Education
Our Dark (Curriculum) Materials
There’s an article on The Guardian today getting a fair bit of traction, by Alice Pung, along the lines of “teens can handle dark topics” and I have to admit, it’s been bugging me all day. Look, I know I am eleven hundred and twenty years old (give me a frickin’ beer, thank you Buffy…
Read MoreDr Maurice Saxby AM: In Memoriam
Maurice Saxby, 26 December 1924—2 December 2014 I met Maurice Saxby the first time I attended a meeting of the NSW Branch of the Children’s Book Council. I was in my mid-20s, and I had not long since decided that I wanted to make children’s books my life’s work. I had met Ros Bastian, who…
Read MoreDear Mr Pyne
I am sure anyone who knows me or reads this blog has a pretty fair idea of where my political and ideological affiliations sit. I won’t go on in length here about the recent budget or the horrors of the past 8 months under this LNP government… that’s what Facebook and Twitter are for, after…
Read MoreWe can’t all be Miss Honey and maybe we shouldn’t even try.
I got a little bit cranky on Twitter tonight. Oh, that’s nothing unusual. Twitter is kind of designed to make you cranky—indeed, that’s why many people, it seems to me, seek it out. Me, I usually retreat when I start to feel my blood pressure rise. Emotional equilibrium is pretty precious to me, and I’m…
Read MoreCensor or suck it up? Racism and children’s books.
There’s a story on the Huffington Post today about a young girl, Ishema Kane, in Germany who wrote to the newspaper, outraged at their defence of racist language in children’s books—specifically, Pippi Longstocking. As letters of outrage go, it’s pretty fabulous. I especially love this bit: “I find it totally shit that this word would…
Read MoreDeath by 1.7 billion cuts
There’s a scene in an early episode of Sex and the City that’s always been a favourite of mine. The girls are talking over a meal about—what else—men, and Charlotte says, in utter exasperation… I’ve been dating since I was 15 years old, I’m exhausted, where is he? I know how she feels. Only it’s…
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