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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Luke lives in modern-day Australia with his mother and stepfather, Sam. Luke is burdened by a guilty secret: Sam has helped him to cheat in an entrance exam for a prestigious school. Lulach lives in eleventh-century Scotland with his mother and stepfather, Macbeth, who becomes a great king and restores peace to the land. Luke is studying Shakespeare's play Macbeth at school and dreams about Lulach and Macbeth at night. But gradually Luke realises they are more than dreams. Somehow, he is reliving events that actually took place - and they're nothing like Shakespeare's version. In the play, Macbeth is a villain who murders the rightful king. Why did Shakespeare lie about who Macbeth really was? Does truth really matter? As the lives of Luke and Lulach intertwine, the answers to these questions will change them both forever.' (HarperCollins blurb)
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
-
Happy 450th Birthday Mr William Shakespeare
2014
single work
essay
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 29 no. 1 2014; (p. 10-13) -
y
Re-Visiting Historical Fiction for Young Readers : The Past through Modern Eyes
New York (City)
:
Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
,
2011
Z1886683
2011
single work
criticism
'This study is concerned with how readers are positioned to interpret the past in historical fiction for children and young adults. Looking at literature published within the last thirty to forty years, Wilson identifies and explores a prevalent trend for re-visioning and rewriting the past according to modern social and political ideological assumptions. Fiction within this genre, while concerned with the past at the level of content, is additionally concerned with present views of that historical past because of the future to which it is moving. Specific areas of discussion include the identification of a new sub-genre: Living history fiction, stories of Joan of Arc, historical fiction featuring agentic females, the very popular Scholastic Press historical journal series, fictions of war, and historical fiction featuring multicultural discourses.
Wilson observes specific traits in historical fiction written for children — most notably how the notion of positive progress into the future is nuanced differently in this literature in which the concept of progress from the past is inextricably linked to the protagonist's potential for agency and the realization of subjectivity. The genre consistently manifests a concern with identity construction that in turn informs and influences how a metanarrative of positive progress is played out. This book engages in a discussion of the functionality of the past within the genre and offers an interpretative frame for the sifting out of the present from the past in historical fiction for young readers.' (Publisher's blurb)
-
Living History Fiction
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , vol. 20 no. 1 2010; (p. 77-86) 'During my research into historical fiction for children and young adult readers I came across a range of texts that relied on a living or lived experience of history to frame the historical story. These novels were similar to the time-slip narrative; however, not all examples used the traditional convention of time-slippage. I wanted to bundle these novels together - 'time-slip' novels included - as examples of 'living history' narratives because they appeared from the outset as a distinct literary form requiring particular reading strategies.
These texts, which I will refer to as Living history novels, require readers to align uncritically with modern perception. Readers are persuasively invited to assume that the modern characters' perception of the past is authentic because it has been formed by a lived experience of history. In Living history novels, readers are positioned to perceive both the strengths and weaknesses of past and present times, ultimately reconciling the two in a present that faces chronologically forwards. Modern focalising characters in Living history fiction place modern perception in a superior relationship to that of the past.
This sub-genre of historical novels is distinctive in its strong and consistent modern character focalisation and point of view. The Living history novel creates a confluence of past and present, be it physically or psychically. Characters are variously conveyed from a generalised present, or past, to an explicit historical period or event. The Living history novel is distinctive in its intense character introversion, quest journey and self-discovery. The most important outcome of the living history experience is that characters learn something significant about themselves. Because the story is about the modern character's quest and self realisation, the past is consistently perceived from their point of view. Modern characters are transported in time and readers are only rarely invited to see the past from a past point of view' (Author's abstract). -
y
Shakespeare in Children's Literature : Gender and Cultural Capital
New York (City)
:
Routledge
,
2009
13815357
2009
single work
criticism
'Shakespeare in Children's Literature looks at the genre of Shakespeare-for-children, considering both adaptations of his plays and children's novels in which he appears as a character. Drawing on feminist theory and sociology, Hateley demonstrates how Shakespeare for children utilises the ongoing cultural capital of "Shakespeare," and the pedagogical aspects of children's literature, to perpetuate anachronistic forms of identity and authority.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)
-
The Children's Book Council of Australia Judges' Report 2007
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 51 no. 3 2007; (p. 5-12)
-
[Review] Macbeth and Son
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newsletter of the Australian Centre for Youth Literature , October no. 2 2006; (p. 16)
— Review of Macbeth and Son 2006 single work children's fiction -
[Review] Macbeth and Son
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 50 no. 3 2006; (p. 36)
— Review of Macbeth and Son 2006 single work children's fiction -
[Review] Macbeth and Son
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Winter vol. 14 no. 2 2006; (p. 27)
— Review of Macbeth and Son 2006 single work children's fiction -
[Review] Macbeth and Son
2006
single work
review
— Appears in: Fiction Focus : New Titles for Teenagers , vol. 20 no. 2 2006; (p. 30-31)
— Review of Macbeth and Son 2006 single work children's fiction -
The Children's Book Council of Australia Judges' Report 2007
2007
single work
column
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 51 no. 3 2007; (p. 5-12) -
Living History Fiction
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , vol. 20 no. 1 2010; (p. 77-86) 'During my research into historical fiction for children and young adult readers I came across a range of texts that relied on a living or lived experience of history to frame the historical story. These novels were similar to the time-slip narrative; however, not all examples used the traditional convention of time-slippage. I wanted to bundle these novels together - 'time-slip' novels included - as examples of 'living history' narratives because they appeared from the outset as a distinct literary form requiring particular reading strategies.
These texts, which I will refer to as Living history novels, require readers to align uncritically with modern perception. Readers are persuasively invited to assume that the modern characters' perception of the past is authentic because it has been formed by a lived experience of history. In Living history novels, readers are positioned to perceive both the strengths and weaknesses of past and present times, ultimately reconciling the two in a present that faces chronologically forwards. Modern focalising characters in Living history fiction place modern perception in a superior relationship to that of the past.
This sub-genre of historical novels is distinctive in its strong and consistent modern character focalisation and point of view. The Living history novel creates a confluence of past and present, be it physically or psychically. Characters are variously conveyed from a generalised present, or past, to an explicit historical period or event. The Living history novel is distinctive in its intense character introversion, quest journey and self-discovery. The most important outcome of the living history experience is that characters learn something significant about themselves. Because the story is about the modern character's quest and self realisation, the past is consistently perceived from their point of view. Modern characters are transported in time and readers are only rarely invited to see the past from a past point of view' (Author's abstract). -
Happy 450th Birthday Mr William Shakespeare
2014
single work
essay
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 29 no. 1 2014; (p. 10-13) -
y
Shakespeare in Children's Literature : Gender and Cultural Capital
New York (City)
:
Routledge
,
2009
13815357
2009
single work
criticism
'Shakespeare in Children's Literature looks at the genre of Shakespeare-for-children, considering both adaptations of his plays and children's novels in which he appears as a character. Drawing on feminist theory and sociology, Hateley demonstrates how Shakespeare for children utilises the ongoing cultural capital of "Shakespeare," and the pedagogical aspects of children's literature, to perpetuate anachronistic forms of identity and authority.' (Source: Publisher's blurb)
-
y
Re-Visiting Historical Fiction for Young Readers : The Past through Modern Eyes
New York (City)
:
Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
,
2011
Z1886683
2011
single work
criticism
'This study is concerned with how readers are positioned to interpret the past in historical fiction for children and young adults. Looking at literature published within the last thirty to forty years, Wilson identifies and explores a prevalent trend for re-visioning and rewriting the past according to modern social and political ideological assumptions. Fiction within this genre, while concerned with the past at the level of content, is additionally concerned with present views of that historical past because of the future to which it is moving. Specific areas of discussion include the identification of a new sub-genre: Living history fiction, stories of Joan of Arc, historical fiction featuring agentic females, the very popular Scholastic Press historical journal series, fictions of war, and historical fiction featuring multicultural discourses.
Wilson observes specific traits in historical fiction written for children — most notably how the notion of positive progress into the future is nuanced differently in this literature in which the concept of progress from the past is inextricably linked to the protagonist's potential for agency and the realization of subjectivity. The genre consistently manifests a concern with identity construction that in turn informs and influences how a metanarrative of positive progress is played out. This book engages in a discussion of the functionality of the past within the genre and offers an interpretative frame for the sifting out of the present from the past in historical fiction for young readers.' (Publisher's blurb)
Awards
Last amended 7 Mar 2018 10:28:56
