Children’s Literature and the Environment– AustLit
QUT Project team: Kerry Mallan (team leader), Amy Cross, Cherie Allan
June 2016: The team collaborated with QUT library to put on a display on the resources. Amy prepared the ppt and the library provided multiple computer stations for viewing and interacting with this and other projects on AustLit. Library also prepared a book display of some of the titles in the project. High attendance rates reported.
Gecko logo: image permission received from the illustrator Narelle Oliver from her book Leaf Tail.
Texts: young adult novels, children’s fiction and picture books.
Spotlight on 12 authors/illustrators, each contains a link to the Author’s record in AustLit, where further bibliographic details on all their publications are available.
Exhibitions: include a variety of records (fiction, information books, film, poetry, and multimedia) relevant to children and young adults that deal with the environment in imaginative, scientific, educational, and creative ways. There are a number of components to this project clustered around key concepts and issues:
- The Australian Environment: Aboriginal Texts about country, place & environment; Australian bush; Daily life of Australian animals; Great Barrier Reef; Lakes and rivers; Life and Death of the Thylacine.
- The environment in contemporary narratives: Antarctica; Bushfires; Dystopias; Forests; Global warming and climate change; Ocean settings and underwater worlds; The pastoral, farming and station life; Urban environments.
- Environmental destruction: Habitat destruction; Illegal activities; Negligence; Pollution; Threat of Introduced species.
- Safeguarding the environment: Animal rescue; Conserving Australian wildlife; Other species conservation; Parks and conservation areas; Recycling; Rehabilitation and regeneration; Science and Scientists.
- Award Winning Environmental Literature: (i) The Whitley Awards; Environment Award for Children’s Literature.
- Curriculum Connections: Cross curriculum priorities of the Australian Curriculum: Indigenous Texts and the Environment; Flora and Fauna of Asia; Sustainability.
- Resources for Further Research: Secondary sources related to environmental research in children’s literature.
Further work:
Develop a glossary; Section on ecowarriors and ecocitizens; Update current sections; include some sections with quotes from critical works.
Kerry Mallan 23/08/16