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King Bait by Keri Hulme Short Story Analysis
“King Bait” is a short story by Keri Hulme, author of The Bone People, which won the Booker Prize. The setting is a magical realist New Zealand.
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New Zealand As Depicted In Fiction
How is your country generally depicted in fiction, by writers outside your country? New Zealand in fiction, not surprisingly, is the stock country for ‘a place really, really far away.’
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Badjelly The Witch by Spike Milligan (1973)
“Badjelly The Witch” is better known as a radio play than as a picture book, at least to any New Zealand child of the 80s. There wasn’t much in the way of media entertainment back then, and I looked forward to Radio New Zealand’s Sunday morning children’s show with Constable Keith and Sniff the German […]
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The Male Gaze In Children’s Literature
Meg Elison has written a McSweeneys post about The Gaze which strikes a chord. IF WOMEN WROTE MEN THE WAY MEN WRITE WOMEN. At The Guardian, Lindesay Irvine (incidentally, a man) responded to this spoof gender reversal with: Anyone who’s ever had a brush with cultural studies will be familiar with Laura Mulvey’s influential theory […]
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The Day Patch Stood Guard by Elizabeth Laird and Colin Reeder (1990) Analysis
The Day Patch Stood Guard is a New Zealand farming picture book from the 1980s which is, at its heart, a man and his dog story. Notice anything a bit different about the cover of The Day Patch Stood Guard? The usual convention is to credit the writer first and the illustrator second. Here the […]
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Black Dog by Pamela Allen Analysis
Black Dog by Pamela Allen (1991) is about a girl who actually neglects her dog, but learns not to by the end. A few weeks ago I took a close look at the much more recent picture book with a similar name, Blackdog by Levi Pinfold. In that, I interpret the black dog as agoraphobia […]
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What Colour Is Your Sun?
Different cultures view the sun differently. Ask a Western child to draw the sun and they will draw it yellow. Ask a Japanese child to draw the sun and they will draw it red. Our closest star is ‘actually’ white. I grew up in New Zealand and I drew it yellow. But when I lived as […]
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Walter The Farting Dog Picture Book Analysis
I have a love-hate relationship with Walter the Farting Dog. My home country of New Zealand produces a disproportionate number of bum, poo and fart picture books, which I think speaks to our national enjoyment at free and cheap entertainment. I love books which make my kid laugh out loud, but I do have an […]
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The American School System: A guide for those from Down Under
Down Under, we grow up reading American books and watching American TV, so the following words are familiar even if we don’t use them ourselves. That said, our language and culture is borrowing more and more from North America. High schools often have faculties now instead of departments, and I’ve heard teenagers start to say […]
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Slinky Malinki by Lynley Dodd Picture Book Analysis
Slinky Malinki is a picture book by New Zealand author illustrator Lynley Dodd. A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays. Old proverb A BRIEF HISTORY OF CATS IN CHILDREN’S LITERATURE Sometimes it is difficult not to resent their apparent success, and they […]
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An Affair Of The Heart by Frank Sargeson Analysis
“An Affair Of The Heart” is one of New Zealand author Frank Sargeson’s best-known short stories. Was Sargeson essentially misogynist? Frankly, I think not as there are positive women characters in some of his stories – including the wrenchingly sad one in An Affair of the Heart. But women-as-controlling-bitches is one recurrent motif. Review by […]
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The Garden Party by Katherine Mansfield Short Story Analysis
In March 1907 Katherine Mansfield’s mother, Annie Beauchamp, held a garden party at their residence, 75 Tinakori Road. On the same day, a poverty-stricken neighbour was killed in a street accident. Later, KM wrote a story about it.
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Rare Interview With Author Janet Frame
This is a radio interview, transcribed and published in Landfall 178 (Volume forty-five, June 1991) between Janet Frame and Elizabeth Alley.
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Nicketty Nacketty Noo Noo Noo by Joy Cowley and Tracey Moroney Analysis
Nicketty Nacketty Noo Noo Noo (1998) is a picture book with strong Scottish influence, written by Joy Cowley — one of New Zealand’s big name children’s authors.
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Scarface Claw by Lynley Dodd Picture Book Analysis
Scarface Claw is a wonderful animal villain. Honestly, for a close-reading I could have picked any of Lynley Dodd’s Slinky Malinki series (or from the even-better-known Hairy Maclary series set in the same world). I find it impossible to pick a favourite. But if I have a favourite character, it is probably a tie between Slinky […]