24th August Ruth Park

It is Ruth Park's birthday. She was born in 1917 and died in 2010. She was the author of  a large number of books for adults and children. Her first children's book was The Muddle-Headed Wombat, but she would go on to write the award-winning children's classics  Callie's Castle; Playing Beat Bow  and When the Wind Changed.

Yesterday I attended the CBCA celebration for its eightieth birthday at the State Library of NSW. Many Australian authors and illustrators who had won Children's Book awards were present. It was so good to be reminded of all the wonderful books from the past and to see just how many of them are still in print, and rightly so. When Margaret Wild spoke she reminded us of her classic book There's a Sea in My Bedroom, which is still in print and regularly borrowed from the school library. In 1985 it made the shortlist for Picture Book of the Year. There was seven books on the shortlist, but none were chosen as the winner. The three commended books were:

MORIMOTO, Junko The Inch Boy 

BAKER, Jeannie Home in the Sky 

COX, David Ayu and the Perfect Moon were commended.

The others on the shortlist were: 

GYNELL, Donna  and Graham, Amanda Arthur 

LACIS, Astra and Mattingley, Christobel The Angel With a Mouth Organ 

WILD, Margaret and TANNER, Jane There’s a Sea in my Bedroom 

FOX, Mem and  VIVAS, Julie Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge 

The last two books are still in print and available to buy new. They have both stood the test of time. Perhaps one of them should have won!

The authors at yesterday's event were called 'legends' and many are still writing, illustrating and being published, but it always interests me when I look back at the winning books to see which ones are still popular. When the Wind Changed  by Ruth Park and illustrated by her daughter, Deborah Niland is one of those books, written long ago, but still in print. Many parents of today's children consider it very dated and inappropriate for young children because it has a gun in it and there is a bank robbery. The adage about what happens to your face when the wind changes is not one that is used these days. However, when you ask the teachers on the staff, 'What was your favourite book as a child?' so often some teacher (usually male) will say this book. One year we had a match the teacher to the book contest and I put the books out on display. Yes you guessed it, When the Wind Changed  was the book that was borrowed the most.

Each of these three books have had a fortieth anniversary edition. Will this year's winners still be in print in 40 years. I wonder.

24th August Ruth Park (1917 - 2010)

Today would have been the birthday of New Zealand born Australian author Ruth Park who wrote for both children and  adults. But I was pleased to learn on her website that she wanted to write more for children as she saw that as a challenge. She is well known for the children's classics The Muddle-Headed Wombat  and Playing Beatie Bow. My clientele cannot read either of these independently yet so they are more likely to meet Ruth, reading When the Wind Changed; The Gigantic Balloon or The Big Brass Key which are in the library.

When I first started teaching every child knew and talked about When the Wind Changed. Now the students I teach have parents who don't want their children reading this book because 'it has a gun in it'. The world has changed. In some ways my students are very connected to the world because of technology, yet because they are not allowed to or do not watch the news, there is much less conversation about national or international news, what is happening in their community or other communities within their city. Their general knowledge, vocabulary and knowledge of idiom and proverbs has diminished. They haven't heard the saying about being careful not to pull a face in case the wind changes and it stays like that. Thus, I'm always in a quandary...to read or not to read?  Old books that are part of Australian children's literature deserve to be read, even if they need to scaffolded by their historical setting. Recently I did this with Junko Morimoto's Kojuro and the Bears, another story 'with guns' and I was amazed by the discussion that followed.

Ruth Park will also be remembered as the mother of other Australian Children's literature stalwarts, Kilmeny and Deborah Niland.

17th December Jacqueline Wilson (1945) Bel Mooney (1946)

Woke up to the news this morning, to hear that Australian author, Ruth Park had died. She is the author of The Muddle-Headed Wombat books and When the Wind Changed. She was 93, but it will still be hard for the Niland family at Christmas.

On a more celebratory note it is the birthday of two British authors who write contemporary realism that girls love. They relate to Jacqueline Wilson's characters and Bel Mooney's Kitty. The problem in my library with Jacqueline's books is that they read something like Lizzie Zipmouth or The Cat Mummy and then go and buy Cookie or Bad Girls because they aren't in the library. They just cannot wait to read more, even if it is not suitable to their age. I've had to deal with a couple of not so receptive mothers, but this shouldn't stop my under eights from reading the Jacqueline Wilson that she has written for them.

Bel Mooney also writes for a large age range but she has two series that are just perfect for my clientele. She writes about Kitty and her friends (there are more than ten titles) and another series about Bonnie, a small dog and her owner, Harry. This series now has at least 6 titles. Both series are popular.

18th September

Australian twins, Deborah Niland and Kilmeny Niland are both illustrators of children's books. They were born into a very literary family as both parents, Ruth Park and D'Arcy Niland were well known novelists. Instead of writing, their daughters initially illustrated books, both together and separately, but more recently they have written and illustrated their own books.

Sadly, Kilmeny passed away last year. Her website gives an insight into all of her other artistic pursuits as well. Deborah continues to illustrate her own and others' books. Her website announces that she has illustrated a book that will be released in November called The Tall Man. It was written by Kilmeny and Kilmeny's son, Tom. This year, her book There's a Hippopotamus on the Roof Eating Cake which Hazel Edward's wrote, celebrated its 30th anniversary. To commemorate this a new edition with 'sparkles' was published and another book was added to this successful series ... Hooray! There's a Hippopotamus on our Roof Having a Birthday Party. Deborah's book Annie's Chair won the Book of the Year for Early Childhood in 2005. She followed it up with Annie to the Rescue.

An illustrated version of Mulga Bill's Bicycle, the poem by Banjo Patterson, and the illustrations for Ruth Park's When the Wind Changed, both books published many years ago, continue to be my favourites among the sister's works. They bring these books to life and they still work for audiences in 2010.