More on Requiem
From The Australian:
Speaking at a school in Sydney’s Burwood as part of Children’s Book Week, Ottley said he was “nonplussed” by the criticism of his book, which is “largely autobiographical”.
“We have a romanticised view of what a stockman’s life is like, a Man From Snowy River-view, and I wanted to present life in a stock camp as it really is, in all its grittiness,” he said.
He spent seven years working on Requiem for a Beast, consulting the Bundjalung people from NSW.
Ottley said the book’s style and the cover blurb made it clear it was not for young children. “If you don’t want young children to be exposed, don’t give them this book,” he said. “Part of the problem is a lot of schools buy books sight unseen, and that’s idiotic.”
He said it was important to challenge the “default associations” for picture books as being only for young children.
August 31st, 2008 at 8:04 am
Thanks for this piece on Matt Ottley. I am always astounded to hear people criticise, year after year, when certain picture books take out this award. It is clearly stated that this section is for picture books and there is no stipulation on the age these books may be geared toward. I wonder when people will begin to realise that there are many benefits in picture books for older children. We have had some stunning ones in this section over past years. Part of our role as the Teacher Librarian in the school is to select books suitable for our students. As Ottley states, buying sight unseen is idiotic, but happens so often with the books shortlisted each year.
August 31st, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Those of us who understand children’s and YA literature know about the importance of picture books for older readers, but it’s disappointing that the media coverage always looks for the ‘angle’ when the awards are announced. It’s never about the quality of literature being produced for the adult readers of the future. This year’s ‘angles’ are that one winning was book was written by a former actor and another contains some gritty themes and language and isn’t suitable for a nine year old. Now whether Requiem is technically a ‘picture book’ (or even graphic novel) is another question altogether! Thanks for the comment.