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.