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Maurice Gleitzman
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From: Barbara Tobin <barbarat>
Date: Mon, 08 Jul 2002 16:02:36 +0800
Maurice Gleitzman is a really cool Aussie! I met him at the World Reading Conference in Auckland a few years ago. One of his books that our 4/5th graders (urban private K-8 school in Philadelphia) really loved was his fantasy Toad Rage. Although it is not available in the US, it fitted perfectly within our school-wide theme of Australia/Olympics in 2000---so we shipped copies across for all the kids, who just loved it (but did need considerable translation of the vocabulary --at least the teacher did. I suspect the kids would have done ok without it).
It's a delightfully silly/funny story of a young cane toad who sets out to understand why humans hate their species so much, and then to do something about it. Having seen how much the humans love the Aussie mascots for the Olymics (stuffed native animals), he works on a crazy plan get cane toads accepted as endearing stuffed animals. You have to understand how despised and destructive this introduced species has been to our cane industry in Queensland to appreciate the plot line--but this familiar predicament resonates with young readers from other countries, and opens opportunities for them to research using non-fiction sources.
I was delighted recently to find there is now a sequel to Toad Rage, called Toad Heaven-?n't wait to read my new copy on the plane on my way back to the US.
Another of Gleitzman's books I love is Water Wings, about a young boy, troubled by his parents' divorce, whose beloved guinea pig dies. To cope with the trauma he decides to preserve it by putting it in the freezer, from where it gets trotted out at times when the child is in need of comfort. Sounds crazy, but there are some very tender moments and relationships developed among the characters.
One comment by the teachers at my school about this and other Australian books was about the preponderance of what she called 'bathroom humor', that worries some adults in the US---lots of 'bums' and 'poos' in the works of writers like Gleitzman and Paul Jennings, who have been phenomenally successful in Australia.
Judith can give us some good order sources for obtaining Australian books directly if not available overseas. And seeing Susan Stan's post reminds me that she and Carl Tomlinson have worked on the two USBBY annotated bibliographies of international children's books, in which you will find many good Australian titles of books currently available in the US.
Happy reading!
Barbara Tobin (barbarat at gse.upenn.edu)
Received on Mon 08 Jul 2002 03:02:36 AM CDT
Date: Mon, 08 Jul 2002 16:02:36 +0800
Maurice Gleitzman is a really cool Aussie! I met him at the World Reading Conference in Auckland a few years ago. One of his books that our 4/5th graders (urban private K-8 school in Philadelphia) really loved was his fantasy Toad Rage. Although it is not available in the US, it fitted perfectly within our school-wide theme of Australia/Olympics in 2000---so we shipped copies across for all the kids, who just loved it (but did need considerable translation of the vocabulary --at least the teacher did. I suspect the kids would have done ok without it).
It's a delightfully silly/funny story of a young cane toad who sets out to understand why humans hate their species so much, and then to do something about it. Having seen how much the humans love the Aussie mascots for the Olymics (stuffed native animals), he works on a crazy plan get cane toads accepted as endearing stuffed animals. You have to understand how despised and destructive this introduced species has been to our cane industry in Queensland to appreciate the plot line--but this familiar predicament resonates with young readers from other countries, and opens opportunities for them to research using non-fiction sources.
I was delighted recently to find there is now a sequel to Toad Rage, called Toad Heaven-?n't wait to read my new copy on the plane on my way back to the US.
Another of Gleitzman's books I love is Water Wings, about a young boy, troubled by his parents' divorce, whose beloved guinea pig dies. To cope with the trauma he decides to preserve it by putting it in the freezer, from where it gets trotted out at times when the child is in need of comfort. Sounds crazy, but there are some very tender moments and relationships developed among the characters.
One comment by the teachers at my school about this and other Australian books was about the preponderance of what she called 'bathroom humor', that worries some adults in the US---lots of 'bums' and 'poos' in the works of writers like Gleitzman and Paul Jennings, who have been phenomenally successful in Australia.
Judith can give us some good order sources for obtaining Australian books directly if not available overseas. And seeing Susan Stan's post reminds me that she and Carl Tomlinson have worked on the two USBBY annotated bibliographies of international children's books, in which you will find many good Australian titles of books currently available in the US.
Happy reading!
Barbara Tobin (barbarat at gse.upenn.edu)
Received on Mon 08 Jul 2002 03:02:36 AM CDT
