Pyrotechnics and play -- A love affair with words -- Writers behaving playfully -- Lessons from a talking elf -- A developmental perspective -- Inventing words -- Puns and double meanings -- Idioms and expressions -- Allusions -- Harnessing the supple power of sentences -- Reclaiming the play in language play -- Igniting pyrotechnics in the classroom -- The limits of labeling: a brief cautionary tale -- Parting shots -- Questions and answers -- Pyrotechnics craft lessons for young writers.