'Each kid only has one pair of shoes here. Number 49's shoes are a pretty good fit for me and I know they're new because they still have that plastic smell. But the real Number 49 is quite a bit bigger than I am, because his pants keep falling down on me. I wish he would come back, so that I could go home.
'Jack loves telling jokes, but not many people laugh at them in the orphanage. Will he ever be reunited with his mother and sister, his great-aunts and great-grandmother, back at home?' (Publication summary)
Teachers' notes from publisher's website.
'This paper discusses some of the theories proposed in my monograph The Lost Child in Literature and Culture. It looks at the importance of the lost child figure in disrupting established narratives of history and culture. Using Fraillon’s two novels I discuss how the child is at the centre of abuses of power and also look at the author’s use of alternative forms of language and communication to counter this. The article locates Fraillon’s narratives within fairy-tale tropes such as a child’s quest, while arguing that such tales have also embodied endemic cruelty towards children. Ancient oral folk tales are entwined in the same narrative as modern media. The EASA Conference focused on the rise of nationalism, and the connections between Europe and Australia. The figure of the lost child is sadly pervasive in both parts of the world, showing the inter-connectedness of all our stories. The practice of Child Migration, referred to in this article, is an example of how lost children have been forcibly removed from Europe to Australia as one facet of a system of control.'
Source: Abstract.
'This paper discusses some of the theories proposed in my monograph The Lost Child in Literature and Culture. It looks at the importance of the lost child figure in disrupting established narratives of history and culture. Using Fraillon’s two novels I discuss how the child is at the centre of abuses of power and also look at the author’s use of alternative forms of language and communication to counter this. The article locates Fraillon’s narratives within fairy-tale tropes such as a child’s quest, while arguing that such tales have also embodied endemic cruelty towards children. Ancient oral folk tales are entwined in the same narrative as modern media. The EASA Conference focused on the rise of nationalism, and the connections between Europe and Australia. The figure of the lost child is sadly pervasive in both parts of the world, showing the inter-connectedness of all our stories. The practice of Child Migration, referred to in this article, is an example of how lost children have been forcibly removed from Europe to Australia as one facet of a system of control.'
Source: Abstract.
