Australian Children's Literature (LIT324)
School of Humanities and Social Sciences - Charles Sturt University
Semester 1 / 2014

Texts

y separately published work icon The Nargun and the Stars Patricia Wrightson , Richmond London : Hutchinson , 1973 Z862349 1973 single work children's fiction children's (taught in 3 units)

Simon Brent is orphaned. Still shocked, he is taken to live with his only relatives, brother and sister Charlie and Edie Waters, who live on a farm. There, Simon meets the Aboriginal spirits who also live on the land. Together Simon, Charlie, Edie, and the spirits save the land from the ancient Nargun. The story is memorable in the portrayal of the Nargun and the spirits, as well as the characters of Charlie and Edie, and the depiction of Simon's change from a shocked and emotionally frozen individual to a normal boy.
y separately published work icon Seven Little Australians Ethel Turner , London Melbourne : Ward, Lock and Bowden , 1894 Z863667 1894 single work children's fiction children's (taught in 25 units)

'Without doubt Judy was the worst of the seven, probably because she was the cleverest.'

'Her father, Captain Woolcot, found his vivacious, cheeky daughter impossible – but seven children were really too much for him and most of the time they ran wild at their rambling riverside home, Misrule.

'Step inside and meet them all – dreamy Meg, and Pip, daring Judy, naughty Bunty, Nell, Baby and the youngest, 'the General'. Come and share in their lives, their laughter and their tears.' (From the publisher's website.)
y separately published work icon Our World : Bardi Jaawi Life at Ardiyooloon One Arm Point Remote Community School (editor), Broome : Magabala Books , 2010 Z1727607 2010 anthology autobiography children's (taught in 3 units) 'Ardiyooloon is home to the Bardi Jaawi people and sits at the end of a red dirt road at the top of the Dampier Peninsula, 200km north of Broome in the north-west of Western Australia. Also known as One Arm Point, the community is surrounded on three sides by the saltwater that plays such an integral part in the people's lives. Our World: Bardi Jaawi Life at Ardiyooloon takes readers inside the lives of the children of a remote Indigenous community. Source: www.magabala.com (Sighted 24/11/2010).
y separately published work icon Bear and Chook Lisa Shanahan , Emma Quay (illustrator), Sydney : Hodder Headline , 2002 Z956176 2002 single work picture book children's (taught in 3 units) Adventurous Bear and practical Chook make unlikely friends, who together spend a day dreaming and acting out what jobs they think they'd like to have when they grow up. (Libraries Australia record).
y separately published work icon Leaf Stephen Michael King , Stephen Michael King (illustrator), Gosford : Scholastic Australia , 2008 Z1491176 2008 single work picture book children's (taught in 3 units)

"A boy who hates having his hair combed discovers an extraordinary side-effect of messy, matted hair when a seed falls on his head and begins to grow." (Source: Trove)
y separately published work icon Sleeping Dogs Sonya Hartnett , Ringwood : Viking , 1995 Z238800 1995 single work novel young adult (taught in 8 units) The misanthropic, sadistic father of five children, ages 12 to 25, Griffin Willow runs a trailer park on his dilapidated farm in rural Australia. Isolated from all outside influences, even the neighboring small town, the Willow family has created its own oppressive, sheltered, and decaying world. Despite abuse from their father and a silent, withdrawn mother, all five children live at home and help run the trailer park. Twenty-three-year-old Michelle and her younger brother Jordan have found solace in an incestuous relationship, which they carefully conceal from their parents. When Bow Fox, an itinerant artist, comes to stay at the park, their 15-year-old brother, Oliver, accidently reveals their secret. So begins an agonizing, irreversible progression of violence and betrayal. (Source: Trove)
y separately published work icon Deadly, Unna? Phillip Gwynne , Ringwood : Penguin , 1998 Z517608 1998 single work novel young adult (taught in 20 units)

'"Deadly, unna?" He was always saying that. All the Nungas did, but Dumby more than any of them. Dumby Red and Blacky don't have a lot in common. Dumby's the star of the footy team, he's got a killer smile and the knack with girls, and he's a Nunga. Blacky's a gutless wonder, needs braces, never knows what to say, and he's white. But they're friends... and it could be deadly, unna? This gutsy novel, set in a small coastal town in South Australia is a rites-of-passage story about two boys confronting the depth of racism that exists all around them.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.
y separately published work icon Just Crazy! Andy Griffiths , Sydney : Pan , 2000 Z793607 2000 selected work children's fiction humour children's (taught in 3 units)

'"Just Crazy!" Is this the right book for you? Take the crazy test and find out the answer. Answer yes or no: Do you bounce so high on your bed that you hit your head on the ceiling? Do you ever look in the mirror and see a maniac staring back at you? Do you like to read stories about kittens, puppies and ponies getting mashed and pulverised? Do you sometimes get the urge to take your clothes off and cover yourself in mud? Do you often waste your time taking crazy tests like this one? Score by giving one point for each 'yes' answer. If you score 3-5, you are completely crazy. You will love this book. If you score 1-2, you are not completely crazy, but you're not far from it. You will love this book. If you score 0, you are so crazy you don't even realise you're crazy. You will love this book.' (Publication summary)
The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie Snugglepot and Cuddlepie May Gibbs , Sydney : Angus and Robertson , 1940 Z916552 1940 selected work children's fiction children's (taught in 3 units)
— Appears in: Kumurins un Kamolins; Es protu lekt pari pelkem; Vetras zens 1999;

'This quintessential collection of May Gibbs’ classic stories was first published in 1940 and has never been out of print since! Featuring the tales of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (first published in 1918) and its two sequels, Little Ragged Blossom (1920) and Little Obelia (1921). In this new edition, all of May’s original artwork has been sourced and re-scanned and the illustrations look as exquisite as the day May put down her paintbrush all those years ago.' (Source: author's website)
y separately published work icon Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence Doris Pilkington Garimara , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1996 Z126936 1996 single work biography (taught in 26 units)

'The film Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on this true account of Doris Nugi Garimara Pilkington's mother Molly, who as a young girl led her two sisters on an extraordinary 1,600 kilometre walk home. Under Western Australia's invidious removal policy of the 1930s, the girls were taken from their Aboriginal family at Jigalong on the edge of the Little Sandy Desert, and transported halfway across the state to the Native Settlement at Moore River, north of Perth...

The three girls - aged 8, 11 and 14 - managed to escape from the settlement's repressive conditions and brutal treatment. Barefoot without provisions or maps, they set out to find the rabbit-proof fence, knowing it passed near their home in the north. Tracked by native police and search planes, they hid in terror, surviving on bush tucker, desperate to return to the world they knew.

The journey to freedom - longer than many of the legendary walks of [the Australian nation's] explorer heroes... told from family recollections, letters between the authorities and the Aboriginal Protector, and ... newspaper reports of the runaway children.' Source: Publisher's blurb
y separately published work icon Window Jeannie Baker , Jeannie Baker (illustrator), London : Julia MacRae Books , 1991 Z834244 1991 single work picture book children's (taught in 5 units) Through a house window the view gradually changes over the passage of time to show how the environment changes, not necessarily for the better.
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