Cirrus@Austlit

Gleeson's article includes a letter, reproduced in full, from a Year 7 student, commenting on her response to Mahtab's Story and the involvement of her class in Refugee Week.

Manuel's article provides 'a snapshot of contemporary teenagers' reading lives, drawing on findings of [her] research with Australian students, aged 12-16 years' (p. 13). Amongst the findings is included a table listing 'Favourite fiction titles' for female and male respondents, with a mix of Australian and overseas authors' works in each list (p. 21).

Includes an outline of the rationale for the NSW Board of Studies English Curriculum Years 11-12 (1999), with examples of Australian literary texts included.

Includes overviews of studies of Australian young people's reading from the 1930s through to the 21st century.

Carter's article maps the range of Australian prose fiction on reading lists of prescribed or suggested study in senior secondary English in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Queensland and the ACT are not considered as schools are not subject to a curriculum and instead are able to select their own texts.

'This chapter explores the potential for using educational drama (sometimes called drama pedagogy) to explore difficult texts in the classroom. [...] By 'difficult texts' we mean both texts that include difficult vocabulary or complex narrative structures, as well as texts that are 'difficult' because they address potentially controversial issues, sometimes avoided in the classroom' (p. 161) [Authors' abstract]