Writing name for: Charlotte Barton
Gender:
Unknown
In their book Searching for Charlotte: The Fascinating Story of Australia's First Children's Author, Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell make a case for the true identity of 'Peter Prattle' being Charlotte Barton. Forsyth writes that there are 'powerful resonances' between Prattle's Amusing and Instructive Stories and Charlotte Barton Atkinson's A Mother's Offering to Her Children.
In the chapter titled 'Wishing for Wings', Forsyth compares the linguistic style and the content of Peter Prattle's stories with those written by Charlotte Barton Atkinson. While Forsyth admits the evidence is 'circumstantial', she concludes: 'if Charlotte was Peter Prattle, then she is the author and illustrator of one of the first children’s stories ever set in Australia, as well as the author of the first children’s book published here'.
Source: 'Wishing for Wings', Chapter 16 in Searching for Charlotte: The Fascinating Story of Australia's First Children's Author (2020).
