Peace and Quiet (Post 117)
Peace and Quiet (1997), is part of a series commissioned,m as far as I recall, to supplement existing texts and to replace some that were deemed too far removed from Australian children's experience. I seem to remember someone saying the originals contained vicars and pony traps.
Anyway, Peace and Quiet is about Rebecca, who is enjoying a beach-side camping holiday with her family. She loves building castles, reading in the shade, swimming and helping cook barbecues. Her problem is that the boys, Josh and Marcus, are forever hanging about where she is. They invite her to race, run around where she's reading, nag to spin her in the revolving egg and knock down her castle. They are not malicious...just THERE. They want her to go to the fair and she snaps at them. Mum leaves Rebecca at the camp with Granny and takes the boys off for the day. Rebecca has a delightful day of peace and quiet.
When the boys come back, they're full of the things they saw and did. Rebecca tells of her day. The boys come up with a plan. If Rebecca will play with them in the mornings, they will play on their own in the afternoon. Everyone is happy.
The story is a reversal of the kind where younger children resent their bossy elders. Josh and Marcus like Rebecca. They want to include her. She probably did enjoy playing with them until recently, but the implication is she's reached one of those milestones where children change.
And no, I was never an elder sister! I probably did annoy my elder sister just as the boys annoy Rebecca.
About the Blog
Anyway, Peace and Quiet is about Rebecca, who is enjoying a beach-side camping holiday with her family. She loves building castles, reading in the shade, swimming and helping cook barbecues. Her problem is that the boys, Josh and Marcus, are forever hanging about where she is. They invite her to race, run around where she's reading, nag to spin her in the revolving egg and knock down her castle. They are not malicious...just THERE. They want her to go to the fair and she snaps at them. Mum leaves Rebecca at the camp with Granny and takes the boys off for the day. Rebecca has a delightful day of peace and quiet.
When the boys come back, they're full of the things they saw and did. Rebecca tells of her day. The boys come up with a plan. If Rebecca will play with them in the mornings, they will play on their own in the afternoon. Everyone is happy.
The story is a reversal of the kind where younger children resent their bossy elders. Josh and Marcus like Rebecca. They want to include her. She probably did enjoy playing with them until recently, but the implication is she's reached one of those milestones where children change.
And no, I was never an elder sister! I probably did annoy my elder sister just as the boys annoy Rebecca.
About the Blog
Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)
The goal for 2017 is to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. If you enjoyed a post, or want to ask about any of my books or my manuscript assessment service, post a comment and I'll get back to you.
I smiled at the vicars and pony traps ... To the Australian mind, a pony trap might sound like a nasty trick to play on a pony, instead of the actual jinker or carriage or whatever a pony trap actually is ...
ReplyDeleteI think that was why they commissioned more parochial subjects! Mind you, having come up through the 1950s and 60s stories, I was well up with vicars and pony traps.
ReplyDelete