Pauline Deeves Pauline Deeves i(A86748 works by)
Gender: Female
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BiographyHistory

Canberra-based Pauline Deeves has been a writer and teacher. She has mostly written 'adult non fiction but has also published some children's fiction. The novel for young people for which the [ASA] mentorship was awarded is based on a true story from the oral history collection at Lanyon, an historic grazing property on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River south of Canberra.'

Source: Australian Society of Authors webiste, http://www.asauthors.org/
Sighted: 15/12/2010

Most Referenced Works

Personal Awards

2010 recipient ASA Mentorship Children's

Awards for Works

y separately published work icon Socks, Sandbags & Leeches : Letters to My Anzac Dad Canberra : National Library of Australia , 2016 9252045 2016 single work children's fiction correspondence children's

'Ivy and her mother live in Australia, far away from where the Great War is raging. They have moved in with Aunt Hilda whose flat is so small that Ivy has to sleep under the kitchen table. Not only that, but she also has to empty Aunt Hilda’s chamber pot! ‘The Pests’ live in the flat on one side and, on the other side, lives grumpy old Mr Wilson—who has a deep secret.

'Ivy writes to her father, who is fighting overseas. She tells him all about life at home—how the family has little money; how she and other children have to sew sandbags, knit socks and roll up bandages for the war; how she volunteers for the Cheer Up Society, making cups of tea at the wharf when the hospital ships come in; and how the Big Pest collects leeches for the hospital.

'Socks, Sandbags and Leeches is set against the backdrop of the First World War—the Gallipoli landings and withdrawal, the propaganda in Australia and the false reports in the newspapers, schoolchildren’s war work and fundraising, the return of wounded and shell-shocked soldiers, and eventually the wonderful news of peace.

'My Anzac Dad is different from most children’s books set in the First World War as, rather than telling the story of war experiences from a soldier’s point of view, it describes life for the people on the home front and the attitudes towards the involvement of Australia in the war. In the 20 letters, written between 1914 and 1918, Ivy covers a range of topics, such as increasing prices and rents, war work, the Cheer Up Society, cramped living conditions, entertainment and sport during wartime, the battle of Broken Hill, attacks on German shops and churches, people’s paranoia, school during wartime, houses of the poor compared to the rich, sock knitting, being patriotic, wounded soldiers, conscription, and coo-ee marches.

'It is easy to relate to Ivy whose chatty letters make the book very accessible to readers. It is an appealing way to describe to children what life was like 100 years ago, in wartime.

'In addition, each letter is accompanied by a highly illustrated spread, giving further information about the topics that Ivy mentions.' (Publication summary)

2017 CBCA Book of the Year Awards Notable Book Eve Pownall Award
Barbarians 2004 single work children's fiction children's
— Appears in: Refuge : stories 2004;
2004 shortlisted Ginninderra Press Short Story for Children Competition
Last amended 15 Dec 2010 14:52:25
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