7.30 Report - 07/03/2005: Childrens author John Marsden to build perfect school
Transcript of TV conversation with John Marsden talking about schools...
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Australasia: March 2005 Archives
Top New Zealand children’s writers get ready to rumble!
Some of New Zealand's favourite writers and illustrators for children are preparing to hit the road in a series of author tours visiting schools, libraries and bookshops in a national festival of reading and literature beginning on Monday 9 May 2005.The fourteen touring writers and illustrators are finalists in the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children & Young Adults 2005. Their tours and events culminate in the New Zealand Post Book Awards ceremony at Parliament on Thursday 19 May, when the winners of the Awards will be announced.
Sophie Masson speaks her mind about the Australian 'English' curriculum...
The constant harping on ?values? - by which is meant values of patriarchy, or what have you - dulls and blunts kids' reactions to literature. Why in the name of God do they need to browbeat kids about what to think, and how to interpret a work of art? I've listened to my kids and their friends discuss books they've loved, with great fervour, intelligence and understanding. They simply detest all this corralling of creativity into ?values?, it's so damned Victorian: despite the fact the people who construct these things obviously think they are so daring and subversive. Damn it, don't they think it's them who are ?the dominant paradigm?? In my experience, the really bright kids who love literature simply mouth the stuff they have to in order to pass exams, and rebelliously, in their own minds, cleave to their own ideas. And they avoid English at university like the plague.
