Blog Post 2: Australian Children’s Books Political Now?
When it came to looking for more world’s children literature news, I happened to find this article and was interested to see what the deal was on the fact that Australian children’s books becoming more political in this day and age. The author of the article states that when it came to the books on the kids bookshelf he found dozens of book that included queer theory, feminism, Islam, multiculturalism, and citizenship that all were targeted to primary-aged children. This led to the question of why? Angela Crocombe states that it’s because the, “the publishing industry had realised the importance of diversity both in the books it commissions and its own staffing”. The last couple of months have had major Australian children books published that deal with multiculturalism, gender, and Indigenous issues. Even further, all these Australian books are happening because of a trend by the organization called We Need Diverse Books. This group was formed in 2014 that actually gives out grants, awards and more in the goal that it celebrates diversity in children’s books. Rosemary Johnson actually states that “Australia has a strong tradition of social awareness in its children’s books”. What these books are trying to accomplish for kids to understand is this importance of the environment we live in, Indigenous people and the respect we need to have for them, race and gender equality, and overall multiculturalism. Leonie Rutherford even notes that “Children’s books reflect changes in political discourse and social concerns, and books about same-sex families and gay identities are more prevalent now”. Overall, I see this as such a great step in making sure kids are just getting more educated about issues and life at a younger age. The issues that they are reading about also seem to be great topics to understand and teach in kids and the surge of these books seems to be a great step in the right direction.
Works Cited:
Chandler, Philippa. “Why Are Australian Children’s Books Suddenly so Political?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 27 Nov. 2018, www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/27/why-are-australian-childrens-books-suddenly-so-political.