Archive for the ‘english’ Category

Are you looking for a picture book for the theme of Belonging?  Although many picture books are designed for young children, some newer writers and illustrators have published picture books with more adult themes.  These authors include Shaun Tan, Gary Crew and Margaret Wild.

On the inside break site we have listed a large number of picture books that could be used as a related text for belonging.  Follow this link for the list:

http://www.insidebreak.org.au/belonging/related-texts-picture-books/

Louise McMorland, Youth Librarian, Manly Library

A new book published in late 2009 is “Stories of Belonging: finding  where your true self lives” and edited by Kali Wendorf.

Kali says….”belonging is an aspect of our true nature.  It is not just a feeling or a sentimental experience.  When true belonging is denied, we suffer a haunting povery of the soul”

This book consists of 15 stories from writers from Australia and around the world.  They each reveal their own search to find where they belong.  Experiences range from riding the rapids of the Grand Canyon, to living in a remote village of Tibet, to being confronted with sadness and loss, to being a member of the Stolen Generation.  Ask for this book at your local public library.

Louise McMorland, Youth Librarian, Manly Library

Alex Buzo’s play Norm and Ahmed  is currently playing at the Seymour Centre until the end August 2009.   Here’s the review written by John McCallum  in the Australian  on August 11, 2009 http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25910175-15089,00.html- “It is a late-night encounter between an old digger and a young Pakistani student in which racial tensions are explored and then appear to have been resolved before the explosive conclusion”.  Take a look at the Alex Buzo blog for the latest media and news on the show: http://alexbuzo.com.au/Blog/Blog.html

Louise McMorland, Youth Librarian Manly Library (courtesy of LindaB at Waverley Library)

You might be practising a “theme” in Year 11 English.  Discovery is an old theme from past HSC years, and when you study this you sometimes have to find some related texts.  Often your teacher would like you to find texts that are not novels, like a film, or a poem or a newspaper article.  Discovery is not a difficult theme – there are lots of discoveries made in history, in science and in geography. 

Try finding an historical event and someone who has written about it eg the discovery of Australia by people other than Captain Cook, the discovery of gold, the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb.  You don’t need a whole book, just a diary excerpt, or a newspaper article.  Try also some movies eg  The Secret Garden, The Mission, Medicine Man, Madame Curie.

Louise, Youth Librarian, Manly

Possible books to try if you need to read another text involving “letters” or 2 stories intertwined. Examples are the French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles and
Night letters : a journey through Switzerland and Italy by Robert Dessaix
LETTERS BOOKS:
Daddy-L ong- Legs by Jean Webster
Joel and Cat set the story straight by Nick Earls and Rebecca Sparrow (ya fiction)
Sam’s letters to Jennifer by James Patterson (fiction)
Rilke and Nadreas-Salome translated by Edward Snow and Michael Winkler (true and translated from the German)
The Vintner’s letters by Maurice O’Shea (fiction)
Something borrowed by Paul Magrs (fiction)
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff – also a 2003 DVD version starring Starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins.
Ariel’s gift : Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the story of Birthday letters by Wagner, Erica.
TWO STORIES INTERTWINED BOOKS:
Tom’s Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce – also a 2006 DVD version starring Greta Scacchi
The virgin blue by Tracey Chevalier
The LakeHouse DVD starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves
Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary by Ruby Ferguson
Doomsday book by Willis, Connie. (time travel fiction)
Louise, Youth Librarian, Manly Library

This question has come in from a Senior Student who is studying some of the novels of Jane Austen. She has been asked to take a look historically at how women lived, and to try and find other written examples. Some suggestions that I have found are:

• The Jane Austen handbook : a sensible yet elegant guide to her world – by Margaret Cox Sullivan
• Ladies of the manor : wives and daughters in country-house society, 1830-1918 – By Pamela Horn
• Good wives? : Mary, Fanny, Jennie & me, 1845-2001 – By Margaret Forster
• The friendly Jane Austen : a well-mannered introduction to a lady of sense and sensibility – by Natalie Tyler
• Governess: the lives and times of the real Jane Eyres – by Ruth Brandon
• The Politics of Breastfeeding – by Gabrielle Palmer
• Who cooked the Last Supper? : the women’s history of the world – By Rosalind Miles

Louise, Youth Librarian, Manly Library

I recently had a request from a senior student, she was reading Henry Lawson for English and wanted to read some comparitive short stories that talked about the Australian landscape. The following list is worth exploring at your local public library, I haven’t looked at all these volumes yet (as we don’t have them all at Manly Library) but if you do use them please comment back to me on this blog as to whether they were useful. Some are anthologies of short stories by multiple authors, others are multiple short stories by the one author
Malouf, David – Antipodes
Malouf, David – Dream Stuff
Astley, Thea – Collected Stories
Astley, Thea – Hunting the Wild Pineapple
Astley, Thea -It’s Raining in Mango
Hospital, Janette Turner – Collected Stories 1970-1995
Hospital, Janette Turner – Dislocations
Hospital, Janette Turner – Isobars
Jolley,Elizabeth – various titles with the subtitle ‘Short stories’
White, Patrick – The Cockatoos
Winton, Tim – The Turning
Classic Australian Short Stories. Collected by Maggie Pickney
Australian classics by Jane Gleeson-White
The Faber Book of Contemporary Australian Short Stories
Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing from the Land Down Under
The Macmillan Anthology of Australian Literature
Baynton, Barbara “The chosen vessel” was written in the 1800’s but is available on-line at the Australian classics website -
http://www.australianclassics.com.au/files/Baynton-TheChosenVessel.pdf
Louise, Youth Librarian, Manly Library

Are you trying to read widely in the crime/mystery fiction genre ? Try finding some short stories, these come in 2 ways.
1. as compilations with multiple authors in the one volume
2. multiple short stories by the one author
Reading a short story by a crime author gives you a sense of how they write, without reading a full fiction novel
ALSO available at some libraries are adult readers, these are designed for adults who are learning english as a second language who have to improve their literacy skills. These readers are often short versions of classic authors in this field eg Raymond Chandler, Lynda La Plante, Arthur Conan Doyle
Louise, Youth Librarian, Manly Library