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Making Use Of The Miniature In Storytelling
Outside is the big world, and sometimes the little world succeeds in reflecting the big one so that we understand it better. Fanny and Alexander, Ingmar Bergman Stories featuring vast size differentials are as old as storytelling itself. These differentials can be created in various different ways, and are much utilised across children’s stories in…
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Wheat in the Ear by Alien
I considered recording this New Zealand classic as an audiobook, and set about simplifying the text for a contemporary listening audience–and also, to help myself concentrate on it. But I gave up the idea. I’m not sufficiently in love with it. However, it’s still interesting to read some 1800s Aotearoa melodrama. Below you’ll find the…
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Walking on Water by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
If you’re having a bit of trouble with “Walking On Water” (1974), know that Alice Munro herself considers this story not quite there. She’s not sure what to make of it herself.
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From Rain Man to The Maid: Autistic Archetypes in Contemporary Fiction
Autism Awareness (TM) is starting to impact reader interpretations of texts which seem to star Autistic main characters.
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The Time of Death by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“The Time of Death” is a short story by Canadian author Alice Munro, included in the 1968 collection Dance of the Happy Shades.
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Walker Brothers Cowboy by Alice Munro Short Story Analysis
“Walker Brothers Cowboy” is the first short story in Alice Munro’s first short story collection, Dance of the Happy Shades, published in 1968.
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Writing Activity: Describe A Smell
Beginner writers are frequently told to make use of all senses when describing a setting. While this is a good place to start, keen readers will understand that there’s a time and a place to delve into the senses; some stories call for sensory lingering. Others don’t.
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Andrew Henry’s Meadow Picture Book Analysis
Andrew Henry’s Meadow is a 1965 picture book written and illustrated by Doris (“Doe”) Burn (1923 – 2011), an American storyteller who illustrated her picture books in a small Waldron Island cabin with no facilities.
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How To Write Like Annie Proulx
Annie Proulx is an award-winning American novelist and short story writer, best known for The Shipping News and “Brokeback Mountain”. Below: features of her writing, as described by critics and readers (and me).
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Stand By Me Film Study
Stand By Me is 1986 a film directed by Rob Reiner, based on a Stephen King novella called “The Body”. Alongside the Karate Kid franchise, The Breakfast Club, Dead Poets Society and a few others, Stand By Me is a tentpole coming-of-age film from my 1980s childhood. Unlike The Breakfast Club (and especially Dead Poets…
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Tales From Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan Analysis
The common thread between stories in this compendium: All stories are set in the same, off-kilter suburb. Some of the stories have no words, and might consist only of a single frame of narrative art. Creative Arts teachers find this really useful in the classroom.
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Hairy Maclary From Donaldson’s Dairy by Lynley Dodd Analysis
Hairy Maclary From Donaldson’s Dairy is a cumulative rhyming picture book written and illustrated by New Zealand storyteller Lynley Dodd.
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Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack by Lynley Dodd Analysis
Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack (1999) is a picture book written and illustrated by New Zealand storyteller Lynley Dodd. A duckling saves Hairy’s life. Although many of the Hairy Maclary stories are written with the carnivalesque picture book structure, this one is not. Hairy is not on a fun adventure this time; it is summer,…
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The Vertical Ladder by William Sansom Short Story Analysis
“The Vertical Ladder” is a short story by British writer William Samson (1912 – 1976) best known for his travel writing and highly descriptive language. A childhood game of dare goes wrong.
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Nomadland Film Study
Nomadland is a 2020 film directed by Chloé Zhao, starring Frances McDormand, David Strathairn and real people engaged as temporary actors, playing a version of themselves.