AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'You want to hear a story?'
'Eh?'
'This town, it's full of stories. Some Aboriginal, some white, some Malay and Indonesian. All sorts of different ideas. I reckon you might need to hear on of them.'
When the court sent Jamie Riley to Port Barren, he hadn't expected much – thought he'd just serve his time and get out. He hadn't counted on being drawn into the town's murky past, into a web of secrets, lies and murder which might well cost him much more than just his freedom.
This is the story of a boy's journey to reveal a buried secret, and of a town too scared of its past to face its future.
It's a story for anyone who dreams . . .
Teaching Resources
This work has teaching resources.
Notes
-
The "story of a boy's journey to reveal a buried secret, and of a town too scared of its past to face the future."
-
Included in the 2002 White Ravens Catalogue compiled by the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany. Special mention.
-
Dedication: To Nick & Sue; siblings and great friends.
-
Epigraph:
If you don't learn about this place and love this land, then your spirit will be restless and you will feel like you don't belong. -Boori (Monty) Pryor Maybe Tomorrow
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Dyslexic edition.
Works about this Work
-
Ghosts of Australia Past : Postcolonial Haunting in Australian Adolescent Mystery Novels
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: International Research in Children's Literature , December vol. 8 no. 2 2015; (p. 185-200) 'This essay explores the use of haunting in two Australian adolescent mystery novels, Victor Kelleher's Baily's Bones (1988) and Anthony Eaton's A New Kind of Dreaming (2001). Both novels mobilise the mystery genre as a means to interrogate Australia's colonial past and neocolonial present. The function of the spatial environments in which the novels take place and the construction and function of haunting in each novel is interrogated. It is argued that haunting is figured as a disruptive process whereby the repressed colonial scene intrudes on the present, such that the haunting the teenage protagonists experience encourages them to enquire into the past. While on the one hand the novels advocate a renewed interrogation of Australia's past in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the present, a closer reading of the texts reveals that the novels fail to sustain their postcolonial endeavours. Thus, while adolescent mystery fiction is a genre that can be mobilised in the name of postcolonial enquiry, the difficulty of doing so effectively is illustrative of the wider challenge of achieving decolonisation.' (Publication summary) -
The Spaces between : Examining Young Adult Creative Practice within an Academic Context
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Special Issue Website Series , October no. 32 2015;Drawing upon ideas of practice-led research outlined by Webb and Brien (2008), and considering these within the context of my own creative practice, this article explores the intersections of the positions of writer-as-teacher, writer-as-artist, and writer-as-scholar. This is contextualized with reference to three of my creative works from different phases of my career, A New Kind of Dreaming (2001 ), Fireshadow (2005) and Daywards (2010). Framed by Webb’s argument for the appropriateness of Bourdieu’s ideas of practice-led research (2012) and Nodelman’s suggestions about the relationship between habitus and the agency of young-adult writers (2008), it will examine the degree to which my construction of young protagonists has been shaped by, and has in turn shaped, my changing habitus as a practicing young adult writer and scholar of children’s literature. Drawing upon my dual roles as scholar and teacher of creative writing within the academy, and reader and scholar of children’s literature studies, it argues that the liminality of the scholarly/creative space emerging from this nexus has impacted upon the ways I consider and construct my ‘child’ characters and my own position in relation to them.'
Source: Abstract.
-
[Review] A New Kind of Dreaming
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , February vol. 46 no. 1 2002; (p. 39-40)
— Review of A New Kind of Dreaming 2001 single work novel -
[Review] A New Kind of Dreaming
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 32)
— Review of A New Kind of Dreaming 2001 single work novel -
[Review] A New Kind of Dreaming
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies: Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 16 no. 4 2001; (p. 38-39)
— Review of A New Kind of Dreaming 2001 single work novel
-
[Review] A New Kind of Dreaming
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , February vol. 46 no. 1 2002; (p. 39-40)
— Review of A New Kind of Dreaming 2001 single work novel -
Two Strands Brought Together Improbably
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 10 November 2001; (p. 17)
— Review of Moondyne Kate 2001 single work novel ; A New Kind of Dreaming 2001 single work novel -
[Review] A New Kind of Dreaming
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies: Talking About Books for Children , September vol. 16 no. 4 2001; (p. 38-39)
— Review of A New Kind of Dreaming 2001 single work novel -
[Review] A New Kind of Dreaming
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 16 no. 1 2002; (p. 32)
— Review of A New Kind of Dreaming 2001 single work novel -
The Spaces between : Examining Young Adult Creative Practice within an Academic Context
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: TEXT : Special Issue Website Series , October no. 32 2015;Drawing upon ideas of practice-led research outlined by Webb and Brien (2008), and considering these within the context of my own creative practice, this article explores the intersections of the positions of writer-as-teacher, writer-as-artist, and writer-as-scholar. This is contextualized with reference to three of my creative works from different phases of my career, A New Kind of Dreaming (2001 ), Fireshadow (2005) and Daywards (2010). Framed by Webb’s argument for the appropriateness of Bourdieu’s ideas of practice-led research (2012) and Nodelman’s suggestions about the relationship between habitus and the agency of young-adult writers (2008), it will examine the degree to which my construction of young protagonists has been shaped by, and has in turn shaped, my changing habitus as a practicing young adult writer and scholar of children’s literature. Drawing upon my dual roles as scholar and teacher of creative writing within the academy, and reader and scholar of children’s literature studies, it argues that the liminality of the scholarly/creative space emerging from this nexus has impacted upon the ways I consider and construct my ‘child’ characters and my own position in relation to them.'
Source: Abstract.
-
Ghosts of Australia Past : Postcolonial Haunting in Australian Adolescent Mystery Novels
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: International Research in Children's Literature , December vol. 8 no. 2 2015; (p. 185-200) 'This essay explores the use of haunting in two Australian adolescent mystery novels, Victor Kelleher's Baily's Bones (1988) and Anthony Eaton's A New Kind of Dreaming (2001). Both novels mobilise the mystery genre as a means to interrogate Australia's colonial past and neocolonial present. The function of the spatial environments in which the novels take place and the construction and function of haunting in each novel is interrogated. It is argued that haunting is figured as a disruptive process whereby the repressed colonial scene intrudes on the present, such that the haunting the teenage protagonists experience encourages them to enquire into the past. While on the one hand the novels advocate a renewed interrogation of Australia's past in order to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the present, a closer reading of the texts reveals that the novels fail to sustain their postcolonial endeavours. Thus, while adolescent mystery fiction is a genre that can be mobilised in the name of postcolonial enquiry, the difficulty of doing so effectively is illustrative of the wider challenge of achieving decolonisation.' (Publication summary)
Awards
- Western Australia,
