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Which novels are Australian high school English students studying?
This list is collected from online chats about children’s books studied in Australian high schools. Comments are from teachers who have used these books in class in 2020. Australian states and territories set quotas for the minimum amount of Australian content. In Victoria, for example, it’s a third. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas […]
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You’re Ugly, Too by Lorrie Moore Short Story Analysis
“You’re Ugly, Too” is a short story by American writer Lorrie Moore, first published in a 1989 edition of The New Yorker — Moore’s first for the New Yorker. Find it also in her short story collection Like Life (1990).
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What do birds symbolize in literature?
Birds are much older than we are — living dinosaurs. Across cultures, birds function as smart collaborators with humans. We now know how smart (some) birds really are, but we have long had a sense of their canniness. The smartest bird in the world is currently thought to be the New Zealand Kea, which isn’t so great if you live…
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Dad Jokes, Puns and Related Words
PUNS Puns are often simple wordplay for comedic or rhetorical effect. DAD JOKES Puns are at the heart of “Dad Jokes”, though in Dad Jokes, the “dad” generally pretends he doesn’t understand the speaker’s intended meaning. The Dad feigns stupidity, the Victim knows he’s only playing stupid, and the joke succeeds if it elicits a […]
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The Three Main Types of Graphics Tablets
DIGITISER TABLETS You plug these into a computer then draw onto the tablet while looking up at your monitor. Wacom calls them ‘pen tablets’. I’ve been using digitiser tablets for a decade — first a cheap Wacom Bamboo, then a large Wacom Intuos. I’ve heard people say it takes a couple of years to get […]
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Owl At Home by Arnold Lobel Analysis
Owl At Home is a 1975 picture book written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. The book comprises five very short early reader stories about a kind, anxious and lonely owl. These owl stories, along with the frog and toad stories come from the second phase of Lobel’s creative career, in which he tapped into his […]
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The Jockey by Carson McCullers Short Story Analysis
American writer Carson McCullers published “The Jockey” in 1941, when she was just 24, which seems young, until you realise she’d published “Sucker” at the age of 17 and a novel at age 22. McCullers belonged to a generation who spent their youth living through world war. Surely that affords a measure of maturity. She […]
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I Live On Your Visits by Dorothy Parker Short Story Analysis
Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) is remembered as one of America’s greatest wits. If you watch Gilmore girls, you’ll be familiar with her name, as Rory is depicted reading a 1976 edition of The Portable Dorothy Parker. The creator of Gilmore girls, Amy Sherman-Palladino, was clearly a huge fan, naming her production company Dorothy Parker Drank Here. […]
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How To Write Like William Trevor
William Trevor didn’t like giving interviews. Part of the reason: Interviewers would try to get him to break down his process. But he considered the entire thing a mystery; he could never explain how he wrote. He worried that if he got too “academic” in his approach, he’d no longer be able to write. (He […]
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Dance In America by Lorrie Moore Short Story Analysis
“Dance In America” is a short story by Lorrie Moore and can be found in the collection Birds Of America, published in 1998. Find it also in The Collected Short Stories. “Dance In America” first appeared in The New Yorker in 1993. Louise Erdrich reads Lorrie Moores short story “Dance in America” and discusses Moore […]
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Bravado by William Trevor Short Story Analysis
If you think you’re too old to write about contemporary young characters, take your cue from Irish short story master William Trevor, who wrote “Bravado”, about young people and night-clubbing culture, at almost 80 years of age.
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The Illustrations of Charles Keeping
Charles Keeping (1924 – 1988) is one of my favourite 20th century illustrators. He rose to prominence by illustrating Rosemary Sutcliff’s historical novels for children: I have always had a strong feeling that Charles was a true genius… it is my belief that he came to maturity very slowly (not in terms of technique, at […]
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A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury Analysis
“A Sound of Thunder” is a science fiction short story by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in 1952. He set this story 100 years into his future, and just 30 years into ours.
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The Definition of Industrialization
Industrialization refers to the change from a society without machinery to wide scale development of industries. The time before The Industrial Revolution is called The Pre-industrial Era.
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Defamiliarisation and the Estrangement Effect in Literature
If writing novels—and reading them—have any redeeming social value, it’s probably that they force you to imagine what it’s like to be somebody else. Margaret Atwood, Second Words Strangeness is a necessary ingredient in beauty. Charles Baudelaire Don’t Forget How Strange This All Is from Raptitude WHAT IS DEFAMILIARISATION? [Defamiliarisation is] taking something and trying […]