Playground Books for Christmas

The books recommended in the sidebar (including the one on Aldo Van Eyck, which was a key inspiration for this blog) are all volumes I've read and loved and found to be helpful in thinking about playgrounds.  I'd recommend more if I had more leisure reading time...perhaps in the New Year!  But vintage playground books are the best--here are some of my favorites:

Handcrafted playgrounds: Designs you can build yourself

Build Your Own Playground

Children's Play Spaces

Home Playgrounds: The Harrowsmith Guide to Building Backyard Play Structures

The 1970s were something of a high-water mark in playground innovation...lots of new ideas were percolating and actually getting built in a time before threat-of-lawsuits became a primary design consideration.  Books from the era are full of interesting playground contraptions being built by men with mustaches and tested by kids with puffy hair and polyester trousers.

If you have a favorite playground book (vintage or otherwise), please add to the list!