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Image courtesy of Magabala Books
y separately published work icon Ubby's Underdogs : Heroes Beginnings single work   graphic novel   children's  
Is part of Ubby's Underdogs Brenton E. McKenna , 2011 series - author graphic novel (number 2 in series)
Issue Details: First known date: 2013... 2013 Ubby's Underdogs : Heroes Beginnings
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'It is the late 1940s and Broome, a small pearling town in the heart of an ancient land, is still recovering from WWII. Ubby, a smart, street-wise Aboriginal girl, is the leader of a small rag-tag gang known as the ‘Underdogs.’ Ubby’s Underdogs: Heroes Beginnings (Book 2) is storytelling on a remarkable scale. It continues with established characters that have links to other worlds amidst an intricate backdrop of Aboriginal and Chinese mythology. In this second graphic novel of the Ubby’s Trilogy, efforts to locate Sai Fong, the Dragon Summoner, by Ubby and her gang have been halted by the ambitious Pearling Master, Paul Donappleton. Yupman, the guardian of Sai Fong, is pushed to breaking point as his past reaches out to strike and his greatest fear now sits upon the horizon.' (Publisher's blurb)

Exhibitions

8875784
8857854
11469221
11468710

Reading Australia

Reading Australia

This work has Reading Australia teaching resources.

Unit Suitable For AC: Year 7 (NSW Stage 4)

Duration Six weeks

Themes

Aboriginal history and culture, bravery, Chinese history, corruption, Day of the Girl, feminism, friendship, good and evil, heroes and villains, heroism, inter-cultural relationships, magic, magic realism, morality, Myths and Legends, power and authority, racism, relationships, sexism, teenage gangs, violence

Cross-curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia

Teaching Resources

Teaching Resources

This work has teaching resources.

Teachers' notes via publisher's website.

Notes

  • In English language.

Affiliation Notes

  • This work is affiliated with the AustLit subset Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing because it has references to Chinese mythology as well as Chinese and Chinese-Australian characters.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Ubby's Underdogs : A Transformative Vision of Australian Community Clare Bradford , Cathy Sly , Xu Daozhi , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , vol. 24 no. 1 2016; (p. 101-131)

"The ‘Ubby’s Underdogs’ books are the first graphic novels published by Magabala Books,representing an innovation which maintains the inventiveness characteristic of Magabala’s picture books. The trilogy’s treatment of the Underdogs’ exploits in multicultural Broome foregrounds the encounter between Aboriginal and Chinese cultural traditions. By drawing on a blend of cultural signifiers, the novels display the carnivalesque qualities described by Mikhail Bakhtin in Rabelais and His World (1984). In McKenna’s novels carnivalesque scenes, polyglot voices and intercultural dialogues give rise to a transformative vision of a community which resists monologic authoritarianism. Like graphic novels more generally, the Underdogs novels rely on visual, verbal and cultural stereotypes to enable rapid identification of characters of various ethnicities. They transform such stereotypical and exoticised figures through modes of representation and narrative which privilege the ‘culture of folk carnival humour’ (Bakhtin 1984, p. 4) to present negotiations between and across cultures in the setting of post-war Broome." (Introduction)

[Review] Heroes Beginnings Kevin Steinberger , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 29 no. 1 2014; (p. 36)

— Review of Ubby's Underdogs : Heroes Beginnings Brenton E. McKenna , 2013 single work graphic novel
Return of Ubby and her Gang 2013 single work review
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 4 December no. 565 2013; (p. 42)

— Review of Ubby's Underdogs : Heroes Beginnings Brenton E. McKenna , 2013 single work graphic novel
[Review] Heroes Beginnings Kevin Steinberger , 2014 single work review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , March vol. 29 no. 1 2014; (p. 36)

— Review of Ubby's Underdogs : Heroes Beginnings Brenton E. McKenna , 2013 single work graphic novel
Return of Ubby and her Gang 2013 single work review
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 4 December no. 565 2013; (p. 42)

— Review of Ubby's Underdogs : Heroes Beginnings Brenton E. McKenna , 2013 single work graphic novel
Ubby's Underdogs : A Transformative Vision of Australian Community Clare Bradford , Cathy Sly , Xu Daozhi , 2016 single work criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , vol. 24 no. 1 2016; (p. 101-131)

"The ‘Ubby’s Underdogs’ books are the first graphic novels published by Magabala Books,representing an innovation which maintains the inventiveness characteristic of Magabala’s picture books. The trilogy’s treatment of the Underdogs’ exploits in multicultural Broome foregrounds the encounter between Aboriginal and Chinese cultural traditions. By drawing on a blend of cultural signifiers, the novels display the carnivalesque qualities described by Mikhail Bakhtin in Rabelais and His World (1984). In McKenna’s novels carnivalesque scenes, polyglot voices and intercultural dialogues give rise to a transformative vision of a community which resists monologic authoritarianism. Like graphic novels more generally, the Underdogs novels rely on visual, verbal and cultural stereotypes to enable rapid identification of characters of various ethnicities. They transform such stereotypical and exoticised figures through modes of representation and narrative which privilege the ‘culture of folk carnival humour’ (Bakhtin 1984, p. 4) to present negotiations between and across cultures in the setting of post-war Broome." (Introduction)

Last amended 24 Apr 2020 08:44:53
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