Children’s Literature Author Study

1. Children’s Literature Author Study Heather Holwitt

2. Biography • Born in Melbourne, Australia on March 5, 1946. • Moved to Africa when she was six months old. • Her father’s name is Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge and her mother’s name is Nancy. • In the mid-sixties, Fox went to drama school in London. • Fox got married in 1969 to Malcolm. • They had their child Chloë in 1971. • Began teaching in 1973. • Was an Associate Professor at Flinders University in Adelaide. • Retired in 1996.

3. Awards and Honors • 1990 Dromkeen Medal for distinguished services to children's literature • 1991 Advance Australia Award for her outstanding contribution to Australian literature • Medal in the 1993 Australia Day Honours awards, for services to the cultural life of Australia • Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Wollongong, Australia, in 1996 • Possum Magic sold over a million copies in its first ten years of publication and is still in hard-back. It is the best selling picture book ever in Australia • Written over twenty five picture books for children • Time for Bed (which was on the best-seller lists for over a year) has sold over a million copies and is on Oprah's list of the twenty all-time best children's books.

4. “Time For Bed” • Younger audience • Simple words • Rhymed words • Repeated words • Pictures are life-like • Involves animals • Great book! "It's time for bed, little mouse, little mouse,Darkness is falling all over the house.It's time for bed, little goose, little goose,The stars are out and on the loose . . ."

5. “Sophie” • Touching story • Life cycle from birth to death • African-American family • Animals • Colorful pictures, but not life-like “Once there was no Sophie. And then there was. Sophie's hand curled round Grandpa's finger. Grandpa and Sophie loved each other."

6. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge • Rhyming words • Repeated words • Colorful & life-like pictures • Touching story • Animals • Makes you laugh! "There was once a small boy called Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge and what's more he wasn't very old, either. His house was next door to an old people's home and he knew all the people who lived there…"

7. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge • Best shows Fox’s books • Mostly about her family • All items relate to her family • Miss Nancy is same age as her grandfather when he died. • Grandfather gave her his metals from the war. • Chloe had a puppet & also sneezed porridge (combined these happy memories). • Great book for children to read! • Can do a lesson about memories with this book

8. Lessons on Mem Fox • Learn about Fox’s life • Go to http://www.memfox.com • Cooking Projects that go along with Fox’s books (also on Fox’s WebPage) • Learn about Australia • Fox’s hometown • Animals (which many are in her books) • Geography • Discuss Fox’s book & write one that is similar to hers!

9. From Mem’s Mouth… “Writing is my second love. My first is teaching, to which I admit an addiction so powerful that I'm surprised I had the courage to retire early (in 1996) from my position as Associate Professor, Literacy Studies, in the School of Education at Flinders University, South Australia. I taught there very happily—and fulltime—for twenty four years.”

10. Bibliography Fox, Mem. March 2003. Mem Fox. 21 April 2003. <http://www.memfox.com> ~This website provided all the information I need about Fox, plus tons of pictures that were very useful. Fox, Mem. Sophie. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1994. Fox, Mem. Time for Bed. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, 1993. Fox, Mem. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. Brooklyn, NY: Kane/Miller Book Publishers, 1985.