Cirrus@Austlit

'One of the key functions of literature and film is to represent and evoke emotion. Unlike conventional narrative approaches common to novels and films that rely on narrative action and dialogue to evoke emotion, picture books offer a different affect through minimal dialogue or description, aesthetics, and stylistic inventiveness. The concept of non-place offers an additional means for exploring how places and spaces in picture books embody some of the characteristics that Augé describes. Writers for young people often promote emotional engagement with characters and place by orienting their readers in both real and imaginary spaces, creating geographies of emotion.' 

This Research Exhibition identifies children's literature across different forms and genres in Australia where discussions of environmental waste, climate change, species endangerment, ecocitizenship, and the effects of globalisation on the environment are major concerns.The Exhibition provides a space for researchers and students to access and engage with bibliographical data on a range of literary and critical texts that provide various environmental perspectives of contemporary Australian children’s literature.

There is a common belief that science is about objective facts while literature expresses subjective opinions and emotions. Increasingly the gap between science and literature is becoming smaller as artistic imagination and scientific inquiry enjoy unprecedented attention in the publishing world and in the media. Picture books that engage with science offer children and teachers ways of understanding science differently. This chapter will use a number of picture books to illustrate how texts for children are opening up artistic ways for developing science understanding in content areas and encouraging general capabilities with respect to information and communication technology, critical and creative thinking, and possibly numeracy. It will also demonstrate the many common features that science and literature share such as communicating curiosity, passion and awe to inspire and instruct young readers about scientific discoveries and the wonders of the world in which they live.

This chapter briefly outlines some general trends and influences, histories,

and changes that have contributed to both the picture book and its digital

transformation.

'Picture books have been evolving for centuries. While early texts such as John Comenius’ Orbis Pictus (1658) demonstrated the value of using illustration in children’s education, it was not until the 1930s that picture books in the form familiar to readers today appeared. By the 1960s picture books such as Maurice Sendak’s Where the wild things are (1963) demonstrated how the genre could break boundaries by exploring psychological dramas and experimenting with visual storytelling. It was also in the 1960s that graphic novels with their popular comic-style form were developing an adventurous approach to content and style. Contemporary picture books and graphic novels continue to explore new literary and artistic landscapes, inspire adaptations by filmmakers and to other media and increasingly to digital forms with the popularity of e-versions and apps.

'Picture books and beyond examines a wide selection of picture books, graphics novels, films, e-picture books and apps that reflects the diversity of these evolving cultural artefacts, and their opportunities for education and delight. Picture books and beyond aligns closely with the goals and directions of the Australian Curriculum: English, and considers the potential of texts for enabling students to respond critically and creatively. It also highlights links to other curricula, general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities.'  (Publication summary)

This paper is concerned with the ways Asia literacy can be developed in response to the new Australian Curriculum. In particular, it addresses the learning possibilities of the Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing Project (AACLAP) available through AustLit: the Australian Literature Resource. The paper contends that AACLAP has the potential to make a valuable contribution to teachers' efforts to incorporate this cross curriculum priority in their classroom practice whilst also developing the general capabilities of intercultural understanding and use of information and communication technologies. The paper concludes that by drawing on a broad range of texts available in the AACLAP collection as well as the Critical Anthology and Research and Learning Trails, teachers and students, particularly of English and History, will be much better positioned to develop a deeper understanding of the diversity of the Asian region and the complexities of Asian-Australian relationships.

'Australia’s relationship with Asia has always been a focus for heated debate and, often, misunderstanding. What role do books play in moulding this relationship?'

This paper considers how Asia can be meaningfully studied and understood in the first national history curriculum to be implemented in Australia. Its focus is on how empathy might be conceptualised as part of the process of becoming ‘Asia literate’ and the ways in which an empathetic understanding can be developed in the Australian Curriculum: History by engaging students with children’s literature. We argue that stories about Chinese experiences in Australia from particular episodes in the nation’s past can be utilised for their potential to prompt historical inquiry and empathetic engagement in the classroom. This paper is informed by the Asian-Australia Children's Literature and Publishing (AACLAP) project.

This essay considers a specific digital ‘archive’ of early Australian children’s literature, known as the Children’s Literature Digital Resources (CLDR), which is located in AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource. Our paper discusses how early Australian children’s literature included in the CLDR collection rhetorically constructs nation and place, and in so doing constructs an Australian identity for its implied readers.

Source: Author's abstract.

Children's Literature Digital Resources, or, CLDR is a full text digital repository of Australian children’s literature from 1830 to 1945. Users can read online the complete texts of a selection of early Australian children’s literature, both popular and rare.

Over 500 texts can be read online, complete with their original illustrations and marginalia. While the CLDR is an invaluable tool for researchers of Australian children's literature, it is also an enjoyable resource for readers.