Australian Literature - Children's Literature

Children's Literature

Perennial favourites of Australian children's literature include Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding, Ethel Pedley's Dot and the Kangaroo, May Gibbs' Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, Ruth Park's The Muddleheaded Wombat; Dorothy Wall's Blinky Bill and Mem Fox's Possum Magic. These classic works employ Anthropomorphism to bring alive the creatures of the Australian bush, thus Bunyip Bluegum of The Magic Pudding is a koala who leaves his tree in search of adventure, while Dot of Dot and the kangaroo is a little girl lost in the bush, who befriends a group of marsupials. May Gibbs crafted a story of protagonists modelled on the appearance of young Eucalyptus (gum tree) nuts and pitted these gumnut babies, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, against the antagonist Banksia men. Gibbs' influence has lasted through the generations - contemporary children's author Ursula Dubosarsky has cited "Snugglepot and Cuddlepie" as one of her favourite books.

The Children's Book Council of Australia presents annual awards for books of literary merit, for outstanding contribution to Australian children's literature. Notable winners and shortlisted works have inspired several well-known Australian films from original novels, including The Silver Brumby series, a collection by Elyne Mitchell which recount the life and adventures of Thowra, a Snowy Mountains brumby stallion; Storm Boy (1964), by Colin Thiele, about a boy and his pelican and the relationships he has with his father, the pelican, and an outcast Aboriginal man called Fingerbone; the Sydney based Victorian era time travel adventure Playing Beatie Bow (1980) by Ruth Park; and, for older children and mature readers, Melina Marchetta's 1993 novel about a Sydney high school girl Looking for Alibrandi. Robin Klein's Came Back to Show You I Could Fly is a story about the beautiful relationship between an eleven-year-old boy and an older, drug-addicted girl.

Jackie French, widely described as Australia's most popular children's author, has written about 170 books, including two CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award winners. One of them, the critically acclaimed Hitler's Daughter (1999), is a "what if?" story that explores mind-provoking issues about what would have happened if Adolf Hitler had had a daughter. French is also the author of the highly-praised Diary of a Wombat (2003), which won awards such as the 2003 COOL Award and 2004 BILBY Award, among others. It was also named an honour book for the CBCA Children's Book of the Year Award for picture books.

Paul Jennings is a prolific writer of contemporary Australian fiction for young people whose career began with 1985's collection of short stories Unreal! and whose popular works include Round The Twist which was adapted for television.