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The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers (2007) Analysis
First published in 2007, The Way Back Home by Oliver Jeffers has a carnivalesque/tall tale plot but with the slow, reflective mood of Jeffers’ later work, for example The Heart And The Bottle. STORY STRUCTURE OF THE WAY BACK HOME WEAKNESS IN THE WAY BACK HOME “Once there was a boy.” This is a generic child and […]
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Roald Dahl: The Man Behind The Books
I remember the day Roald Dahl died. I was in Year 7. I remember sitting at my desk, and where that desk was positioned in the classroom, thinking about how Roald Dahl had died. Australian author Paul Jennings describes the time he met Roald Dahl. In Untwisted, [Jennings’ autobiography] he recounts the experience of meeting […]
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The Biggest Sandwich Ever Analysis
The Biggest Sandwich Ever is a book from 1980. It was my first “Lucky Book Club” purchase, and I loved it. (I don’t agree with my husband either, who says there should also be an “Unlucky Book Club”.) What makes it great? It’s not especially original, but it does follow a successful formula. Although the […]
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What Happened To Rosemary Fawcett?
Roald Dahl’s work wasn’t always illustrated by Quentin Blake. Dirty Beasts, for example, was originally illustrated by a young woman new to the field, Rosemary Fawcett. The edition she illustrated is now out of print. Jeremy Treglown explains the story in his biography of Roald Dahl: To one British critic, Russell Davies, “the buzz of misanthropy […]
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Which Witch’s Wand Works by Poly Bernatene Analysis
Which Witch’s Wand Works? is a 2004 carnivalesque picture book in which two sister witches are the stand-ins for children. Alliteration features strongly in this story — not only do we have the title of the book (and of the fictional TV show they argue over), but also the names of the main characters, Rattle, […]
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Tomboys vs Girly-girls In Middle Grade Novels
Laura and Mary Ingalls Georg(ina) and Anne Ramona and Beezus/Susan Kushner Bean and Ivy Clementine and Margaret Junie B. and Tattletale May/Richie Lucille Each of these pairs represents a perceived dichotomy of girlhood: the girly girl versus the “tomboy”. While I use the word “tomboy”, the speech marks indicate my disdain for the very concept. A girl who likes rough-and-tumble and […]
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The Frog Prince Fairytale Analysis
This famous tale is also known as The Princess And The Frog, The Frog Prince, A Frog For A Husband and similar variants. In most of these stories the princess is depicted as a spoilt brat. Sometimes the story goes so far as being called The Kind Stepdaughter And The Frog, which is actually more […]
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Jack And The Beanstalk History and Symbolism
Jack and the Beanstalk is also known as Jack The Giant Killer, which kind of ruins the ending, so no wonder they changed it. WHERE TO HEAR “JACK AND THE BEANSTALK” READ ALOUD If you’d like to hear “Jack and the Beanstalk” read aloud, I recommend the retellings by Parcast’s Tales podcast series. (They have […]
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The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjery Williams
The Velveteen Rabbit is a picturebook by Margery Williams from the first Golden Age of Children’s Literature. First published in 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit has been re-illustrated many times since. You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have […]
