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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
As ever growing numbers of animals visit a watering hole, introducing the numbers from one to ten, the water dwindles...
Notes
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Included in the 2002 White Ravens Catalogue compiled by the International Youth Library in Munich, Germany. Special mention; easily understandable.
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Interactive app now available.
Affiliation Notes
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This work is affiliated with the AustLit subset Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing because it has Chinese and Korean translations.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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e-Words
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 - 15 April 2012; (p. 21) -
The Courier-Mail Little Big Book Club
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 16 - 17 July 2011; (p. 24) -
A Creative Thirst for Life in the Wild
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 4 June 2011; (p. 11) - y Reading The Environment : Narrative Constructions Of Ecological Subjectivities In Australian Children's Literature Kelvin Grove : 2009 Z1792849 2009 single work thesis Ways in which humans engage with the environment have always provided a rich source of material for writers and illustrators of Australian children's literature. Currently, readers are confronted with a multiplicity of complex, competing and/or complementing networks of ideas, theories and emotions that provide narratives about human engagement with the environment at a particular historical moment. This study examines how a representative sample of Australian texts (19 picture books and 4 novels for children and young adults published between 1995 and 2006) constructs fictional ecological subjects in the texts, and offers readers ecological subject positions inscribed with contemporary environmental ideologies. The conceptual framework developed in this study identifies three ideologically grounded positions that humans may assume when engaging with the environment. None of these positions clearly exists independently of any other, nor are they internally homogeneous. Nevertheless they can be categorised as: (i) human dominion over the environment with little regard for environmental degradation (unrestrained anthropocentrism); (ii) human consideration for the environment driven by understandings that humans need the environment to survive (restrained anthropocentrism); and (iii) human deference towards the environment guided by understandings that humans are no more important than the environment (ecocentrism). iv The transdisciplinary methodological approach to textual analysis used in this thesis draws on ecocriticism, narrative theories, visual semiotics, ecofeminism and postcolonialism to discuss the difficulties and contradictions in the construction of the positions offered. Each chapter of textual analysis focuses on the construction of subjectivities in relation to one of the positions identified in the conceptual framework. According to the analysis undertaken, the focus texts convey the subtleties and complexities of human engagement with the environment and advocate ways of viewing and responding to contemporary unease about the environment. The study concludes that these ways of viewing and responding conform to and/or challenge dominant socio-cultural and political-economic opinions regarding the environment. This study, the first extended work of its kind, makes an original contribution to ecocritical study of Australian children's literature. By undertaking a comprehensive analysis of how texts for children represent human engagement with the environment at a time when important environmental concerns pose significant threats to human existence, Massey contributes new knowledge to an area of children's literature research that to date has been significantly under-represented.
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The Waterhole Opens at the National Museum of Australia
2006
single work
column
— Appears in: Reading Time , February vol. 50 no. 1 2006; (p. 5)
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[Review] The Waterhole
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Reading Time : The Journal of the Children's Book Council of Australia , February vol. 46 no. 1 2002; (p. 10)
— Review of The Waterhole 2001 single work picture book -
Covernotes
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 4 November 2001; (p. 11)
— Review of The Waterhole 2001 single work picture book -
When a Child Meets a Picture Book
2001-2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December-January no. 237 2001-2002; (p. 76-77)
— Review of The Waterhole 2001 single work picture book ; Zara's Zoo 2001 single work picture book ; Muddled-Up Farm 2001 single work picture book ; Cowboy Pirate 2001 single work picture book ; The Long Way Home 2001 single work picture book -
Children's Books
2001
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 22 December 2001; (p. 17)
— Review of The Waterhole 2001 single work picture book -
[Review] The Waterhole
2002
single work
review
— Appears in: Classroom , vol. 22 no. 1 2002; (p. 45)
— Review of The Waterhole 2001 single work picture book -
The Waterhole Opens at the National Museum of Australia
2006
single work
column
— Appears in: Reading Time , February vol. 50 no. 1 2006; (p. 5) -
A Creative Thirst for Life in the Wild
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 4 June 2011; (p. 11) -
The Courier-Mail Little Big Book Club
2011
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 16 - 17 July 2011; (p. 24) - y Reading The Environment : Narrative Constructions Of Ecological Subjectivities In Australian Children's Literature Kelvin Grove : 2009 Z1792849 2009 single work thesis Ways in which humans engage with the environment have always provided a rich source of material for writers and illustrators of Australian children's literature. Currently, readers are confronted with a multiplicity of complex, competing and/or complementing networks of ideas, theories and emotions that provide narratives about human engagement with the environment at a particular historical moment. This study examines how a representative sample of Australian texts (19 picture books and 4 novels for children and young adults published between 1995 and 2006) constructs fictional ecological subjects in the texts, and offers readers ecological subject positions inscribed with contemporary environmental ideologies. The conceptual framework developed in this study identifies three ideologically grounded positions that humans may assume when engaging with the environment. None of these positions clearly exists independently of any other, nor are they internally homogeneous. Nevertheless they can be categorised as: (i) human dominion over the environment with little regard for environmental degradation (unrestrained anthropocentrism); (ii) human consideration for the environment driven by understandings that humans need the environment to survive (restrained anthropocentrism); and (iii) human deference towards the environment guided by understandings that humans are no more important than the environment (ecocentrism). iv The transdisciplinary methodological approach to textual analysis used in this thesis draws on ecocriticism, narrative theories, visual semiotics, ecofeminism and postcolonialism to discuss the difficulties and contradictions in the construction of the positions offered. Each chapter of textual analysis focuses on the construction of subjectivities in relation to one of the positions identified in the conceptual framework. According to the analysis undertaken, the focus texts convey the subtleties and complexities of human engagement with the environment and advocate ways of viewing and responding to contemporary unease about the environment. The study concludes that these ways of viewing and responding conform to and/or challenge dominant socio-cultural and political-economic opinions regarding the environment. This study, the first extended work of its kind, makes an original contribution to ecocritical study of Australian children's literature. By undertaking a comprehensive analysis of how texts for children represent human engagement with the environment at a time when important environmental concerns pose significant threats to human existence, Massey contributes new knowledge to an area of children's literature research that to date has been significantly under-represented.
-
e-Words
2012
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 - 15 April 2012; (p. 21)
Awards
- 2002 shortlisted The Wilderness Society Environment Award for Children's Literature — Picture Book
Last amended 18 Oct 2019 14:55:02
Settings:
- Africa,
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cIndia,cSouth Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
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cChina,cEast Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
- Himalayas, South Asia, South and East Asia, Asia,
- Americas,
- Europe,
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Galapagos Islands,
cEcuador,cSouth America, Americas,
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cAustralia,c
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