AustLit
Latest Issues
Contents
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Ivan Southall 1921-2008,
single work
obituary
(p. 2)
Maurice Saxby pays tribute to Ivan Southall as 'one of the foremost writers of the modern era in Australian children's literature', an innovator who was 'the first to use mental monologue along with the present continuous tense in Australian children's literature' and in doing so, produced novels in which 'the reader was invited to share the sensory and emotional life of the protagonist' (2). Saxby says that it was 'not only Southall's writing skill but his personal integrity that won him numerous literary honors' (2). He won the Australian Children's Book of the Year three times and 'the coveted British award, the Carnegie Medal' (2). He also received the Australian Council Emeritus Award for his services to children's literature and was a member of the Order of Australia. Saxby also includes some biographic details of Southall's life, describing him as 'an Aussie battler made good' (2).
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Encounters with Eleanor Spence,
single work
obituary
(p. 3)Dale Harcombe shares her memories of Eleanor Spence, whom she first met 'through the pages of her books' and 'later at a conference' (3). Describing her as realistic and honest, she refers to Saxby's comments regarding Spence's novels as expressions of family and social life that deal with 'the concerns and preoccupations of a growingly complex Australian society' (3). Harcombe recalls the support she received from Spence when she sent her a manuscript as well as discussing her love for The October Child: a story 'that held her interest more than the adult novel she was reading at the time' (3). For Harcombe, 'Australian literature is richer for Eleanor Spence's contribution (3).
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Episodes of Growth and Change: New Fantasies,
single work
column
(p. 6)
Susan La Marca discusses a number of different styles and approaches in contemporary children's fantasy fiction and notes that 'few fantasies appear as stand alone books, there is almost always a series' (6). She describes traditional fantasy series as 'big stories with intertwined subplots that take a number of books to get through the action' and contrasts this with recent trends towards an episodic style of 'self contained stories that contribute to a bigger story' (6). She discusses a number of series as examples of how fantasy can be 'simultaneously formulaic and inventive' in the ways they play with and/or subvert the traditional fantasy structure (6). She includes Emily Rodda's series Rondo and Deltora Quest, Michael Pryor's Laws of Magic and Isobelle Carmody's Little Fur, in her discussion of fantasy stories that 'create whole and complex worlds with a continuing story of growth and change' (6).
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Imagination and Art,
single work
column
(p. 9)Matt Zurbo discusses contrasting styles of storytelling in picture books and refers to the work of Armin Greder, specifically An Ordinary Day and Shaun Tan's The Arrival, as examples of image-based stories that use minimal, or no verbal text as opposed to the 'real life' style Graeme Base re-introduced, or the popularity and longevity of 'rhyming books for young children' inspired by Dr Seuss. He tells of his communication with Armin Greder in regards to one of his own 'text-heavy stories': "My agent sent him the story . His reply was a very thorough, terse letter detailing his obvious passion for stories with minimal text...In short, he let rip at me." While Zurbo admires An Ordinary Day as 'a most beautiful book', he argues that this particular style is still 'just a trend' and stories will continue to be told '...some with barely ten words...others rich with language'. While some stories are 'art-driven' others are structured through rythym or language or a combination of both and it is 'these differences, not trends' that, according to Zarbo, 'make a culture' and 'let the best of what we all have to offer come forth'.
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Writing 'Broken Glass',
single work
column
(p. 10)Adrian Stirling shares his personal experience of writing and researching his first full length novel Broken Glass. The novel is set in a small country town and so Stirling sets out on a series of day trips to enhance his knowledge, 'gained through teaching', of small town living. He found the exeprience particularly rewarding and says that '[m]any of the incidental conversations in the books are things I overheard people saying'. Stirling says that the characters are not based on anyone specific but that the main protagonists in the story, Danny and Nile, are 'a collection of qualities' found in people he observed in his travels. After walking down 'plenty of main streets' he began to notice 'the things small towns had in common: war memorials, top and bottom pubs, bakeries with gold-medal pies and vanilla slices', and says Suddenly...it felt like I was writing about something real'. Stirling says that looking back, his process of writing and re-writing 'wasn't very economical' but it allowed him to 'explore different charatcers individually before the plot really came together'. He was happy to finish and 'have written a book' but didn't hold any 'false hope for publication, so was very excited when Penguin offered to publish it.
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Attuned to the Whole Person : Maureen McCarthy,
single work
column
(p. 12-13)
Clare Kennedy prefaces her review of Maureen McCarthy's new novel Somebody's Crying (Viewpoint: On Books for Young Adults 17.1 (2009): 13) with an account of some of the events and experiences that have influenced McCarthy's writing. Kennedy includes some conversational quotes from McCarthy who grew up on a farm in Yea, 'the ninth out of ten children' and remembers her childhood as 'pretty bloody brutal' adding, 'I was very neglected'. (12)
McCarthy's narratives originate from actual events and Somebody's Crying was inspired by the case of a young man accused of his aunt's murder and released due to lack of evidence. As part of her research, McCarthy read up on psychology as well as visiting a number of small towns and found the drug abuse in one community particularly disturbing: 'A lot of people in this town are blowing their brains out with drugs. The psych wards are half-full of kids having psychotic episodes on very strong dope.' (12)
McCarthy has recently endured the breakdown of her twenty-five year marriage as well as 'suffering major health problems' however she is sure she will continue to write stories about human experiences and is 'moving to Darwin to reinvent herself.' (13)
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[Review] Somebody's Crying,
single work
review
— Review of Somebody's Crying 2008 single work novel ;(p. 13)Clare Kennedy regards McCarthy as 'a master storyteller' whose 'writing has the flavour of real life'. Her latest offering, Somebody's Crying, is a charatcer study that depicts various relationships between the young adults in a small town who are brought together through a murder. Each chapter is named after a character which allows McCarthy to 'tell the story through differing perspectives and adds 'complexity and detail' and Kennedy highly recommends the novel on the basis that it is 'entertaining, fast-paced and full of humanity' (13). -
[Review] The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow,
single work
review
— Review of The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow 2002 single work autobiography ;(p. 14)The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow, is an autobiographical account of A J McKinnon's experience in sailing and rowing a small boat from North Wales to London. In his review, Bill Wootton asks who might the potential readers be and says that those who sail may be interested in 'the aquatic parts and 'organizational tales of equipage and despair' as well as readers interetsed in 'travelogue tales'. However, he 'does not imagine that secondary students would warm to the book in droves' and feels that McKinnon's 'carefully chosen words seem to get in the way of the tale which might have been told' (14). -
[Review] Butterfly,
single work
review
— Review of Butterfly 2009 single work novel ;(p. 16-17)In 2008,Sonya Hartnett received the prestigous Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for her innovative and impressive oeuvre of work and her latest novel Butterfly is on the shortlist for The Age Literary Prize, 2009. MacDonald pays tribute to Hartnett as an 'immense talent and an astute observer of characters and the spaces they inhabit' (16) and gives a detailed account of the novel's story, which revolves around characters who 'share a mutual loneliness' and must 'shed skins and facer greater truths about themselves' (17). He argues that Hartnett's 'luminous lnaguage' is what saves the story from 'being a depressing read' and instead finds the text 'intriguing and beautifully written...a novel of nuance and shade, ultimately about metamorphosis, potential and change'. For MacDonald 'the novel lingers when the final words are read' because the story highlights how 'few things are truly worth wanting' and challenges the reader to 'deteremine what those few things are' (17). -
[Review] Everything I Knew,
single work
review
— Review of Everything I Knew : A Novel 2008 single work novel ;(p. 23)Paul MacDonald sees Peter Goldsworthy as a writer who 'moves seamlessly from the comic to the tragic' and 'moves beyond caricatures and creates characters that rise above the pages'. Everything I Knew is a boy's coming-of-age story, set in 1964 and focused around 'a year of first times and fresh discoveries' (Goldsworthy, cited in MacDonald, p.23) and is reviewed by MacDonald as a story that is as much about philosophical questioning as it is about teenage obsession. He see the narrative as one that invites contemplation by 'forcing' its readers 'to reflect on the title and question how much do we ever really know about the present'. Do we need the gift of time to more properly reflect upon expereince? Does age offer insight or just platforms of regret? -
[Review] My Candlelight Novel,
single work
review
— Review of My Candlelight Novel 2008 single work novel ;(p. 33)My Candlelight Novel is the follow-up to Joanne Horniman's previous novel Secret Scribbled Notebooks, the story of two sisters, Kate and Sophie who have grown up with Lil, 'their adoptive guardian since they were abandoned by their father when they were young'. The first book was narrated by Kate while this story is told from the perspective of Sophie, a 21 year old single mother whose relationship to literature allows her to 'explore life and connect to a world outside of her immediate and often dull existence'. According to Fulcher, this is a 'sophisticated novel that frankly explores the beauty and sorrow of an examined life' and elevates 'ordinary life to the same beauty and standing usually reserved for brilliant works of art' (33). -
[Review] Everything Beautiful,
single work
review
— Review of Everything Beautiful 2008 single work novel ;(p. 34)Everything Beautiful is the story of Riley Rose, a 'defective daughter and 'insecure teenager', who 'drinks, smokes, falls prey to peer pressure and parties like there is no tomorrow' and is sent to 'a Christian youth camp run by an oppressive counsellor' (Paull, 34). Paull reviews the novel as one that presents 'interesting plot possibilities' and 'rare moments of beauty' however, she finds the narrative 'meandering and predictable' and says that fundamentally, the novel is 'mainstream, fast-food literature for the masses' (34). -
[Review] Goodbye Jamie Boyd,
single work
review
— Review of Goodbye Jamie Boyd 2008 single work novella ;(p. 36)Fulcher points out that Elizabeth Fensham 'does not shy away from a gritty theme' and Goodbye Jamie Boyd focuses on mental illness in a story that 'connects the reader intimately to the sixteen year old protagonist Anna', who admits on the first page, "Before I killed him, my brother was my best friend". (Fulcher, 36). Fulcher says that while 'the lilting verse and poignant portrait of this young girl's struggle with mental illness is a pleasure to read', the text's conclusion is disappointing. She says that the 'rehabilitation and management of her schizophrenia and cutting habit appears too easy' and that 'it may be misleading to present a recovery that is so effortless' in relation to such a serious issue (36). -
[Review] Ocean Pearl,
single work
review
— Review of Ocean Pearl 2008 single work novel ; (p. 41) Section: Book an Audio Notes -
[Untitled],
single work
review
— Review of Cruisin' 2008 single work children's fiction ; (p. 41) Section: Book and Audio Notes -
[Untitled],
single work
review
— Review of The Brain Full of Holes 2008 single work children's fiction ; (p. 42) Section: Book and Audio Notes -
[Review] The Museum of Mary Child,
single work
review
— Review of The Museum of Mary Child 2009 single work novel ; (p. 43) Section: Book and Audio Notes -
[Untitled],
single work
review
— Review of The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif 2008 single work autobiography ; (p. 44) Section: Book and Audio Notes -
[Review] Cassie,
single work
review
— Review of Cassie 2008 single work novel ; (p. 45) Section: Book and Audio Notes -
[Review] Step Up and Dance,
single work
review
— Review of Step Up and Dance 2008 single work novel ; (p. 45) Section: Book and Audio Notes
