AustLit

Pennell discusses the ideological assumptions regarding reality in four children's picture books, The Widow's Broom by American writer, Chris Van Allsburg (1993), Beware, Beware by British author, Angela Barrett (1993) and two Australian texts, Drac and the Gremlin (Jane Tanner and Allan Baillie, 1988) and Mr Nick's Knitting, (Dee Huxley and Margaret Wild, 1988). Pennell examines the interdependent relationship between text and illustrations arguing that the collaboration between author and illustrator produces 'ideological tensions between the visual and verbal text' (5). Pennel claims that all four picture books may be seen as 'progressive' in their overt attempts to address sexism and reconsider 'the issue of gender roles and male /female relationships' however she argues that it is only in Beware, Beware that the reader will find a progressive feminist ideology. In relation to the other texts, the ideological underpinnings of the narratives reflect 'unconscious cultural assumptions' which function implicitly to reinscribe a patriarchal world view' (5). Pennell refers to this as the ideological 'drift' and argues that there needs to be 'consistency of the levels of signification in the verbal and visual texts' to ensure that this 'drift' does not occur in works which aim to demonstrate progressive social attitudes (12).

Scott examines the novels of several American and British writers as well as Australian Ruth Park's Playing Beatie Bow, exploring the relationship between the inner and outer worlds depicted in children's fantasy novels and evolving concepts of the representation of time and its dislocation. Scott utilizes Piaget's description of young children's sense of reality whereby 'thought is conceived as belonging to the category of physical matter' to discuss 'the increasing connection and proximity between emotion and magic in recent children's literature (14). She argues that 'as the century progresses, the time traveller's self-concept and personality increasingly undergo significant growth and change even to the point of reassessment and redefinition of the innermost sense of self and self-identification' (14). For instance in Playing Beattie Bow, Scott claims that 'time itself becomes a mirror in which the children seek their reflection, looking back into the past to give depth and dimension to their impoverished sense of self, and find new images in a looking glass of another age' (18).

Kneale examines three Australian novels, To the Dark Tower (Victor Kelleher), The Best Thing (Margo Lanagan) and Ariel, Ted and the Secret of Life, and argues that they all 'contain strands of subversion consistent with contemporary critical and literary theories and the spirit of postmodernist discourse' (21). Drawing attention to the significance of the physical environment in Australian narratives, he claims that all three texts venture 'beyond the issues of survival against a challenging physical terrain or a specifically Australian cultural terrain to the question of survival against an uncertain conceptual terrain' (29). He concludes that while these narratives are not concerned with 'constructing a distinctively Australian setting they do not completely abandon the traditional Australian motif of survival' (29).

Dean examines how point of view and focalisation construct subject positions and ideologically inscribed assumptions in two children's novels, Berlie Doherty's Dear Nobody and Sue Gough's A Long Way to Tipperary. Her analysis focuses on 'the extent to which the ideological impact of each text varies according to its possible interpretative subject positions' and her intention is to make clear how important it is for readers to 'become aware of how ideologies operate in fiction so they may be more empowered to identify equivalent ideological apparatuses in their experiences in the actual world (31). Dean concludes that Doherty's novel creates the opportunity for the reader to 'adopt multiple subject positions...empowering them to read against the grain and negotiate meaning' (36). On the other hand, Gough's novel 'employs an authoritative narrative voice in order to construct a seemingly objective point of view' and the reader is 'in danger of being unknowingly subjected to the ideologies of the text (36).

Humphery discusses Crew's novels as a means of introducing young readers 'to important elements of style and literary techniques while at the same time immersing them in the wonderfully rich world of English literature'. Crewe's novels deliberately blur the boundaries between reality and fantasy as well as providing a 'much-needed bridge between popular culture and the traditional classics' and in this sense, his signifiers are highly provisional with the appeal of his work arising from the continual flickering, spilling and diffusing of meaning' (37). As novels of adolescent self-discovery, Humphery points out that 'the rites of passage are carried out within a framework which explores far-reaching historical, political, moral and religious values (37).