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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
"At her fourteenth birthday party, Lindy wishes she knew her actual birthdate. But only her real parents would know, and they're both dead. Or so Lindy and her Australian family think until the letter from her natural father arrives. Now she must decide between two families and two futures, between Australia and Vietnam." (Source: Trove)
Notes
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Also published in braille and sound recording format.
Affiliation Notes
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This work is affiliated with the AustLit subset Asian-Australian Children's Literature and Publishing because it contains Vietnamese characters.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Related Works
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form
y
On Loan
( dir. Geoff Bennett
)
1985
1985
Z1438798
1985
single work
film/TV
young adult
Lindy believes she is a Vietnamese orphan, adopted by Marj and Geoff Baker when she was three years old. She lives happily with her adoptive family, only occasionally wondering about her past. This changes, however, when she receives a letter from her real father, Le. Having searched for many years, he is overjoyed to find her and tells her that he is coming to Australia to see her. The narrative explores the family's emotional turmoil as they wait for his arrival and their defensive attitude when he arrives. For Lindy, the meeting opens up a past she has never known as she is introduced to her Vietnamese family and culture. Le eventually tells Lindy that he wants her to return with him and she is subsequently torn between the two possible futures she is being given--one in Australia or one in Vietnam--and the two families she must choose between. She chooses to stay in Australia, but she makes it clear that she intends to visit and stay with her Vietnamese family when she is older. Although he is disappointed, Le has given Lindy a gift she never expected--a sense of identity she did not have before--and she tells him this in her letter to him. (Source: Australian Screen.)
Works about this Work
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Advocating Multiculturalism: Migrants in Australian Children's Literature After 1972
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , vol. 15 no. 4 1990; (p. 180-188) This article is concerned with a major shift in Australian ideology and values that Stephens argues occurred during the 1970s. He argues that 'within a decade during the 1970s Australian political and educational institutions underwent a palpable shift towards an ideology of multiculturalism and Australian Children's Literature shifted with it' (180). By the mid-seventies multiculturalism in children's literature was advocated as 'a desirable social value and one to be inculcated in child readers' (180). Multiculturalism in children's fiction was conceived as 'acceptance of difference and heterogeneity' which was in accordance with the general principles expressed by the Australian Council on population and Ethnic Affairs (1982). Stephens critiques a number of contemporary novels that deal with issues of multiculturalism and identity formation: On Loan (Anne Brooksbank), The Boys from Bondi (Alan Collins), Moving Out (Helen Garner & Jennifer Giles), New Patches for Old (Christobel Mattingly), Deepwater (Judith O'Neill), The Other Side of the Family (Maureen Pople), The Seventh Pebble (Eleanor Spence), Five Times Dizzy and Dancing in the Anzac Deli (Nadia Wheatley). He makes three pertinent claims regarding representations of multicultural identity and/or community in Australia: that the representation of multiculturalism is questionable in these novels as most of the authors do not come from a non-Anglo background; that there is a general subordination of the themes of migration and culture to the theme of personal identity development (a common thematic concern of children's literature); while the novels 'pivot on aspects of difference' the narratives are generally focalized through members of the majority culture and 'hence the privilege of narrative subjectivity is rarely bestowed upon minority groups' (181). Stephens posits that within the genre of children's fiction, 'the absence of significant migrant voices...leads to a partial and hence false, representation of the Australian experience of migration and the development of multiculturalism' (181). -
Dragon Fly, Mareka and Lindy : The Minority Child as Chooser in Three Australian Narratives
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Ariel , April vol. 19 no. 2 1988; (p. 33-52) Compares three Australian narratives which (1) focus on a child who must contemplate the gap between two cultures; and (2) give central significance to an act of choice by the child.
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Dragon Fly, Mareka and Lindy : The Minority Child as Chooser in Three Australian Narratives
1988
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Ariel , April vol. 19 no. 2 1988; (p. 33-52) Compares three Australian narratives which (1) focus on a child who must contemplate the gap between two cultures; and (2) give central significance to an act of choice by the child. -
Advocating Multiculturalism: Migrants in Australian Children's Literature After 1972
1990
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Children's Literature Association Quarterly , vol. 15 no. 4 1990; (p. 180-188) This article is concerned with a major shift in Australian ideology and values that Stephens argues occurred during the 1970s. He argues that 'within a decade during the 1970s Australian political and educational institutions underwent a palpable shift towards an ideology of multiculturalism and Australian Children's Literature shifted with it' (180). By the mid-seventies multiculturalism in children's literature was advocated as 'a desirable social value and one to be inculcated in child readers' (180). Multiculturalism in children's fiction was conceived as 'acceptance of difference and heterogeneity' which was in accordance with the general principles expressed by the Australian Council on population and Ethnic Affairs (1982). Stephens critiques a number of contemporary novels that deal with issues of multiculturalism and identity formation: On Loan (Anne Brooksbank), The Boys from Bondi (Alan Collins), Moving Out (Helen Garner & Jennifer Giles), New Patches for Old (Christobel Mattingly), Deepwater (Judith O'Neill), The Other Side of the Family (Maureen Pople), The Seventh Pebble (Eleanor Spence), Five Times Dizzy and Dancing in the Anzac Deli (Nadia Wheatley). He makes three pertinent claims regarding representations of multicultural identity and/or community in Australia: that the representation of multiculturalism is questionable in these novels as most of the authors do not come from a non-Anglo background; that there is a general subordination of the themes of migration and culture to the theme of personal identity development (a common thematic concern of children's literature); while the novels 'pivot on aspects of difference' the narratives are generally focalized through members of the majority culture and 'hence the privilege of narrative subjectivity is rarely bestowed upon minority groups' (181). Stephens posits that within the genre of children's fiction, 'the absence of significant migrant voices...leads to a partial and hence false, representation of the Australian experience of migration and the development of multiculturalism' (181).
Last amended 14 Sep 2011 08:18:09
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