AustLit
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
On an escalator heading for the second floor of a hopping centre recently, not thinking of much, my eye wandered over the wall tat bordered it. It was painted in a shade of warm beige but what caught my attention was an elegant piece of typographical design painted on it that was obviously not graffiti. In large white lettering it simply read 'Books show us how to live'. Nothing else. No advertising. Just a simple sentence that lifted the heart and to which I kept returning at odd moments of the day.
What a sweeping statement! What a place to find it! How to interpret the message?
I think books are sly things that certainly do contribute to an understanding of just about everything but, apart from nonfiction, often in ways that are not obvious. Picture books not only cover a multitude of life experiences from seeing yourself in characters that may, for younger readers be an animal, or a child just like themselves, and for older readers provides an experience that allows them to walk in another's shoes. Who doesn't appreciate the depiction of friendship, familial love and burgeoning self reliance that pervades many picture books through the simple act of naming things, or, at a later stage engaging with characters in early readers and then in novels as they experience life at different ages. How many children have learned of lives unlike their own, to value diversity, to see themselves in particular characters and perhaps benefit from reading about others that are different. It would certainly be unusual (if not down-right disappointing).
And then there is fantasy that technically is not 'real' but in which life is writ large and characters, whilst seemingly different, in fact live by codes of behaviour that may reflect our own, or, be so different that it makes us reassess our own.
Nonfiction for children, a more obvious form of learning, comes in many formats: narrative, point and identify, encyclopaedic and a vast range of educationally based material. The subjects they cover are vast, as is the physical presentation of the books themselves.
Taken together, story and the books that contain them, play a very large part in our lives. (Editorial)
Notes
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Contents indexed selectively.
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Content indexing in process.
Contents
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Australian Children's Laureate : A Project 10 Years in the Making,
single work
review
'2018 ushers in the announcement of the fifth Australian Children's Laureate with tremendous fanfare. Morris Gleitzman follows four esteemed creators who have filled this prestigious and powerful position with immense skill and grace'. (Introduction)
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Australian Children's Laureate : Morris Gleitzman Goes in to Bat for Stories,
single work
essay
'Your mission, Morris,' said Ron Gorman, chair of the Australian Children's Literature Alliance, 'if you choose to accept it, is to don the mantle of Australian Children's Laureate for the next two years and go into bat for stories.' (Introduction)
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Isobelle Carmody : Red Queen of Fantasy,
single work
interview
After her room-lighting smile and greeting, the first thing Isobelle Carmody says when we meet in Sydney for Oz ComicCon is , I love learning new things. This is evident from the vivacity and depth of her understanding and engagement with important philosophical questions. She is a whirlwind of enthusiasm and erudition. (Introduction)
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The Great War in Recent Children's and YA Books,
single work
review
— Review of Armistice 2018 picture book ; In the Lamplight 2018 single work picture book ; Alfred's War 2018 single work single work picture book ; 1918 2018 single work children's fiction ; (p. 16-17) -
Cover Book Review : Dingo by Claire Saxby, ill. Tannya Harricks,
single work
review
— Review of Dingo 2018 single work picture book ;We know dingoes have been around for a long time but it is still a little surprising to find that they have been on the Australian continent somewhere between 5,000 and 18,000. In the same paragraph the reader of Dingo will learn that they are top order predators [and] only humans are a danger to them. (Introduction) -
Know the Author/Illustrator : Martine Murray,
single work
interview
Martine Murray is poised on the brink of her next adventure, much like many of the heroes who populate her books. She is in the process of readying her home so that she can sell it. She plans on moving to an undeveloped land nearby and starting p a community based on principles of permaculture. This revelation stirs up simultaneous delight in her adventurous spirit and a feeling of sadness for the incumbent loss. Entering the Castlemaine property, whose location has inspired several of her books, one is struck by its unconventional beauty and how it appears attuned to its natural state. This then is the world of Martine's books. (Introduction)
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[Review] The Little Stowaway : A True Story,
single work
review
— Review of The Little Stowaway 2018 single work picture book ; (p. 26) -
[Review] Shout Out to the Girls : A Celebration of Awesome Australian Women,
single work
review
— Review of Shout Out to the Girls : A Celebration of Awesome Australian Women 2018 anthology single work biography ; (p. 26) -
[Review] The Baby Animal Book,
single work
review
— Review of The Baby Animal Book 2017 single work picture book information book ; (p. 29) -
[Review] I Remember,
single work
review
— Review of I Remember 2018 single work picture book ; (p. 29) -
[Review] Oma's Buttons,
single work
review
— Review of Oma's Buttons 2018 single work picture book ; (p. 29) -
[Review] Can You Find Me?,
single work
review
— Review of Can You Find Me? 2017 single work picture book ; (p. 29) -
[Review] Go Go and the Silver Shoes,
single work
review
— Review of Go Go and the Silver Shoes 2018 single work picture book ; (p. 29-30) -
[Review] The Last Peach,
single work
review
— Review of The Last Peach 2018 single work picture book ; (p. 30) -
[Review] The Pink Hat,
single work
review
— Review of The Pink Hat 2017 single work picture book ; (p. 30) -
[Review] Bird to Bird,
single work
review
— Review of Bird to Bird 2018 single work picture book ; (p. 32) -
[Review] Digger,
single work
review
— Review of Digger 2018 single work picture book ; (p. 32) -
[Review] The Mediterranean,
single work
review
— Review of The Mediterranean 2018 single work picture book ; (p. 32-33) -
[Review] The Poesy Ring,
single work
review
— Review of The Poesy Ring 2017 single work picture book ; (p. 33) -
[Review] Fearless Frederic,
single work
review
— Review of Fearless Frederic 2018 single work children's fiction ; (p. 34)