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y separately published work icon Peter single work   novel   young adult  
Issue Details: First known date: 1991... 1991 Peter
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'"I'm not scared of sex. I want it like crazy. But not like that, with someone I don't even like."

'Peter is fifteen, a typical Australian boy who enjoys riding his dirt bike and want to be a photographer. In his world, a boy is considered a man only if he obeys an unwritten set of rules: he must seek out danger, talk rough, get girls — any girl. If he's different, he's labeled a "poof."

'Pressured by his peers and by society to conform to this stereotyped male image, Peter feels both confused and repelled. His confusion, and his horror, increase when he finds that he is attracted to his brother's friend David, who is gay.

'Here is a daring, exceptionally honest novel about sexuality and the need to be true to oneself. Peter shares his every muddle and perception with us, and his candor just might help us find our own way.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Norwood, Norwood, Payneham & St Peters area, Adelaide - North / North East, Adelaide, South Australia,: Omnibus Books , 1991 .
      Extent: 163p.
      Reprinted: 1993
      ISBN: 1862910650
    • Boston, Massachusetts,
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Houghton Mifflin ,
      1993 .
      image of person or book cover 4648694631188352127.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 170p.
      Reprinted: 2001
      ISBN: 0395647223
Language: Danish
    • Haslev,
      c
      Denmark,
      c
      Scandinavia, Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Gyldendal ,
      1993 .
      Extent: 203p.
      ISBN: 8700166383

Other Formats

  • Also braille and sound recording.

Works about this Work

Transgressions Xavier Pons , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Messengers of Eros : Representations of Sex in Australian Writing 2009; (p. 39-59)

'All serious art breaks the rules-there can be no innovation without some form of transgression. Yet the breaking of rules is not enough to produce serious art, and while the very focus of erotic writing seems to invite transgressions, these are not necessarily liberating or creative. When transgressions lie for the most part in the subject-matter, their translation into literary break-throughs is problematic, and they can in fact be undermined by writing that is bland, conventional and predictable. Literature, it bears perhaps repeating, is not the thing itself but a representation and thus a re-creation of it. Modes of representations are always ideologically loaded and, while the contemporary period has invented very little in terms of sexual practices, it has been able to innovate significantly in terms of representational practices. It remains to be seen what kind of articulation can be found between the two.' (p 39)

Kate Walker's 'Peter' Revisted Jeri Kroll , 1996 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 40 no. 3 1996; (p. 15-16)
The Children's Book of the Year Awards Shortlists Margaret Phillips , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Magpies : Talking About Books for Children , May vol. 7 no. 2 1992; (p. 21-23)

— Review of The Magnificent Nose and Other Marvels Anna Fienberg , 1991 selected work children's fiction ; Window Jeannie Baker , 1991 single work picture book ; William Tell Margaret Early , 1991 single work picture book ; Dog In, Cat Out Gillian Rubinstein , 1991 single work picture book ; Enora and the Black Crane Raymond Meeks , 1991 single work picture book ; Let the Celebrations Begin! Margaret Wild , 1991 single work picture book ; The Wolf Margaret Barbalet , 1991 single work picture book ; Rain Stones Jackie French , 1991 selected work children's fiction ; Misery Guts Morris Gleitzman , 1991 single work children's fiction ; Do Not Go Around the Edges : Poems Daisy Utemorrah , 1990 selected work poetry autobiography ; The Sugar-Gum Tree Patricia Wrightson , 1991 single work children's fiction ; Change the Locks Simon French , 1991 single work novel ; Del-Del Victor Kelleher , 1991 single work novel ; Mandragora David McRobbie , 1991 single work novel ; Letters from the Inside John Marsden , 1991 single work novel ; The House Guest Eleanor Nilsson , 1991 single work novel ; Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work novel ; Hist! C. J. Dennis , 1991 single work picture book
[Review] Peter Peter D. Sieruta , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: Horn Book Magazine , Jul/August vol. 68 no. 4 1992; (p. 467-468)

— Review of Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work novel
Which Books are Best Narelle Miners , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: The Goulburn Post , 24 July 1992; (p. 6)

— Review of Rain Stones Jackie French , 1991 selected work children's fiction ; Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work novel
Rewarding for Adolescents Frances Kelly , 1991 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser Magazine , 26 October 1991; (p. 13)

— Review of Hostilities Caroline Macdonald , 1991 selected work short story ; The China Coin Allan Baillie , 1991 single work novel ; Change the Locks Simon French , 1991 single work novel ; Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work novel ; Another Sparrow Singing Eleanor Spence , 1991 single work children's fiction ; All in the Blue Unclouded Weather Robin Klein , 1991 single work novel
Forecasts Margaret Dunkle , 1991 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Bookseller & Publisher , February vol. 70 no. 1012 1991; (p. 22)

— Review of Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work novel ; The Edge of the Rainforest James Porter , 1991 single work novel
Sensitive Look at Sexuality Marguerite Johnson , 1991 single work review
— Appears in: The Newcastle Herald , 25 May 1991; (p. 16)

— Review of Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work novel
Sympathetic Insight into Adolescent Alienation Ralph Elliott , 1991 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 6 July 1991; (p. C8)

— Review of Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work novel ; Worms in the Night Jocelyn Harewood , 1991 single work novel ; Piano Bay Roger Vaughan Carr , 1991 single work novel
Tale of Young Burglars Has a Twist Laurie Copping , 1992 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 25 July 1992; (p. C11)

— Review of Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work novel ; Del-Del Victor Kelleher , 1991 single work novel ; The House Guest Eleanor Nilsson , 1991 single work novel ; Change the Locks Simon French , 1991 single work novel
Peter Kate Walker , 1991 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , vol. 35 no. 3 1991; (p. 9-11)
Kate Walker's 'Peter' Revisted Jeri Kroll , 1996 single work criticism
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 40 no. 3 1996; (p. 15-16)
Transgressions Xavier Pons , 2009 single work criticism
— Appears in: Messengers of Eros : Representations of Sex in Australian Writing 2009; (p. 39-59)

'All serious art breaks the rules-there can be no innovation without some form of transgression. Yet the breaking of rules is not enough to produce serious art, and while the very focus of erotic writing seems to invite transgressions, these are not necessarily liberating or creative. When transgressions lie for the most part in the subject-matter, their translation into literary break-throughs is problematic, and they can in fact be undermined by writing that is bland, conventional and predictable. Literature, it bears perhaps repeating, is not the thing itself but a representation and thus a re-creation of it. Modes of representations are always ideologically loaded and, while the contemporary period has invented very little in terms of sexual practices, it has been able to innovate significantly in terms of representational practices. It remains to be seen what kind of articulation can be found between the two.' (p 39)

Islington Author's Unique Book on Award Short List Louise Fraser , 1991 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Newcastle Herald , 24 August 1991; (p. 6)
Last amended 17 Jun 2021 16:00:19
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