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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
In France during World War I, four French children learn about honesty, loyalty, and courage from an English army deserter who tells them a series of stories related to his small, silver donkey charm. (Source: Trove)
Reading Australia
Affiliation Notes
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This work is affiliated with the AustLit subset Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing because it has a Japanese translation.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Sound recording.
- Braille.
Works about this Work
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Stories to Treasure
2013
single work
column
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 11 May 2013; (p. 26) -
Ruins or Foundations : Great War Literature in the Australian Curriculum
2012
single work
criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 12 no. 1 2012; 'The Great War has been represented in Australian curricula since 1914, in texts with tones ranging from bellicose patriotism to idealistic pacifism. Australian curricula have included war literature as one way of transmitting cultural values, values that continue to evolve as successive generations relate differently to war and peace. Changes in ethical perspectives and popular feeling have guided text selection and pedagogy, so that texts which were once accepted as foundational to Australian society seem, at later times, to document civilisation's ruin.
In recent years, overseas texts have been preferred above Australian examples as mediators of the Great War, an event still held by many to be of essential importance to Australia. This paper first considers arguments for including Great War texts on the national curriculum, exploring what war literature can, and cannot, be expected to bring to the program. Interrogating the purpose/s of war literature in the curriculum and the ways in which the texts may be used to meet such expectations, the paper then discusses styles of war texts and investigates whether there is a case for including more texts by Australian authors.' (Author's abstract)
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An Awfully Big Adventure : Killing Death in War Stories for Children
2006
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , December vol. 16 no. 2 2006; (p. 90-95) Halliday locates a gap in Kerry Mallan's study concerning discourses of death and dying in children's literature, and claims, 'A curious omission is death in war, from the legal killing of and by soldiers, to the horror underlying the euphemism of 'collateral damage'' (90). Halliday suggests that despite a 'proliferation of discourses [on the] manifestations of death... there is a lingering taboo in dealing with death in war stories, especially for older readers' (90). The essay refers to some of the strategies and narrative techniques used to represent war in children's fiction from an array of novels, including several Australian children's texts by contemporary authors, Morris Gleitzman, Sonya Hartnett, Anthony Eaton, Serpil Ural and David Metzenthen. Strategies discussed include discourses of hope, the use of metaphor, reader-subject positioning and setting with Halliday concluding that, 'When death is present and brutally explicit...cultural pressures about the appropriateness of reading material and consequent censorship occur' (94). -
Timeless Words for All Ages
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: The Courier Mail , 30 - 31 July 2005; (p. 3)
— Review of The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children 2004 single work children's fiction -
[Review] The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children
2005
single work
review
— Appears in: English in Australia , Autumn no. 142 2005; (p. 75-76)
— Review of The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children 2004 single work children's fiction
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A Golden Ride on a Silver Donkey
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 23 October 2004; (p. 5)
— Review of The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children 2004 single work children's fiction -
Glimmers of Hope in the Dark Wood
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 23-24 October 2004; (p. 9)
— Review of The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children 2004 single work children's fiction -
[Review] The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , November vol. 19 no. 5 2004; (p. 33)
— Review of The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children 2004 single work children's fiction -
Bookshelf
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 11 December 2004; (p. 9)
— Review of Mickey's Little Book of Letters 2004 single work children's fiction ; The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children 2004 single work children's fiction ; Secret Scribbled Notebooks 2004 single work novel -
Cultural Clashes
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January no. 267 2004-2005; (p. 70-71)
— Review of The Silver Donkey : A Novel for Children 2004 single work children's fiction ; Camel Rider 2004 single work novel ; The Last Muster 2004 single work children's fiction -
Children, Adults, Anything
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 31 October 2004; (p. 30) -
The Silver Donkey by Sonya Hartnett
2004
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Summer vol. 12 no. 4 2004; (p. 28) -
Making it Sing
Pam Macintyre
(interviewer),
2005
single work
interview
— Appears in: Viewpoint : On Books for Young Adults , Autumn vol. 13 no. 1 2005; (p. 2-4) The editors of Viewpoint talk to Sonya Hartnett about her book The Silver Donkey and how her view on the world influences her writing. -
Know the Author : Sonya Hartnett
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 20 no. 2 2005; (p. 14-16) -
First Novel Runs into Prized Shortlist
2005
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 25 - 26 June 2005; (p. 15)
Awards
- 2010 winner Premio Anderson Children's Book Awards (Italy) — Best book 9-12 years
- 2007 winner COOL Award — Fiction for Years 7-9
- 2006 IBBY Honour Diploma — Writing
- 2005 winner The Courier-Mail Book of the Year Award
- 2005 shortlisted New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards — Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Books
Last amended 19 Jun 2020 13:27:33
Settings:
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cFrance,cWestern Europe, Europe,
- 1910s
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