming a published writer) and a daughter named Laura who is considered “crippled”, although it wasn't clear what exactly was wrong with her legs—she walked with a limp? Laura is also terribly shy and dropped out of business school after only a few days without telling her mother. She escapes into her own world, a collection of glass ornaments, which for me represented the fragility of their family and situation.

Amanda keenly wants her children to have success and happiness but she doesn't know how to help them. She is dominating and dramatic, a force in their lives with words that could alternately sting and soothe. She doesn't understand her son's unhappiness (he goes out every night, comes home late and it's clear he escapes in alcohol) and wants to find a suitor for her daughter. Finally, Jim, Tom's co-worker is invited to dinner and his brief visit puts into motion changes for everyone. The reality of their situation becomes more stark by the end of this short play.

If one reads this story as simply a story it may seem to the 21^st century reader quite tame compared to the highly dysfunctional lives and situations of many modern families today. However, Tennessee Williams writes honestly (based on his own upbringing) at a time when such issues may not have been addressed openly or understood. There are many layers to this story that made it groundbreaking in the 40s and probably hated to be analyzed by high school students in English classes throughout North America. Who blames them; I wouldn't have liked reading this in my teens, either.

Yes, it is a sad tale because the ending doesn't promise anything. The characters embody the fears, frustrations and insecurities of the 20^th century. There are issues of abandonment, hopelessness, and social restrictions, and of course many other things that literature buffs can enjoy scrutinizing. For me, I enjoyed the way Williams chose to portray a family's disintegration with a few scenes and some powerful dialogue.

Note: This book is rated C = clean read.

I will count this book toward the following challenges: Support Your Local Library Challenge