Forging Truths from Facts: Trauma, historicity and Australian Children's Picture Books
Article
Article Title | Forging Truths from Facts: Trauma, historicity and Australian Children's Picture Books |
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ERA Journal ID | 34601 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Kerby, Martin (Author) and Baguley, Margaret (Author) |
Journal Title | The Lion and the Unicorn: a critical journal of children's literature |
Journal Citation | 44 (3), pp. 281-301 |
Number of Pages | 21 |
Year | 2020 |
Place of Publication | United States |
ISSN | 0147-2593 |
1080-6563 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1353/uni.2020.0028 |
Web Address (URL) | https://muse.jhu.edu/article/798012 |
Abstract | Though they can find themselves constrained by the imagined 'demands of children’s literature as sanitary, benign, and didactic' (Tribunella 102), children’s picture book authors and illustrators regularly attempt to engage with 'unimaginable, unspeakable, and un-representable horror' (Trezise 43). Whether it be in the form of genocide, war, persecution or displacement, they tend not to shy away from the atrocities of history when searching for subject matter. However, the balancing of the sanitary with the unimaginable demands a compromise. Authors and illustrators invariably soften, perhaps even distort the horror in their efforts to be morally instructive. In their creation of a 'parable of war' (MacCallum-Stewart 177) they explore the underlying humanist principles of the stories they tell, rather than historical perspectives. As a result, books such as the three Australian children's picture books analyzed in this article are often very successful in exploring broader issues of personal morality, but they make for dubious history. The critical and commercial success of works that adopt this approach suggests that the book buying public share this preference for morality tales over historical accuracy. |
Keywords | Aboriginal, ANZAC, Australia, authors, Children's picture books, conflict, happiness, historical trauma, history, illustrators, Indigenous, literature, morality, suffering, refugees, trauma, truth, war |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 430302. Australian history |
450109. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature, journalism and professional writing | |
470502. Australian literature (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander literature) | |
Byline Affiliations | University of Southern Queensland |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q6850/forging-truths-from-facts-trauma-historicity-and-australian-children-s-picture-books
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