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AustLit

Contemporary Children's Texts (LIT222)
Semester 2 / 2011

Texts

y separately published work icon Saving Francesca Melina Marchetta , Camberwell : Viking , 2003 Z1019212 2003 single work novel young adult (taught in 6 units) 'Sixteen-year-old Francesca could use her outspoken mother's help with the problems of being one of a handful of girls at a parochial school that has just turned co-ed, but her mother has suddenly become severely depressed' (Source: NLA).
y separately published work icon Poems by Young Australians : Vol 3 : The Best Entries from the 2005 Taronga Foundation Poetry Prize Milsons Point : Random House Australia , 2005 Z1224070 2005 anthology poetry (taught in 3 units)

The winning and commended poets from the 2005 Taronga Foundation Poetry Prize (TFPP) showcase their amazing talents in this third volume of Poems by Young Australians. The TFPP seeks to inspire a love of nature and poetry. When the two come together the results are spectacular, as this volume clearly demonstrates. (Back cover)

y separately published work icon Hating Alison Ashley Robin Klein , Ringwood : Puffin , 1984 Z262253 1984 single work novel young adult (taught in 3 units) Classmates Erica Yurgen and Alison Ashley vie with each other to become the undisputed star of their class.
y separately published work icon Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence Doris Pilkington Garimara , St Lucia : University of Queensland Press , 1996 Z126936 1996 single work biography (taught in 26 units)

'The film Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on this true account of Doris Nugi Garimara Pilkington's mother Molly, who as a young girl led her two sisters on an extraordinary 1,600 kilometre walk home. Under Western Australia's invidious removal policy of the 1930s, the girls were taken from their Aboriginal family at Jigalong on the edge of the Little Sandy Desert, and transported halfway across the state to the Native Settlement at Moore River, north of Perth...

The three girls - aged 8, 11 and 14 - managed to escape from the settlement's repressive conditions and brutal treatment. Barefoot without provisions or maps, they set out to find the rabbit-proof fence, knowing it passed near their home in the north. Tracked by native police and search planes, they hid in terror, surviving on bush tucker, desperate to return to the world they knew.

The journey to freedom - longer than many of the legendary walks of [the Australian nation's] explorer heroes... told from family recollections, letters between the authorities and the Aboriginal Protector, and ... newspaper reports of the runaway children.' Source: Publisher's blurb

Charlotte's Web!$!White, E.B.!$!Penguin, 2003!$!!$!
A Gathering Light!$!Donnelly, Jennifer!$!Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2004!$!!$!
Little Lunch Danny Katz , 2001- series - author children's fiction children's humour (taught in 3 units)
y separately published work icon Deadly, Unna? Phillip Gwynne , Ringwood : Penguin , 1998 Z517608 1998 single work novel young adult (taught in 20 units)

'"Deadly, unna?" He was always saying that. All the Nungas did, but Dumby more than any of them. Dumby Red and Blacky don't have a lot in common. Dumby's the star of the footy team, he's got a killer smile and the knack with girls, and he's a Nunga. Blacky's a gutless wonder, needs braces, never knows what to say, and he's white. But they're friends... and it could be deadly, unna? This gutsy novel, set in a small coastal town in South Australia is a rites-of-passage story about two boys confronting the depth of racism that exists all around them.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

y separately published work icon 4F for Freaks Four F for Freaks Leigh Hobbs , Crows Nest : Allen and Unwin , 2006 Z1230016 2006 single work children's fiction children's (taught in 3 units)

'It's Miss Corker's first day at her new school (in fact, it's her first day at anyschool) and she is looking forward to meeting her class. Leigh Hobbs turns his sharply observant eyes to the oddballs and misfits in Grade 4 in this absolutely hilarious illustrated story for 7-11 year olds.' (Publication summary)

 

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone!$!Rowling, J.K.!$!Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 1997!$!!$!
Half Moon Investigations!$!Colfer, Eoin!$!Penguin, 2006!$!!$!

Description

This subject aims to explore, analyse and evaluate the last decade of children's literature production. It will sample a range of text types: picture books, books for younger and older readers, poetry, non-fiction, movies and animation - from Australia and the world, both 'western' and 'non-western'. Attention will be paid to prize-winners as well as to quirky and marginal texts, in order to study their construction, impact and significance.

Other Details

Offered in: 2010, 2009
Levels: Undergraduate
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