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Issue Details: First known date: 1994... 1994 Searching for an Aussie 'Tom Sawyer' -- The Classic Boy
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In this essay, Anthony Ross searches for an Australian novel comparable in structure, plot and characterisation to Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Ross canvasses a range of works which depict a mainstream Australian boyhood, naming Don Charlwood's novel All The Green Year as 'the ranking contender for an Aussie Tom Sawyer' (63). The basis for this claim rests upon a perceived need for child readers to identify with a text by saying 'that is how I am now' (66) an element Ross finds in Charlwood's novel which he describes as 'episodic, adventurous and fun' (67).

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Last amended 10 Dec 2007 11:40:37
63-67 Searching for an Aussie 'Tom Sawyer' -- The Classic Boysmall AustLit logo Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature
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