Is the joy of learning through play still foremost in early childhood education? Does this really include reading for enjoyment, and not just reading as many condensed and abridged pieces of mind candy as possible to win a contest?  What could replace a child’s activities if there were no homework? (I have a student writing about this). See Richard Louv’s book Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder. This can be a good place for a discussion of the value of play in childhood, including the reading of true fairy tales (a broad term not just about fairies).  A good author covering the latter is Bruno Bettelheim in The Uses of Enchantment.  Even older learners need to read for enjoyment sometimes!  Here is another discussion of fairy tales, “Techno-Magic: Cinema and Fairy Tales” from Oxford UP.  From the Digital Commons, and a link to the reading list of Joseph Campbell: “The Fable and the Fabulous: The Use of Traditional Forms in Children’s Literature.”