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y separately published work icon Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing website   bibliography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2011-2012... 2011-2012 Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing
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Contents

* Contents derived from the St Lucia, Indooroopilly - St Lucia area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,:AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource , 2011-2014 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.
Folktales Across Asia, Cherie Allan , website bibliography
This Trail on Folktales of Asia draws together a range of folktales from a number of countries in Asia. A folktale is a form of oral storytelling for expressing particular customs and traditions of a specific culture. Other forms of folklore include myths, legends, fairy tales, tall tales, parables, proverbs, riddles, games, and dances. These, mostly oral, art forms usually contain a moral or lesson to be learned. Folktales generally rely on a number of universally recognised motifs (recurring thematic elements) such as the Clever Wife, the Quest, a Foolish Servant, and so on which serve as mnemonic devices that promote the storyline without too much explanation required. However, because folktales rely on these motifs, caution should be exercised so that readers are not drawn into uncritical acceptance of stereotypes and caricatures that could result in a flawed impression of a particular culture.
Mythical Creatures of Asia, Cherie Allan , website bibliography
This Learning Trail brings together a number of texts from the Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing (AACLAP) subset which feature mythical creatures. For instance, traditionally, the Chinese have four benevolent animals which represent the four points of the compass; they are the dragon, phoenix, tortoise, and unicorn. The dragon is considered the most powerful and important of these. Along with the mermaid, these creatures also play an important symbolic role in a number of other Asian cultures. This Trail, while focused on a mythical creatures of Asian folklore, includes reference to, and resources on, mythical creatures from other traditions such as Aboriginal and European beliefs and legends so that similarities and differences can be noted and influences traced.
The Picture Books of Junko Morimoto, Cherie Allan , website bibliography
Junko Morimoto was born in Hiroshima in 1932. In 1945, as a thirteen year old, Morimoto survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. She graduated from Kyoto City University of Fine Art in 1955 and holds a Bachelor of Art degree and a Teaching Diploma. Morimoto migrated to Australia in 1982 where she published her first picture book, The White Crane (1983). No picture book is the sole work of one person and Morimoto worked closely with editor Anne Bowers Ingram on many of her picture books. Her niece, Helen Smith, is responsible for the adaptation and translation of a number of her works and her son, Isao Morimoto, worked with Anne Bower Ingram on the translation of My Hiroshima from Japanese to English and solo on Big Nuisance and The Two Bullies. Many of Morimoto's picture books have gained recognition by winning various awards, most notably CBCA Awards. (Follow the links to the AustLit work Records for each of the picture books on this trail).The majority of Morimoto's picture books are based on traditional folktales or adapted from stories by Kenji Miyazawa; only Big Nuisance appears to be an original story. My Hiroshima, however, is her nonfictional account of the day the atomic bomb was dropped on her home town. Morimoto is, first and foremost, an illustrator. Her illustrative texts show clever use of dark and light alongside subtle colour palettes. These, combined with changing perspectives and thoughtful design, create beautiful picture books which are evocative of the traditional Japanese tales from which they came but also have appeal for a contemporary audience.
Multi-Language Texts in the AACLAP Dataset, Amy Cross , website bibliography
This Trail lists works included in the Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing (AACLAP) dataset that contain one or more Asian languages in the text. Most often these works are bi-lingual editions that contain parallel text in English and another language. Other inclusions are works that contain snippets or large sections of an Asian language in the text.
Festivals of Asia, Cherie Allan , website bibliography
Due to its rich diversity of cultures and traditions, the Asian region celebrates a vast number of festivals each year. Many of the texts in the Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing (AACLAP) subset make reference to such festivals. These festivals have historical, religious, symbolic and/or local significance. Some festivals, such as the Chinese New Year and Dragon Boat Races, are celebrated throughout the continent, while others are particular to one country or one region within a country. The array of customs and rituals associated with the festivals is enormous and range from Songkran, which is the Thai New Year, through Hari Raya Aidilfitri, which celebrates the end of Ramadan in Malaysia, to Thaipusum, a Hindi festival observed by members of the Tamil community. In Japan many different matsuri (festivals or holidays) are conducted to honour local shrines or temples. While many of the traditions associated with various festivals are still observed, changes are also occurring. Often, people watch the festivals on television rather than participate in person, young people celebrate with their friends rather than their families and the use of firecrackers has declined due to the risks involved. The resources listed here (most of which are from the AACLAP subset) only cover a small sample of the festivals of Asia. However, a quick search of online resources will reveal an amazing variety of festivals held each year throughout the Asian region.
Graphic Novels and Manga in the AACLAP Collection, Amy Cross , website criticism bibliography

This Trail accompanies the AustLit dataset Asian-Australian Childrens' Literature and Publishing and provides a discussion of manga in Australia, as well as examples of children's and young adult manga, and its connection with graphic novels.
Asian-Australian Picture Books for the Under Eights, Cherie Allan , website bibliography

This Trail draws together picture books that deal with issues related to Asian-Australian themes which will appeal to younger children.
Fabulous Food From Asia, Cherie Allan , website bibliography

This collection of resources highlights the influence of Asian food on the cuisine of Australia. A number of the texts, including Noodle Pie, Thai-riffic and The Punjabi Pappadum recount the perceived difficulties and sometimes the real embarrassments suffered by Asian-Australian young people because of different attitudes to the food they eat. There are also a number of movie clips on chefs who travel to the land of their heritage and introduce viewers, not only to the food, but also the landscape and the people.
Kamishibai, Cherie Allan , website bibliography

This Trail is a collection of works and links related to the Japanese storytelling format known as kamishibai, which translate as "paper theatre". It is often seen as a precursor to the emergence of manga and anime.
Lanterns, Kites, Masks, and Bells, Cherie Allan , website bibliography

This Exhibition brings together a number of AACLAP resources that highlight the importance of accessories and/or ornaments which sometimes play important or pivotal roles in festivals, entertainments and/or mythologies pertinent to a number of Asian countries, regions or cultures. Two journal articles are included which provide different ways of looking at some of the focus texts of this Exhibition.
Asian-Australian Life Narratives, Michelle Dicinoski , website bibliography

This Exhibition provides a brief guide to Asian-Australian life writing about childhood. ​Life writing includes fields such as autobiographies, biographies, diaries, and blogs. While life writing frequently examines childhood experiences, it is rarely written specifically for children or young adults. Despite this, the works in this Exhibition may be of great interest to young-adult readers and their teachers, as well as to life-writing scholars and general readers. These works represent diverse childhood and adolescent experiences, ranging from leaving Vietnam as an unaccompanied child refugee, to growing up Chinese-Australian and gay in the Australian suburbs.
Representations of Multi-culturalism in Asian-Australian Literature for Young Adults, Cherie Allan , website bibliography

This Exhibition is centred on a number of critical works on the representation of multiculturalism and multicultural subjectivities in Australian YA novels. The paper which initiated interest in the topic, "Messages from Inside: Multiculturalism in Contemporary Children's Literature" by Sharyn Pearce, is framed around two works by John Stephens (see separate resources). In addition to the articles by Pearce and Stephens this Exhibition brings together a number of other works on multiculturalism and children's literature such as those by Dudek and Ommundsen.

The Exhibition also includes a wide range of texts from the AACLAP collection through which interested teachers, scholars, and/or researchers may further test Pearce's hypothesis and perhaps examine the possibility that since the publication of Pearce's paper the literature has entered a fourth stage (See for instance Xie's chapter).
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