Beginning with descriptions of the ways in which children make sense of their experience and the world, such as fantasy, stories and games, Egan constructs his argument that constituting this foundational layer are sets of cultural sense-making capacities, reflected in oral cultures throughout the world.

Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1 Some Educational Implications of Children's Fantasy. 2 The Domestication of the sauvage mind 3 The Story Form and the Organization of Meaning. 4 Some Further Characteristics of Mythic Understanding. 5 Cultural Recapitulation: Some Comments on Theory 6 A Curriculum for Primary Education 7 A Framework for Primary Teaching. Conclusion. Notes. Bibliography. Index.