Does My Head Look Big in This?
Sydney
:
Pan Macmillan Australia
,
2005
Z1208243
2005
single work
novel
young adult
(taught in 4 units)
'Welcome to my world. I'm Amal Abdel-Hakim, a seventeen-year-old Australian-Palestinian-Muslim still trying to come to grips with my various identity hyphens.
'It's hard enough being cool as a teenager when being one issue behind in the latest Cosmo is enough to disqualify you from the in-group. Try wearing a veil on your head and practising the bum's up position at lunchtime and you know you're in for a tough time at school.
Luckily my friends support me, although they've got a few troubles of their own. Simone, blonde, gorgeous and overweight – she's got serious image issues, and Leila's really intelligent but her parents are more interested in her getting a marriage certificate than her high school certificate!
'And I thought I had problems...'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Belonging
Jeannie Baker
(illustrator),
London
:
Walker Books [London]
,
2004
Z1134871
2004
single work
picture book
children's
(taught in 1 units)
'An alienating city street gradually becomes a place to call home. Little by little, baby Tracy grows. She and her neighbours begin to rescue their street. Together, children and adults plant grass and trees and bushes in the empty spaces. They paint murals over old graffiti. They stop the cars. Everything begins to blossom. Belonging explores the re-greening of the city: the role of community, the empowerment of people and the significance of children, family and neighbourhood in changing their urban environment. The streets gradually become places for safe children's play, and community activity and places for nature and wonder.'
(Source: Author's website, http://www.jeanniebaker.com/picture_books_index.htm)
The Sky So Heavy
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
2013
Z1935483
2013
single work
novel
young adult
(taught in 1 units)
'For Fin, it’s just like any other day – racing for the school bus, bluffing his way through class and trying to remain cool in front of the most sophisticated girl in his universe. Only it’s not like any other day because, on the other side of the world, nuclear missiles are being detonated.
'When Fin wakes up the next morning, it’s dark, bitterly cold and snow is falling. There’s no internet, no phone, no TV, no power and no parents. Nothing Fin’s learnt in school could have prepared him for this.
'With his parents missing and dwindling food and water supplies, Fin and his younger brother, Max, must find a way to survive in a nuclear winter … all on their own.
'When things are at their most desperate, where can you go for help?'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Hero, Perry Moore
Feed, M. T. Anderson
El Deafo, Cece Bell
Literature for children is widely considered to serve a socialising function and therefore is understood as one of the means by which children learn how to be responsible and ethical individuals. While children's literature often supports dominant systems of beliefs, there is a body of texts that overtly challenge such dominant narratives. In this subject, we will analyse a number of contemporary texts for children that arguably position child readers to challenge the status quo and to act in socially-responsible ways. We will situate these texts in the context of larger cultural and political practices and discourses.
