Cirrus@Austlit

'In Murder in Punch Lane, Jane Sullivan creates a murder mystery plot surrounding the death in 1868 of rising theatre star Marie St Denis.

'In Sullivan’s tale, fictional actress and amateur sleuth Lola Sanchez and her sidekick, journalist and magazine editor Magnus Scott, investigate possible suspects in St Denis’s death.

'Sullivan’s suspects include American-born Shakespearian actor Walter Montgomery, judge and philanthropist Redmond Barry, police commissioner Frederick Charles Standish, and forensic pathologist and drama critic J. E. Neild.'

This article backgrounds Sullivan's novel but goes on to explore the life and death by suicide of Alice Maes, aka Marie St Denis.

'In times past, children’s books about whales focused on the hunting and slaughter of these majestic marine mammals; these days, picture books are more likely to feature conservation efforts and whale watching.

'Here is a collection of picture books by Australian authors and illustrators. Some invite children into the whales’ marine environment, fostering awe and wonder; several feature attempts to save stranded whales (both factual and fictional rescues); and some immerse readers in Indigenous lore and culture.'

Each listed book includes a brief review and a suggested age range. Where relevant, links to teachers' resources are also provided.

'Space for Questions' uses quotes from Charlotte Wood's Stone Yard Devotional together with related questions to probe the book's themes. The content is suitable for use by book clubs.

'Cricket has a language all its own and part of the delight in reading about cricket is discovering new words and meanings. Cricket-themed children’s books can also entice reluctant readers to spend some time between the pages, especially when their cricketing heroes are front and centre.

'This selection of books for children will appeal to those who are already cricket fans – be they young or old – and they may help steer the uninitiated toward cricket appreciation.

'Books are listed under the following headings: Picture Books, Younger Readers, Middle Grade Readers, and Non-fiction.' Each book includes a suggested age range.

This article draws parallels between the career of Bendigo Children's Librarian Miss Euphemia (Pheme) Tanner and the life of Salley Vickers' fictional children's librarian Miss Syliva Blackwell from the 2018 novel The Librarian.

Pheme Tanner was the Children's Librarian at the Bendigo Library from 1946 to 1979. During that time, she encouraged children not only to visit the library for borrowing purposes, but also to contribute to the library's functioning by working there on Saturday mornings. The column's author, Tessa Wooldridge, was among those who took up that opportunity.

'Leah Purcell’s novel The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson takes Henry Lawson’s 1892 short story of the same name and infuses it with female wisdom and understanding.

'A story originally set in a parched and lifeless terrain is relocated to the fertile country of the Ngarigo people—the high country of the Snowy Mountains. And the ubiquitous ‘wife’ who features in Lawson’s story is, in Purcell’s reimagining, granted a name and a voice and a properly fleshed-out life.'

This column focuses on the significance of names and storytelling in Purcell's novel.

'Australian authors of children’s books have written about bushfires for many years, but particularly in the decade following the 2009 Black Saturday fires in Victoria. These  books provide a way to open conversations with children who have been affected by the fires.

'This short bibliography provides 'a selection of some of those books about bushfires. The selection is separated into two categories—picture books and junior fiction—with the most recent publications listed first.'

Film adaptations of P. L. Travers' 1934 novel Mary Poppins offer particular interpretations of Travers' fictional character, but do they reflect the author's original manifestation of the erstwhile English nanny?

This blog post examines the inspiration behind the physical portrayal (drawn by Mary Shepard) of Travers' fictional character as well as the behaviours, characteristics and philosophies exhibited by Mary Poppins in the first of the six Mary Poppins story collections.

English author, G. A. Henty, wrote over 90 books - largely of the 'boys-own-adventure' variety. His books were widely read throughout the Australian colonies and appeared in serialised form in many colonial newspapers, especially during the 1890s.

One of Henty's titles, A Final Reckoning, is set predominantly in colonial New South Wales. In this book, 'Henty uses localised colonial terms such as ‘squatter’, ‘ticket-of-leave’, ‘bushranger’, ‘native tracker’ and ‘black gin’. There is [also] a variation of the classic children’s ‘lost in the bush’ tale.'

'Kate Forsyth’s Beauty in Thorns begins with an exchange between two of the novel’s major characters – Georgiana (Georgie) Macdonald and the man she will later marry, Edward (Ned) Burne-Jones. Their conversation centres on the tale of Sleeping Beauty.

'The fairy story is key to Forsyth’s narrative. As the novel unfolds, Ned paints the beautiful princess over and over again. First, it is Georgie who poses as the sleeping beauty; then, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Siddal. Later still, Ned’s mistress Maria Zambaco plays the part; and, finally, his daughter Margot poses for Ned’s Briar Rose series.

'Women. Beauty. Art. Motifs that repeat in the novel like a William Morris wallpaper.'