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Gender Inversion As Gags In Children’s Stories
There’s this gag in many humorous children’s stories which almost everyone else finds hilarious and I find really troublesome. It’s when a male character dresses as a female character. This gender inversion in itself is meant to be funny. But why?
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The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan Analysis
The Rabbits by John Marsden and Shaun Tan is an example of a modern environmental picture book, which critiques the historical environmental disaster which was the introduction of rabbits into Australia. Much has already been said about that. John Marsden has done a couple of interesting things with the traditional story structure, especially in the […]
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A Squash And A Squeeze Analysis by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler Analysis
A Squash and a Squeeze is a 1993 picture book written by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Sheffler. The plot is very old. A Squash and a Squeeze was published in 1993, when Donaldson was 44. It was not expected to be a big seller. For one thing, it was in rhyme, which publishers at […]
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Chatterbox by Margaret Wild and Deborah Niland Analysis
Unfortunately for everyone, Chatterbox by Margaret Wild and Deborah Niland isn’t the only children’s book in existence called Chatterbox. This isn’t the creepiest children’s book image I’ve ever seen but it’s up there. The Australian, contemporary picture book called Chatterbox is a very satisfying book to read aloud and my kid just loves it. Deborah […]
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This Book Just Ate My Dog by Richard Byrne (2014) Analysis
This Book Just Ate My Dog is a great example of both. Part way through the story the reader is yanked out of it, reminded in no uncertain terms that this thing they’re holding… yeah, it’s a book. It’s a physical object. **SPOILER ALERT** The dog disappears into the gutter. I have seen little kids find […]
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Roald Dahl: The Man Behind The Books
I remember the day Roald Dahl died. I was in Year 7. I remember sitting at my desk, and where that desk was positioned in the classroom, thinking about how Roald Dahl had died. Australian author Paul Jennings describes the time he met Roald Dahl. In Untwisted, [Jennings’ autobiography] he recounts the experience of meeting […]
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What Happened To Rosemary Fawcett?
Roald Dahl’s work wasn’t always illustrated by Quentin Blake. Dirty Beasts, for example, was originally illustrated by a young woman new to the field, Rosemary Fawcett. The edition she illustrated is now out of print. Jeremy Treglown explains the story in his biography of Roald Dahl: To one British critic, Russell Davies, “the buzz of misanthropy […]
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Which Witch’s Wand Works by Poly Bernatene Analysis
Which Witch’s Wand Works? is a 2004 carnivalesque picture book in which two sister witches are the stand-ins for children. Alliteration features strongly in this story — not only do we have the title of the book (and of the fictional TV show they argue over), but also the names of the main characters, Rattle, […]
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Tomboys vs Girly-girls In Middle Grade Novels
Laura and Mary Ingalls Georg(ina) and Anne Ramona and Beezus/Susan Kushner Bean and Ivy Clementine and Margaret Junie B. and Tattletale May/Richie Lucille Each of these pairs represents a perceived dichotomy of girlhood: the girly girl versus the “tomboy”. While I use the word “tomboy”, the speech marks indicate my disdain for the very concept. A girl who likes rough-and-tumble and […]
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The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjery Williams
The Velveteen Rabbit is a picturebook by Margery Williams from the first Golden Age of Children’s Literature. First published in 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit has been re-illustrated many times since. You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have […]
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Hop O’ My Thumb by Charles Perrault
Hop O’ My Thumb is so similar to Hansel and Gretel you might wonder how both co-existed. Both stories have: A time of famine In which the parents decide to leave their children in the woods A trail of pebbles A second abandonment, further into the woods A welcoming cottage in the woods A cannibalistic […]
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What’s behind the wide appeal of horrible, brooding, YA boyfriends?
THE RECIPE FOR A YOUNG ADULT DARK PARANORMAL ROMANCE BOYFRIEND Handsome In a white kind of way Muscled but not too muscled — not like he works at it Well groomed and fairly nubile — not much body hair Remarkable eyes and gaze A bit older than the female protagonist A bit taller Maybe a […]
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Boy Friendly, Girl Friendly
What is meant by boy friendly and girl friendly? Sometimes a Google search screenshot speaks a thousand words: Girl Friendly Links Strong Female Characters In Fiction from Common Sense Media 100 YA Books For The Feminist Reader from Bitch Media 9 FEMALE CHARACTERS WE WISH WE’D BEEN MORE LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL from The Mary […]
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Harriet The Spy
Kate DiCamillo has this to say about Harriet The Spy: “Not too long ago, I remembered that I read and loved Harriet the Spy [as a kid], and so I went back to it as the adult me, with some trepidation. … And it’s even better and more subversive than I remembered. It’s basically a primer on how […]
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The Do-Something Day by Joe Lasker (1982) Analysis
The Do-something Day is one of those didactic stories in which the parental figures are too busy working to play with their precious little children. In such stories, the child usually goes out and has their own adventure, or an elderly neighbour/grandparent steps in to fill the psychological need, which is loneliness/boredom. And that’s what […]