Is Mary Poppins’ creator P. L. Travers worthy of the mantle of classic Australian author?

I read last week's excellent blog entry on the importance of leading kids from movies back to books just as I was planning a night at the movies and considering viewing the film Saving Mr Banks, which purports to reveal the background to the making of the 1964 Disney musical version of the 1934 children's novel Mary Poppins. I then wondered if many children ever bothered turning back to the book after viewing the Disney musical. 

Without the movie, the songs, and Julie Andrews, would the book even still be in print? 

I thought that before I passed judgement I should read it, so I downloaded a copy. No, there was no well thumbed childhood copy sitting on my bookshelf, in fact I confess I didn't even know the movie was based on a novel, let alone the first of a series of eight written by an Australian, until I studied children's literature in 1979! However I did really enjoy the musical, particularly as it was a favourite of my young daughter in the early 1980s and my grandson in the mid 2000s. So the movie might have ongoing appeal, but how does the novel stack up in 2014? Is it still worth the effort, if it ever was? 

Well, surprisingly, I enjoyed it! In the book I found a very different Mary from the musical - a Mary Poppins who is often severe, sarcastic, vain and egotistical, who doesn't sing and who never says supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, yet is still endearing, generous, well loved by the children in her care, and delightfully enables them see and experience magic in their lives. The magical fantasy elements of the story are reminiscent of Enid Blyton's Wishing Tree series; the characters are simple, engaging but also occasionally a bit weird and creepy. However, I think the jury is out on whether the novel deserves its classic status. 

So will I now see the new movie? I don't think so, having read that the script lacks historical accuracy. And having researched a little of P. L. Travers’ life, I think now that hers is the really fascinating story. It seems she lived a complex, dark, and, in part at least, sadly damaged life of subterfuge, so I think that an honest movie based on her real life would be much more compelling than the Disney version! 

Jessie Mahjouri

Reeling them in: using film to encourage reluctant readers and extend readers

Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr Ollivander was waiting for.  The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become. 
‘Tricky customer, eh?  Not to worry, we’ll find the perfect match here somewhere...’ 
(Rowling, J.K.,  Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone) 

Working in a school library I often like to imagine myself as an Ollivander of the library.   Helping children select a book is often hit or miss and may take quite a while, but when it is right it is magical.

At this time of year all the big movies are being released as well as holiday television specials, and many provide a wonderful opportunity to highlight to students that they started as, believe it or not, a book!   

Students are often surprised to discover that their favourite movie is not only in the written form (e.g. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Hobbit,  Narnia,  Charlotte’s Web, The Book Thief) but that the story may also continue in sequels or series; or that the author who inspired the film has written other books.  Movies can also be used to encourage students to read the Classics (e.g. The Secret Garden, Little Women, Peter Pan) or revisit fairy tales, many of which have been made into animations.

Students often get very excited about a book because of the controversy prior to a movie’s release or after seeing the movie.  A recent example is The Hunger Games trilogy.  The first movie generated a huge amount of interest and not always at the appropriate age level and this is where matching a suitable book to a child is important. 

A successful activity I have undertaken with students of differing ages is to seek their suggestions of books (novels or picture books) that should be made into movies or animations, as well as the actors/actresses to play or voice the lead characters.  Students can then design the billboard or create a digital preview promoting their upcoming movie.

Using the excitement and enjoyment of movies to direct children towards books may provide that Ollivander moment – a challenging and at times frustrating process, but ultimately rewarding. 

Tricia Scott

Secret Places

It has taken a very long time, but finally I have read Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's book, The Secret Garden. And what a lovely story!

Although the book was first released in 1910, themes of separation, loneliness and the search for acceptance are all too familiar in this day and age. Mary, Colin and Dickon are a delightful mix of complex children and I was thrilled with the happy ending.

But it wasn't the themes or the characters that initially begged me to read the book. It is simply that the title includes the word 'secret'; and this cover shows a girl turning the key in an enormous lock attached to a door almost completely obscured by vines.

This evoked images of Alice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lucy in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Hugo in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and of course Harry Potter. All of these characters have a secret place that is accessed by a hidden door. And this literary premise has been around for an incredibly long time.

Lewis Carroll wrote his novel in 1865; Frances Burnett wrote hers in 1910. C S Lewis wrote his novel in 1950, J K Rowling's first Harry Potter novel was published in 2001 and Brian Selznick's graphic novel was published in 2007. The time period between the first and last of these impressive publications is a staggering 142 years.

So what is it that has always, and still fascinates readers about secret places, and keeps authors writing about them?

Do we all secretly harbour a desire to escape from our everyday lives and disappear for a while? Do other worlds, vastly different to our own, sound appealing? Is natural curiosity something we just never grow out of? Perhaps we need to read these types of stories to reinvigorate our own imaginations...

Or, maybe we just like a darn good read.

Penny Garnsworthy.

The Hidden Series – Ice Breaker, Lian Tanner – an unbiased review!

Petrel never tired of watching ice caves. Some of them were so blue and so beautiful that they made her heart ache....That’s when she saw him. A boy, laid out on the ice like a dead fish, with a scattering of snow almost covering his face. A boy, where there should have been nothing but the memory of winter. A frozen boy.

Not since I read Obernewtyn trapped in a tent in rainy Yamba in 1988, have I been so entranced by a fantasy novel. From the very first page of Ice Breaker, Book One in the Hidden Series, Lian Tanner transports us utterly to a crystalline, arctic environment. We shiver as we read and reach for warming things; including the warm touch of kind and friendly people. Twelve year old Petrel, the outcast, is a sterling hero with a strong moral compass. She is indefatigable in the face of an exhausting sequence of pressing dangers aboard the Oyster, an ancient icebreaker that has been wandering the seas for three hundred years, remaining loyal to her few friends and insightful about her many enemies.

When the boy is rescued from a passing iceberg, the long held secrets of the Oyster begin to reveal themselves. The boy, christened Fin by Petrel, has to make choices – will he fulfil the deadly mission assigned to him by the Devouts, or will he join his new friends and the now-awake Sleeping Captain and embark on a quest that could save the world?

The Big Questions – What does it mean to be human? Do we dare to care for and connect with others? What will the price of betrayal be? What is true and worth fighting for? – provide philosophical depth to a startlingly intelligent novel. But, these layers of politics and philosophy are skilfully interwoven with rich, complex characterisation and a dramatic plot that drives forward with relentless momentum. The crisp, spare, yet poetic prose quite takes our breath away.

Ice Breaker echoes themes of dystopian fiction with its anti-technocratic stance, warring factions, petty enmities and ruthless egocentricity; a canvas against which desperate events are projected as the protagonists struggle for survival.

The child’s face was beaten silver. His mind held the knowledge of ten thousand libraries....So far, every moment of his short life had been spent hiding from the Anti-Machinists.

The age old issues the novel raises are particularly pertinent in a contemporary Australia where compassion seems thin on the ground, philistinism, xenophobia and self-interested scepticism rule the day, and a sense of human decency and care for the planet are at serious risk.

This is a novel I would love to explore with capable readers from 11 -14; a novel I would love to push gently into willing hands. It is a novel perfectly suited to the Australian Curriculum: English, which itself is currently in jeopardy of being dumbed down by reductionist forces.

These views remain those of the blog contributor & do not necessarily reflect those of CBCA.

Jenni Connor

The Spoken Story

Some people say that listening to an audiobook doesn’t count as real reading. I disagree. In fact, we can learn so much from a performance that it seems a shame to restrict ourselves to only the voice in our head when experiencing a story. My absolute favourites that I have recently returned to include Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter series (or Oscar Wilde’s short stories, in fact, Stephen Fry reading anything) and Tim Curry’s performance of A Series of Unfortunate Events. I remember as a boy growing up on Stig Wemyss reading Andy Griffiths’ stories on tape, and admiring his voices and reveling in the silly sound effects.

 

Of course audiobooks count - they are the same journeys that we find in the printed word. I wouldn’t only listen to audiobooks any more than I would only do anything. But on car drives or long, slow runs, they are second to none for helping to tip a couple of titles off the To Read pile.

 

This Christmas, don’t forget that there are many ways in which stories can be enjoyed, and even given as gifts. In fact, there are more than just the written word and the recorded audiobook. There are also live performances, and I can’t think of anything better than snuggling down on the couch and doing your very best old man voice for that miser Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.

 

Merry Christmas, and a glorious summer to all of you. I hope it is filled with a feast of both food and the imagination.

 

- Lyndon

My best books for 2013

Over the past few days, wondering what to write for my blog, I have been trying to create a list of my ten favourite children’s and young adult books of the year. I am sometimes one of those people for whom the most recent is the best. Thank goodness that every year I keep a record of all my reading. 

It’s been hard work as I have to reject some which have made a big impact. I have resisted the temptation to restrict myself to my favourite genre, picture books, because it would mean I couldn’t include some wonderful titles. It’s been a hard process and if I were to write this in another few days, my list may be different.  So here we are. Today’s ten (well, maybe eleven!) favourite books of 2013 but not in preference order – that would have been too challenging! 

Welcome Home by Christina Booth

The story of a boy and a whale and the need to preserve these wonderful creatures. Its wonderful language and evocative watercolour illustrations create a sense of place for those who know the Derwent River. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wombats Go on Camp by Roland Harvey

 

A group of children and their teachers go on camp. Harvey’s inimitable style reflects the comic as well as serious nature of all the activities, and some of the kids’ names are superb. This is a fun picture book for primary age students, especially those who have experienced being on camp.   

 

Xander’s Panda Party by Linda Sue Park and Matt Phelan

To celebrate Xander’s birthday he wants to have a party. He knows there are no other pandas in the zoo, but  each time he decides on an animal group to invite, he realises there are some animals which don’t fit his parameters. By the end everyone has been included.  

How the Dinosaur Got to the Museum by Jessie Hartland

The story of a diplodocus longus from its life through to how its fossilised remains arrived at the Smithsonian Museum, and all the people who were involved in its display. Told in a similar format to The House that Jack Built, this book meets the need of those many youngsters obsessed with dinosaurs.  

Funny bums by Mark Norman

An introductory look at animals’ backsides, and why the animals themselves are shaped the way they are. The quirky humour draws in the young reader.  

 

Journey by Aaron Becker

A wordless picture book which takes the reader on an exciting adventure after the young girl draws a doorway on her bedroom wall and enters a new highly imaginative world, her magic red crayon in hand. It’s a wonderful opportunity for storytelling. 

 

 

 

Exclamation mark! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld

This is a great introduction for young readers to the use of punctuation. It’s presented in a humorous but not didactic way. There are multiple levels to the narrative, showing readers that they can stand out from the crowd as well as fit in with everyone else. 

The Song for a Scarlet Runner by Julie Hunt

Peat, a feisty young girl, is forced to undertake a quest but she discovers it is one without treasures and physical battles. She discovers herself and her powers on the way. Along the way she meets many wonderful characters, Stiltboy perhaps being the most unexpected.  

The Vanishing Moment by Margaret Wild

This is an interesting multi-voice novel. Three young people tell their stories of life in a small town and how tragedy has affected them. There are occasional overlaps of perspectives and interconnections between them. 

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Set in 1986, this is the story of the developing relationship between eccentric dresser Eleanor and Park with his Korean heritage. There are so many themes: school bullying, dysfunctional families, 1980s music and more, but it’s a great love story, a thought-provoking read and a fabulous description of first love. 

 

 

 

 

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers

A humorous look at what happens when the crayons decided to complain that they are overworked (while some are underworked). Duncan, the narrator, works to solve the problem. Young readers may find that their use of colour changes after reading this book.   

Have you seen all these? What are your favourites?

Maureen Mann

LITERACY STANDARDS?

Moral panic again hits Australia as PISA results show that in Australia, and particularly Tasmania, our literacy standards are slipping compared to the rest of the world. The newspapers all but scream “Our schools are failing our children”.

So it was with some interest that the first issue of New Scientist (16/11/2013) I received of my new subscription contained the article, Too much too young. In that article David Whitehead and Sue Bingham point out that, contrary to the received wisdom in the English speaking world, children who go to school at 5 perform worse than those who enter formal education at 7.

Research consistently shows that, in the long term, those children who undergo early formal literacy training compared to those who do not, gain no advantage.  Quite the contrary: 

“However those who started at 5 showed less positive attitude to reading and showed poorer text comprehension than those who started later”. p 29

We of the CBCA are not focused on literacy but are focused on children enjoying and reading quality literature that gives pleasure. It should, for them as it did for me, give them experience of real and imaginary worlds contained within that literature. For this enjoyment, literacy is a necessary condition but by no means sufficient. It seems a single minded pursuit of literacy is inimical to this aim.

We would be better investing in and promoting public library use and reinstating school libraries as the heart of the school.

http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence

Richard Pickup

Trends in writing for young people

It's always fascinating to read *practically* everything published in Australia for children in a single year, as it makes seeing the trends that much easier. In the past, we've seen multiple books come out on a single, somewhat esoteric, topic, and followed themes that crop up in abundance in a particular year, such as immigration, Australia's colonial history, various wars, rural life, runaways, fairytale retellings, mental health and so on (depending on the target audience). 

 

In 2013, some of the trends that have stood out for me so far include crime novels for teens, children's books featuring vets and pets, solid science fiction stories (as opposed to dystopian science fiction, Hunger Games style), narratives which deal with the death of a sibling, novels featuring a narrator who has a learning difficulty or behaviour issue, and parallel world tales. 

 

It's quite fun to read two books from different authors and different publishers that come out on identical topics at around the same time; for example, in 2011 I did a double take at the arrival of two novels that used as their focus the cameleers of South Australia who accompanied the explorers in their journeys, and two picture books that retold the story of Grace, a girl who helped rescue the passengers and crew of the SS Georgette when it was wrecked off the coast of Western Australia in 1876 – quite a specific event to have two books focus on! 

 

While some trends have an obvious source (for example, stories set in World War I are always popular, but I foresee a huge increase in these leading up to the 100th anniversary of Gallipoli in 2015), others, like the example of the Grace books above, seem to have no apparent source – some sort of mystical vibration in the air that causes two authors to suddenly decide they want to write books about the exact same thing! 

 

So far this year, the consonance that has most tickled my fancy is to read two Australian books using Paris as the setting and the fashion design industry as the focus, in two quite different ways, and for two different audiences! Which goes to show that although it may seem that there is nothing new under the sun, that doesn't mean that authors won't continue to surprise and delight us with their new takes on stories and settings. 

 

What trends have you noticed in children's books recently?

 

Tehani Wessely