AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
"The people in Irving's apartment block seem to have lost the magic so Irving decides a magic show is just what they need." (Publisher's website)
Notes
-
This is affiliated with Dr Laurel Cohn's Picture Book Diet because it contains representations of food and/or food practices.
Food depiction - Incidental
Food types - Discretionary foods
- Discretionary drinks
- High sugar foods
- Fast food/Takeaway
Food practices - Parties and Entertaining
- Food production
- Food preparation
Gender - Food production - male
- Food preparation - female [domestic]
- Food preparation - male [professional]
Signage - Signs for fictional products
- Shop sign
- Logo
Positive/negative value n/a Food as sense of place - Urban
Setting - Urban landscape
Food as social cohesion - Ritual
- Social gatherings
Food as cultural identity - White Australian characters
Food as character identity n/a Food as language n/a
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
What Are We Feeding Our Children When We Read Them a Book? Depictions of Mothers and Food in Contemporary Australian Picture Books
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Mothers and Food : Negotiating Foodways from Maternal Perspectives 2016; (p. 232-244)'This chapter explores how Australian writers and illustrators in the twenty-first century depict the act of mothering in picture books for young children in relation to cooking and serving food. It draws on the idea that children’s texts can be understood as sites of cultural production and reproduction, with social conventions and ideologies embedded in their narrative representations. The analysis is based on a survey of 124 books that were shortlisted for, or won, Children’s Book Council of Australia awards between 2001 and 2013. Of the eighty-seven titles that contain food and have human or anthropomorphised characters, twenty-six (30 percent) contain textual or illustrative references to maternal figures involved in food preparation or provision. Examination of this data set reveals that there is a strong correlation between non-Anglo-Australian maternal figures and home-cooked meals, and a clear link between Anglo-Australian mothers and sugar-rich snacks. The relative paucity of depictions of ethnically unmarked mothers offering more nutritious foods is notable given the cultural expectations of mothers as caretakers of their children’s well-being. At the same time, the linking of non-Anglo-Australian mothers with home-cooked meals can be seen as a means of signifying a cultural authenticity, a closeness to the earth that is differentiated from the normalised Australian culture represented in picture books. This suggests an unintended alignment of mothers preparing and serving meals with “otherness,” which creates a distancing effect between meals that may generally be considered nutritious and the normalised self. I contend there are unexamined, and perhaps unexpected, cultural assumptions about ethnicity, motherhood, and food embedded in contemporary Australian picture books. These have the potential to inscribe a system of beliefs about gender, cultural identity, and food that contributes to readers’ understanding of the world and themselves.'
Source: Abstract.
-
Untitled
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 20 no. 1 2006; (p. 42-43)
— Review of Irving the Magician 2005 single work picture book -
[Review] Woolvs in the Sitee
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Winter vol. 14 no. 2 2006; (p. 24-25)
— Review of Woolvs in the Sitee 2005 single work picture book ; Irving the Magician 2005 single work picture book -
The Children's Book Council of Australia Judges' Report 2006
2006
single work
column
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 50 no. 3 2006; (p. 8-14) -
Untitled
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking about Books for Children , September vol. 20 no. 4 2005; (p. 4)
— Review of Irving the Magician 2005 single work picture book
-
Kids' Lit
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 27-28 August 2005; (p. 10)
— Review of The Venice Job 2005 single work children's fiction ; The Secret World of Wombats 2005 single work non-fiction ; Once 2005 single work children's fiction ; Irving the Magician 2005 single work picture book -
This Week's Selections
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 24 September 2005; (p. 10)
— Review of Irving the Magician 2005 single work picture book -
Cover Notes
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 25 September 2005; (p. 20)
— Review of What a Life! 2005 single work autobiography ; Irving the Magician 2005 single work picture book ; Cobbers : Stories of Gallipoli 1915 2005 anthology autobiography short story poetry prose extract ; Sweet Guy 2002 single work novel -
Untitled
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking about Books for Children , September vol. 20 no. 4 2005; (p. 4)
— Review of Irving the Magician 2005 single work picture book -
[Review] Woolvs in the Sitee
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Winter vol. 14 no. 2 2006; (p. 24-25)
— Review of Woolvs in the Sitee 2005 single work picture book ; Irving the Magician 2005 single work picture book -
The Children's Book Council of Australia Judges' Report 2006
2006
single work
column
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 50 no. 3 2006; (p. 8-14) -
What Are We Feeding Our Children When We Read Them a Book? Depictions of Mothers and Food in Contemporary Australian Picture Books
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Mothers and Food : Negotiating Foodways from Maternal Perspectives 2016; (p. 232-244)'This chapter explores how Australian writers and illustrators in the twenty-first century depict the act of mothering in picture books for young children in relation to cooking and serving food. It draws on the idea that children’s texts can be understood as sites of cultural production and reproduction, with social conventions and ideologies embedded in their narrative representations. The analysis is based on a survey of 124 books that were shortlisted for, or won, Children’s Book Council of Australia awards between 2001 and 2013. Of the eighty-seven titles that contain food and have human or anthropomorphised characters, twenty-six (30 percent) contain textual or illustrative references to maternal figures involved in food preparation or provision. Examination of this data set reveals that there is a strong correlation between non-Anglo-Australian maternal figures and home-cooked meals, and a clear link between Anglo-Australian mothers and sugar-rich snacks. The relative paucity of depictions of ethnically unmarked mothers offering more nutritious foods is notable given the cultural expectations of mothers as caretakers of their children’s well-being. At the same time, the linking of non-Anglo-Australian mothers with home-cooked meals can be seen as a means of signifying a cultural authenticity, a closeness to the earth that is differentiated from the normalised Australian culture represented in picture books. This suggests an unintended alignment of mothers preparing and serving meals with “otherness,” which creates a distancing effect between meals that may generally be considered nutritious and the normalised self. I contend there are unexamined, and perhaps unexpected, cultural assumptions about ethnicity, motherhood, and food embedded in contemporary Australian picture books. These have the potential to inscribe a system of beliefs about gender, cultural identity, and food that contributes to readers’ understanding of the world and themselves.'
Source: Abstract.