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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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What Are We Feeding Our Children When We Read Them a Book? Depictions of Mothers and Food in Contemporary Australian Picture Books
2016
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Mothers and Food : Negotiating Foodways from Maternal Perspectives 2016; (p. 232-244)'This chapter explores how Australian writers and illustrators in the twenty-first century depict the act of mothering in picture books for young children in relation to cooking and serving food. It draws on the idea that children’s texts can be understood as sites of cultural production and reproduction, with social conventions and ideologies embedded in their narrative representations. The analysis is based on a survey of 124 books that were shortlisted for, or won, Children’s Book Council of Australia awards between 2001 and 2013. Of the eighty-seven titles that contain food and have human or anthropomorphised characters, twenty-six (30 percent) contain textual or illustrative references to maternal figures involved in food preparation or provision. Examination of this data set reveals that there is a strong correlation between non-Anglo-Australian maternal figures and home-cooked meals, and a clear link between Anglo-Australian mothers and sugar-rich snacks. The relative paucity of depictions of ethnically unmarked mothers offering more nutritious foods is notable given the cultural expectations of mothers as caretakers of their children’s well-being. At the same time, the linking of non-Anglo-Australian mothers with home-cooked meals can be seen as a means of signifying a cultural authenticity, a closeness to the earth that is differentiated from the normalised Australian culture represented in picture books. This suggests an unintended alignment of mothers preparing and serving meals with “otherness,” which creates a distancing effect between meals that may generally be considered nutritious and the normalised self. I contend there are unexamined, and perhaps unexpected, cultural assumptions about ethnicity, motherhood, and food embedded in contemporary Australian picture books. These have the potential to inscribe a system of beliefs about gender, cultural identity, and food that contributes to readers’ understanding of the world and themselves.'
Source: Abstract.
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Children's Literature About Country
BlackWords : Children's Literature About Country
2015
single work
criticism
— Appears in: The BlackWords Essays 2015; (p. 6) The BlackWords Essays 2019;In this essay Heiss addresses the increasing number of Aboriginal authored children's and young adult literature published that focuses on the 'meaning of place' in an Indigenous context. She demonstrates this by selecting writings and stories from regions such as remote, semi-remote and desert to tropics, which showcase the diversity of life in different parts of Indigenous Australia and the essence of Aboriginal storytelling.
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Paranoid Prizing : Mapping Australia’s Eve Pownall Award for Information Books, 2001–2010
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Bookbird , January vol. 51 no. 1 2013; (p. 41-50) 'Each year, the Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) administers a number of Book of the Year Awards, including the Eve Pownall Award for Information Books. The books chosen by the CBCA constitute a contemporary canon of Australian children's literature, and serve to both shape and reflect current educational policies and practices as well as young Australians' sense of themselves and their nation. This paper reads a selection of award-winning Australian non-fiction children's literature in the context of colonialism, curriculum, military myths, and Aboriginal perspectives on national history and identity.' -
Aboriginal Children's Literature : More Than Just Pretty Pictures
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Just Words? : Australian Authors Writing for Justice 2008; (p. 102-117) The BlackWords Essays 2015; (p. 7) The BlackWords Essays 2019;'This essay explores how some recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authored titles have used local languages and personal histories - including complex stories which deal with the Stolen Generations - to engage and educate young Australian readers, while providing much needed inspiration to nurture Indigenous audiences.' (Source: Heiss, Anita, Aboriginal Literature for Children: More Than Just Pretty Pictures, 2015)
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'Oh How Different!' : Regimes of Knowledge in Aboriginal Texts for Children
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Lion and the Unicorn , April vol. 27 no. 2 2003; (p. 199-217)
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Untitled
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , May vol. 46 no. 2 2002; (p. 30-31)
— Review of Papunya School Book of Country and History 2001 single work information book -
Aboriginal Children's Books - Not Just Pretty Pictures
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 62 no. 2 2002; (p. 184-187)
— Review of Papunya School Book of Country and History 2001 single work information book -
Of Meaning, Rhythm and Art
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 27 October 2001; (p. 18)
— Review of Papunya School Book of Country and History 2001 single work information book ; In My Backyard 2001 single work picture book ; Night Without Darkness 2001 single work picture book ; Zara's Zoo 2001 single work picture book -
Child's View of History
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24-25 November 2001; (p. 11)
— Review of Who Am I? : The Diary of Mary Talence : Sydney, 1937 2001 single work children's fiction ; Market Blues 2001 single work children's fiction ; Papunya School Book of Country and History 2001 single work information book ; Ramose : Prince in Exile 2001 single work children's fiction -
Teaching Tradition
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 235 2001; (p. 61-62)
— Review of The Perfect Pet 2001 single work picture book ; Mega, Mega, Mates! 2001 single work picture book ; Nardika Learns to Make a Spear 2001 single work non-fiction ; Papunya School Book of Country and History 2001 single work information book ; Let's Get a Pup 2001 single work picture book ; An Ordinary Day 2001 single work picture book -
The Children's Book Council of Australia : Annual Awards 2002
2002
single work
column
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , August vol. 46 no. 3 2002; (p. 2-13) -
CBC Acceptance Speeches : Papunya School Publishing Committee
2002
single work
column
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , November vol. 46 no. 4 2002; (p. 6-8) -
The Country Holds the Stories
2002
single work
column
— Appears in: Orana , November vol. 38 no. 3 2002; (p. 4-6) -
'Oh How Different!' : Regimes of Knowledge in Aboriginal Texts for Children
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Lion and the Unicorn , April vol. 27 no. 2 2003; (p. 199-217) -
Aboriginal Children's Literature : More Than Just Pretty Pictures
2008
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Just Words? : Australian Authors Writing for Justice 2008; (p. 102-117) The BlackWords Essays 2015; (p. 7) The BlackWords Essays 2019;'This essay explores how some recent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authored titles have used local languages and personal histories - including complex stories which deal with the Stolen Generations - to engage and educate young Australian readers, while providing much needed inspiration to nurture Indigenous audiences.' (Source: Heiss, Anita, Aboriginal Literature for Children: More Than Just Pretty Pictures, 2015)
Awards
- 2002 winner New South Wales Premier's History Prize — Young People's History
- 2002 winner CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Eve Pownall Award for Information Books
- 2002 shortlisted CBCA Book of the Year Awards — Picture Book of the Year
- 2002 winner Educational Publishing Awards Australia — Award for Excellence in Educational Publishing
- Papunya, South West Northern Territory, Southern Northern Territory, Northern Territory,
- Northern Territory,