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.

21st July Tug-of-War Day

What a great excuse to read Beverley Naidoo's fantastic story, The Great Tug of War about how a hare tricks hippo and elephant into a pulling contest with one another. There are many other versions of this story around, especially in beginning reading schemes, but this one is a short novella format which the children love and it uses the language of Botswana. It is perfect for the Book Week theme too, if you are looking for stories from Africa.

Interestingly, one of the books on the Early Childhood Book Week shortlist, The Tall Man and the Twelve Babies also has a tug of war, albeit an impromptu one. In this story the tall man is inadvertently locked outside his apartment with six of the babies and the cat, while

the other six babies are still in the apartment with the keys. He attempts to climb through the catflap and gets stuck. He asks the babies on both ends of him to pull and a tug of war ensues, obviously not the way to dislodge him. The preschoolers I have read the story to this week have found it very funny and had plenty of suggestions as to what he should have done! This amusing story by Tom Champion and his mother, Kilmeny Niland and illustrated by his aunt Deborah Niland is definitely worth reading to the very young.

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.

16th September Alfred Noyes (1880 - 1958) H.A. Rey (1898 - 1977) Julia Donaldson (1948) Deborah Niland (1951) Kilmeny Niland (1951 - 2009)

Five birthdays are too many for one day. I plan to leave Alfred Noyes' birthday until the 22nd when it is Charles Keeping's birthday and Julia Donaldson's until tomorrow and the Niland twins until the 18th. That leaves H.A.Rey for today!

Hans Augusto Reyersbach (H.A.Rey) wrote and illustrated the Curious George books with his wife Margret. He was born in Germany, met his wife in Brazil, produced the children's book that gave them idea for Curious George in Paris, but fled Paris just before the outbreak of World

War II, to eventually end up living in the USA. You can read about this journey here and all about the many Curious George stories here. All children seem to enjoy the mischievous monkey's exploits.

17th February A.B. (Banjo) Paterson (1864 - 1941)

Banjo Paterson is arguably the best known Australian ballad poet, probably because he wrote Waltzing Matilda and even though he wrote a long time ago now, children in Australia still know his work. This is made easy for children and teachers because so many of the poems are published as picture story books and come with accompanying CDs. My favourite books are Freya Blackwood's Waltzing Matilda and The Man From Snowy River, but my favourite poem is Mulga Bill's Bicycle and it is easy to explain to children when it is accompanied by pictures such as the humorous illustrations in the version by Kilmeny and Deborah Niland.