Australian Aboriginal books for seven-year-olds

[vass]

I'm taking the opportunity, while doing this challenge, of reading some books for young readers, and planning on buying them and giving them to my seven-year-old niece for Christmas and her birthday. I'm definitely going to give her Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's The Conch-Bearer, which I read a few weeks ago and loved, and Madhur Jaffrey's Seasons of Splendor, which my parents gave me when I was about her age.

Anyway, it occurred to me that I should be giving her books by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors, since we're Australian, and it's their land. The only books I'm familiar with are either too old for her (My Place, which I'm embarassed to admit I haven't read myself yet - that's definitely on my list) or too young (picture books of Dreamtime stories.) So, does anyone have some recommendations for me and Niece? Any Aboriginal Australian authors would be great, but Wurundjeri authors would be particularly meaningful, because we live on Wurundjeri land.

Comments

[niamh-sage.livejournal.com]

This list (http://www.australed.iinet.net.au/aust_aborigines.html) might be a good place to start. If any of the universities in your area have an Indigenous Studies centre, that might also be a good place to try to find out about local authors (also, your nearest public library or even the State Library). I think I heard somewhere that the Australian National Library in Canberra holds copies of all publications in Australia, so they could also be able to help you.

*musical interlude sponsored by Google*

Here are some potentially helpful links:

Black Words (http://www.austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/BlackWords) (a part of AustLit - I'm not sure how far you could dig into this site, but there is a list of publishers of Indigenous literature on the first page which could be helpful).

The Children's Book Council of Australia (http://cbca.org.au/Default.aspx)

Australia Council for the Arts (http://www.australiacouncil.gov.au/)

Australian Society of Authors (http://www.asauthors.org/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=ASP0016/ccms.r) (not sure how useful this would be, but you never know)

Hope these are helpful!

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

There have actually been quite a few review posts on the comm for Aboriginal picture books. Looks like all or most of them can be found in the australia tag (http://community.livejournal.com/50books_poc/tag/australia).

[sweet-adelheid.livejournal.com]

Sally Morgan's My Place has been adapted for Younger Readers into a three-book series that I hope is still available (or should at least be around in libraries): Sally's Story, Arthur Corunna's Story and Mother and Daughter.

I'm reading Stradbroke Dreaming at the moment, by Oodgeroo Noonuncul and Bronwyn Bancroft: it would be a really gorgeous book to read together: first half is biographical, the second a collection of Dreaming stories. And the artwork is stunning.

Also have a look at the books by Meme McDonald and Monti Boori Pryor. They're listed as 8 and up, so see what you think.

I'm on the lookout for fiction from South-Eastern authors, too. I'm sure there's some, but it's jolly hard to find.

[emma-in-oz.livejournal.com]

I haven't tagged mine yet but here are some I've read:

Kathryn Dodd-Farrawell and Jason Russell, Our Rooster, Jack (2004)

This is by Indijreaders - http://www.indijreaders.com.au/ which has a selection of books for kids.

Nyaa Kumpini?, Anangu Education Services, 2004

Pat Lowe, Jimmy and Pat Meet the Queen (1997)