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Margaret Wild, Ron Brooks, and picture books
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From: Barbara Tobin <barbarat>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 20:40:51 +0800
A couple of people have mentioned Margaret Wild. My favorite book of hers is Fox, which won the Australian Picture Book of the Year a few years ago, and which Kane Miller has now thankfully picked up for the pleasure of North American readers.
Fox is a deceptively simple fable about friendship, loyalty, and betrayal (and was thus used by middle school teachers at our school in Philadelphia as a prelude to studying Macbeth, of all things!). I find this story about a one-eyed Dog (dingo) and a burnt-winged Magpie who is seduced away by a lonely, jealous, embittered Fox exciting-- yes, provocative and unsettling as the Publishers Weekly review says, but there is much to ponder about our own humanity in this open-ended story that can get kids really going in discussing their interpretations. I've seen the results with Perth students of about 10 years at the Fremantle Literature Centre, following workshops centering around the original artworks for Fox by Ron Brooks.
Ron Brooks is the illustrator who teamed with Jenny Wagner in the 70s for such landmark picture book gems as The Bunyip of Berkely's Creek; and John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat (amazing how quite young readers will tease out the death motif in this story). This was the era, I believe, that began Australia's golden age of picture books. It's still booming---but in a different direction, a darker, deeper direction, and one that pushes the genre of picture books to a newer, much older audience.
This proliferation of picture books for older readers is, I believe, the reason for the recent splitting of the Australian book awards for picture books into two separate awards (thus the new award for Early Childhood might be appropriate for books for preschoolers by Pamela Allen, Alison Lester, etc, which would also be eligible for the Picture Book Award; whereas some of the edgier picture books would only really be likely to be considered for the latter award. I hope I have the right spin on this.... maybe some other Aussies could set me straight if necessary.
I am really looking fwd to the announcement of this year's awards next month, having seen some of the short-listed books (another difference from the American children's book awards).
Apologies to Child_lit readers who have listened to me go on about these matters there before.
Must go.... Shaun Tan, Australia's hottest new, young illustrator is just appearing on our national news magazine.... how wonderful to get such good press... will get back with a report later.
Barbara Tobin barbarat at gse.upenn.edu
Received on Wed 10 Jul 2002 07:40:51 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2002 20:40:51 +0800
A couple of people have mentioned Margaret Wild. My favorite book of hers is Fox, which won the Australian Picture Book of the Year a few years ago, and which Kane Miller has now thankfully picked up for the pleasure of North American readers.
Fox is a deceptively simple fable about friendship, loyalty, and betrayal (and was thus used by middle school teachers at our school in Philadelphia as a prelude to studying Macbeth, of all things!). I find this story about a one-eyed Dog (dingo) and a burnt-winged Magpie who is seduced away by a lonely, jealous, embittered Fox exciting-- yes, provocative and unsettling as the Publishers Weekly review says, but there is much to ponder about our own humanity in this open-ended story that can get kids really going in discussing their interpretations. I've seen the results with Perth students of about 10 years at the Fremantle Literature Centre, following workshops centering around the original artworks for Fox by Ron Brooks.
Ron Brooks is the illustrator who teamed with Jenny Wagner in the 70s for such landmark picture book gems as The Bunyip of Berkely's Creek; and John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat (amazing how quite young readers will tease out the death motif in this story). This was the era, I believe, that began Australia's golden age of picture books. It's still booming---but in a different direction, a darker, deeper direction, and one that pushes the genre of picture books to a newer, much older audience.
This proliferation of picture books for older readers is, I believe, the reason for the recent splitting of the Australian book awards for picture books into two separate awards (thus the new award for Early Childhood might be appropriate for books for preschoolers by Pamela Allen, Alison Lester, etc, which would also be eligible for the Picture Book Award; whereas some of the edgier picture books would only really be likely to be considered for the latter award. I hope I have the right spin on this.... maybe some other Aussies could set me straight if necessary.
I am really looking fwd to the announcement of this year's awards next month, having seen some of the short-listed books (another difference from the American children's book awards).
Apologies to Child_lit readers who have listened to me go on about these matters there before.
Must go.... Shaun Tan, Australia's hottest new, young illustrator is just appearing on our national news magazine.... how wonderful to get such good press... will get back with a report later.
Barbara Tobin barbarat at gse.upenn.edu
Received on Wed 10 Jul 2002 07:40:51 AM CDT
