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Tessa Wooldridge Tessa Wooldridge i(A86390 works by) (a.k.a. Tessa Judith Wooldridge)
Born: Established: 1955 Balwyn North, Camberwell - Kew area, Melbourne - Inner South, Melbourne, Victoria, ;
Gender: Female
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Works By

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1 Billie B Brown’s Creator Appointed Australian Children’s Laureate Tessa Wooldridge , 2024 single work column
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
'Australia’s 2024–2025 Children’s Laureate, Sally Rippin, shares some distinguishing characteristics with her book series character, Billie B Brown: honesty, friendship and empathy.'
1 Casting an Image: Wendy Harmer’s Lies My Mirror Told Me Tessa Wooldridge , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
1 Space for Questions in Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional Tessa Wooldridge , 2023 single work column
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

'Space for Questions' uses quotes from Charlotte Wood's Stone Yard Devotional together with related questions to probe the book's themes. The content is suitable for use by book clubs.

1 Cricket Books for Aussie Kids Tessa Wooldridge , 2022 single work bibliography
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

'Cricket has a language all its own and part of the delight in reading about cricket is discovering new words and meanings. Cricket-themed children’s books can also entice reluctant readers to spend some time between the pages, especially when their cricketing heroes are front and centre.

'This selection of books for children will appeal to those who are already cricket fans – be they young or old – and they may help steer the uninitiated toward cricket appreciation.

'Books are listed under the following headings: Picture Books, Younger Readers, Middle Grade Readers, and Non-fiction.' Each book includes a suggested age range.

1 Girls in Boarding Schools : Navigating the Self and Others Tessa Wooldridge , 2021 single work column
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
1 The Mistress of Windfells – A Novel for Our Time? Tessa Wooldridge , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
'The Mistress of Windfells centres on 24-year-old Joan Fetherston ... the sole owner of Windfells, a 13,000 acre sheep property in Victoria’s Western District. The novel, set in the first years of the 20th century, opens during the shearing season. There is disquiet amongst the shearers – a union rep has been active in the district, disrupting the usual salary agreements between workers and property owners.'
1 Agnes Gwynne – A Forgotten Australian Author Tessa Wooldridge , 2021 single work biography
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
This article provides background information on Agnes Gwynne's life, including her family life and places of residence, and a brief overview of the major themes in her novels and plays.
1 More Australian History for Australian Kids … This Time from an Indigenous Perspective Tessa Wooldridge , 2020 single work bibliography
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
A selection of books for children and young people, written and/or illustrated by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creators, about Australian history. Titles include Bronwyn Bancroft's Coming Home to CountryBruce Pascoe's Young Dark EmuSally Morgan's Sister Heart, and Anita Heiss's Who Am I? : The Diary of Mary Talence : Sydney, 1937.
1 Children’s Librarians—Igniting the Reading Spark Tessa Wooldridge , 2020 single work biography
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

This article draws parallels between the career of Bendigo Children's Librarian Miss Euphemia (Pheme) Tanner and the life of Salley Vickers' fictional children's librarian Miss Syliva Blackwell from the 2018 novel The Librarian.

Pheme Tanner was the Children's Librarian at the Bendigo Library from 1946 to 1979. During that time, she encouraged children not only to visit the library for borrowing purposes, but also to contribute to the library's functioning by working there on Saturday mornings. The column's author, Tessa Wooldridge, was among those who took up that opportunity.

1 A Name and a Voice for the Drover’s Wife Tessa Wooldridge , 2020 single work column
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

'Leah Purcell’s novel The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson takes Henry Lawson’s 1892 short story of the same name and infuses it with female wisdom and understanding.

'A story originally set in a parched and lifeless terrain is relocated to the fertile country of the Ngarigo people—the high country of the Snowy Mountains. And the ubiquitous ‘wife’ who features in Lawson’s story is, in Purcell’s reimagining, granted a name and a voice and a properly fleshed-out life.'

This column focuses on the significance of names and storytelling in Purcell's novel.

1 Not a Normal Summer Tessa Wooldridge , 2020 single work short story
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
1 Bushfire Books for Children Tessa Wooldridge , 2020 single work bibliography
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

'Australian authors of children’s books have written about bushfires for many years, but particularly in the decade following the 2009 Black Saturday fires in Victoria. These  books provide a way to open conversations with children who have been affected by the fires.

'This short bibliography provides 'a selection of some of those books about bushfires. The selection is separated into two categories—picture books and junior fiction—with the most recent publications listed first.'

1 Words for Winter—Australian Children’s Books Tessa Wooldridge , 2019 single work single work bibliography
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
A 'collection of Australian titles about, or set in, winter. There are picture books, junior fiction titles, books for readers in early adolescence, and poems'. Includes a brief plot summary of the listed books.
1 Will the Real Mary Poppins Please Stand Up? Tessa Wooldridge , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

Film adaptations of P. L. Travers' 1934 novel Mary Poppins offer particular interpretations of Travers' fictional character, but do they reflect the author's original manifestation of the erstwhile English nanny?

This blog post examines the inspiration behind the physical portrayal (drawn by Mary Shepard) of Travers' fictional character as well as the behaviours, characteristics and philosophies exhibited by Mary Poppins in the first of the six Mary Poppins story collections.

1 Blending Biography with Family History: Brenda Niall’s Can You Hear the Sea? Tessa Wooldridge , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

— Review of Can You Hear the Sea? My Grandmother's Story Brenda Niall , 2017 single work biography
1 G. A. Henty and Australia Tessa Wooldridge , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

English author, G. A. Henty, wrote over 90 books - largely of the 'boys-own-adventure' variety. His books were widely read throughout the Australian colonies and appeared in serialised form in many colonial newspapers, especially during the 1890s.

One of Henty's titles, A Final Reckoning, is set predominantly in colonial New South Wales. In this book, 'Henty uses localised colonial terms such as ‘squatter’, ‘ticket-of-leave’, ‘bushranger’, ‘native tracker’ and ‘black gin’. There is [also] a variation of the classic children’s ‘lost in the bush’ tale.'

1 Women, Beauty and Art in Kate Forsyth’s Beauty in Thorns Tessa Wooldridge , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

'Kate Forsyth’s Beauty in Thorns begins with an exchange between two of the novel’s major characters – Georgiana (Georgie) Macdonald and the man she will later marry, Edward (Ned) Burne-Jones. Their conversation centres on the tale of Sleeping Beauty.

'The fairy story is key to Forsyth’s narrative. As the novel unfolds, Ned paints the beautiful princess over and over again. First, it is Georgie who poses as the sleeping beauty; then, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Siddal. Later still, Ned’s mistress Maria Zambaco plays the part; and, finally, his daughter Margot poses for Ned’s Briar Rose series.

'Women. Beauty. Art. Motifs that repeat in the novel like a William Morris wallpaper.'

1 Tanka: A Brief Introduction Tessa Wooldridge , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;
1 Nevermoor : Morality and Values in an Imagined World Tessa Wooldridge , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Thoughts from an Idle Hour 2015-;

'Writers of fantasy fiction create not just characters and plots for their novels, they imagine whole new worlds. Worlds with unique geographies and climates; technologies and customs; and even, on occasion, languages ...

'In addition to these tangible elements, fantasy authors need to envision the moral framework that governs their created world and the values that underpin it. What principles will determine issues of right and wrong, of justice, of the exercise of power? Will their world operate within the boundaries of a belief system? Will myths and stories from the imagined world’s past (or from other, known worlds) influence the present?

'In Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, Jessica Townsend begins to reveal the world she has created for her debut series.'

1 Review : This Hungry Dragon Tessa Wooldridge , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Reading Time , August 2016;

— Review of This Hungry Dragon Heath McKenzie , 2016 single work picture book
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