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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Poetry Friday and an Email That Made Me Cry

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It’s Poetry Friday – a special day of the week but, unfortunately, one I have not had much time to take part in this year.  Life has been hectic -with  a full time day job at Curtin University in Perth, a new book (Bushfire) back  in February, a new verse novel  (Worse Things) scheduled for 2020, a month long residency in Canberra and, of course, lots of other things.

But I’ve been planning to get back to regular postings and an email this morning has given me the impetus.

The email, from a young reader named Ben, was short and sweet but gosh it mad me cry – in a good way. Ben took the time to email and tell me how much he loved my book 1915. It is, he tells me, his favourite book ever. And his favourite part? A poem called ‘Men Don’t Cry’.  I love that Ben especially liked this poem because, tome, it is the essence of the whole book.

 

See, the main character in the book, Stan, is a soldier,fighting at Gallipoli in WW1.  He’s just an ordinary man – a teacher from Bunbury, Western Australia, who has joined up to do what he sees as his duty but is, as so many young men were, confronted by the brutal reality of the war.  He finds himself thinking a lot about courage and bravery.One thing that helps him through is writing poetry and, in the book, we see some of those poems, including one written at a time when he is at his darkest. That a young reader read that poem and loved it means the world to me  and would to Stanley, too, I am sure.

So thanks Ben for your email, which has inspired me to share that poem here today and, at the same time,  jump back into Poetry Friday.

Men Don’t Cry   

Men don’t cry, or so I’ve heard

But here I sit and do

Because, dear friend this damned war

Has done its worst to you.

 

When we first met you made me laugh

You made me smile and more.

We became friends, we became mates

And together we marched to war.

 

Side by side we fought for months

And still you made me grin.

You were brave and tough, your mother’s son

Determined we would win.

 

When I was hurt you lifted me

And helped me toward aid.

That brave decision, sad to say

Was the last one that you made.

 

A shell blast took us both to ground

And you died a hero’s death.

Your only concern your mother dear

Her name on your last breath.

 

Men don’t cry, but if that’s so

Then no more man am I

As on your final resting place

I can only sit and cry.

 

(Sally Murphy, 2015)

 

I’m off to check out the rest of the Poetry Friday goodness which starts at Sloth Reads, where  Rebecca is hosting the round up, starting with a yummy salad poem.

NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge

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While I was in Sydney recently for the amazing SCBWI National Conference and subsequent PD Day for teachers at the State Library,  I heard something about me (and my books) which I had not realise. See, I knew some of my books were on the reading list for the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge, an amazing challenge which sees students across the state reading a wide range of books from a curated list. What I hadn’t realised was that I have books on each of the four lists – for ages from Kindergarten to Year 9.

How exciting – and what an honour.

So if you, your students or children are taking part in the  Reading Challenge in 2019, you can include the following books in your reading:Looking Up

K-2:  Fly-in Fly-out Dad, Snowy’s Christmas 

Years 3-4:   Looking Up, Roses are Blue, the Sage Cookson series (8 titles)

Years 5-6: Toppling, Meet Mary MacKillop and Pearl Verses the World

Years 7-9:  1915, Toppling, Meet Mary MacKillop, and Pearl Verses the World

For more information about the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge, visit the site here – and get reading!

Teacher Tuesday: Using 1915 in a Year 6 Classroom

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Welcome to my first Teacher Tuesday post for 2018 – and, of course, welcome to the new school year. If you have missed my previous Teacher Tuesday posts, links to those are at the end of this post, offering lots of ideas for using my books in your classroom.   This week, I am sharing suggestions for using Australia’s Great War: 1915 in your year six classroom, though of course the activities could be adapted for an older or younger class as well.

Using 1915 in a Year Six Classroom

Australia’s Great War: 1915, by Sally Murphy 
Published by Scholastic Australia, 2015
ISBN: 9781743622483
Format 208 pp Paperback RRP $16.99  (Also available as an ebook)

Blurb:    When Australia throws its support behind Britain in its fight against Germany, young teacher Stan Moore is one of the first to join up, swapping the classroom for adventure in Europe. But the 11th Battalion is sent with the newly formed Anzac Corp to Gallipoli where Stan is confronted by the hard lessons of war.  Though conditions are dismal and death is everywhere, so is the humour and bravery that is the true spirit of Anzac.

Sally’s Recommended Grade Levels: Year 4 – Lower Secondary, but these suggestions focus on Year 6.

Themes/Topics:

  • Word War 1
  • Gallipoli
  • History
  • Family/Siblings
  • Friendship
  • Letter Writing
  • War Poetry

Curriculum Links and Activities

  1. Identify and explore ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters represented in texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1619)
  2. Compare the ways that language and images are used to createcharacter, and to influence emotions and opinions in different types of texts (ACELT1621)
  3. Recognise and analyse the ways that characterisation, events and settings are combined in narratives, and discuss the purposes and appeal of different approaches (ACELT1622)
  • Before Reading: Class or small group work – brainstorm knowledge about World War 1, and, particularly, Gallipoli. Start a class ‘fact’ wall, where facts about WW1 are added progressively during the unit.  Have students verify facts, using internet sources and/or class library, and reference the source on their additions to the ‘fact’ wall. Information to consider: key dates of the war, key dates of Gallipoli campaign, countries involved, numbers of Australian who served, casualties, fatalities etc,  geographic locations, famous people involved etc.  Operation Click (available here) has useful fact sheets and worksheets.
  • Before reading – Examine front cover. Focus on the character pictured – the main character (Stan).  Discuss – what kinds of people served in WW1? What would we expect Stan to be like – age, employment background, any special qualities etc.   Examine rest of cover, including the photos and blurb.  Journal writing, or discussion: From examining the cover, do you anticipate enjoying the book? Why/Why not?  What do you know about Stan from the cover information?  What do you think might happen to Stan in the story? Encourage students to give evidence from the cover and from their knowledge of WW1.
  • Before Reading – Focus on the concept of bravery/courage. What do these words mean? In groups, students to crate posters, providing a definition of bravery, and giving examples of what bravery might look – at war, and in everyday life.
  • During reading, focus on key moments of bravery, including the landing at Gallipoli (chapter five), Stanley helping Colin (pp. 67-68), Simpson (Chapter 9), Miles helping the Turk (Chapter 10), Stanley and others staying aboard the Southland (chapter 17). Encourage students to identify other kinds of courage: returning to Gallipoli after hospitalisation, using humour to get through, writing letters which don’t reflect just how bad things are etc.
  • After Reading: Groups to revisit their bravery posters, and create a second poster identifying instances of bravery from the book. Share posters with whole class, and discuss whether concepts of bravery have changed through reading the book. Use worksheets from Operation Click (here) to explore the concept of the ANZAC legend.
  • After Reading: Compare 1915 with other accounts of Gallipoli. Historic accounts, from newspapers and books can be found on Trove, and elsewhere, Contemporary nonfiction accounts in textbooks or online (here’s one to get you started), and fictional accounts are numerous – including the picture books listed here.  Read and/or view a number of accounts, and have students compare by creating a table, focussing on:  attitude to war, events focussed on, word choice, other aspects.

4.Reflect on ideas and opinions about characters, settings and events in literary texts, identifying areas of agreement and difference with others and justifying a point of view (ACELT1620)

5. Understand how language is used to evaluate texts and how evaluations about a text can be substantiated by reference to the text and other sources (ACELA1782)

  • After reading, discuss reactions to the book. Look back at predictions made about enjoying the book, and discuss whether the book met expectations.
  • Examine sample book reviews, and identify elements. (You can find many book reviews on the Reading Time website. There are also reviews of 1915 here and here).
  • Students to write their own review of 1915.
  • Alternatively, create a Booktalk or Book Trailer for the book. There is a sample Booktalk for 1915 HERE, and a Booktrailer for one of my other books, Toppling, HERE.
  1. Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, selecting aspects of subjectmatter and particular language, visual, and audio features to convey information and ideas (ACELY1725)
  • Reread Stanley’s poems (p. 77 & p. 169). Discuss why Stanley wrote poems, and why Charles Bean decided to put together the ANZAC book. Students to attempt their own poem about either another moment from the book (perhaps Miles’ death, or the landing at Galllipoli) OR about something difficult they have experienced.
  • Letter writing. Reread a selection of Stanley and Elizabeth’s letters. Write e letter from one of the characters after Stanley has left Gallipoli for the last time. OR Discuss how their letters differ from modern communication. Imagine they have mobile phones or email and  write a text or email exchange between the two.

Other suggestions for using 1915 in your classroom include:

  • Make red poppies for ANZAC Day or Remembrance Day. Simple instructions can be found here.
  • Geography/HASS: Create a timeline for the Gallipoli campaign. Using a different colour or font, insert key events from the book.
  • Show students this real photo which features in the opening scene of the book.  
  • Email the author(that’s me!) Your students can write to me through this website, and share their responses or ask questions.

 

Related Books

Mostly, I’d love to remind you that while I love to see my books used in classrooms, I also love to see kids just enjoying them. Reading a book should be pleasurable – whether it’s being used in the classroom or not.  So allow your students to enjoy reading 1915

If you find this useful, or have any suggestions or comments, do leave a comment. And, if there is a particular book or year level or topic that you would like covered in a future edition of Teacher Tuesday, let me know.

Previous Teacher Tuesday posts include:  Pearl Verses the World, Looking Up, Toppling,  Roses are Blue, Do Not Forget Australia, The Sage Cookson Series,  Snowy’s Christmas and The Floatingest Frog.

 

 

Throwback Thursday: On the Pyramid

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This week for Throwback Thursday I thought I’d share a very old photo. In fact, this photo is over 100 years old.Australian 11th Battalion

It’s a photo that, like many other Australians, I’ve seen many many times., I knew that this was a photo of Australian troops taken in Egypt during WW1, but when I began my research for my book 1915, this photo became for a me a starting point.

The photo was taken in January 1915, and features the men of the 11th Battalion of the AIF who were in Egypt preparing to join the war. They didn’t know it then, but in April those men would land at Gallipoli. Many of them would never leave.

As I researched WW1, looking for a place to start my story, I realised that if my character was from Western Australia (which he was) then he would have been in the 11th and, therefore, in this photo. So, at the start of 1915 I have my character, Stanley, climbing the pyramid with his mates, ready to have their photo taken.

Writing that scene was both a joy and a torment. A Joy because I knew that young men like Stanley were excited to be off on an adventure, seeing the sights of Egypt, climbing pyramids, being outside of Australia for the first times in their lives, excited about having their photo taken. But a torment, because while Stanley was fictional, the harsh realities of what later befell those very real young men in the photograph was something they could never have predicted, but which I, with 100 years of separation, knew and could hardly bear.

I have a copy of this photo which I take with me when I go to speak about 1915. Like me, people young and old are fascinated by the quality of photography from a century ago, and fascinated by the many details they can see – the looks on faces, the poses of the men, the things they are holding and wearing. And, like me, when they realise the future these men faced, their emotions are mixed.

This photo, and stories like 1915, remind us of the past in the hopes we can make a better future.

Not as Different as You’d Think: Things I Learned in Bookweek

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As I talked about books and writing during my Bookweek visits, I used my three latest books – Fly-In Fly-out Dad, 1915, and Roses are Blue – to demonstrate where ideas come from, and how an idea can be moulded into a story. In most sessions I referred to all three books because I felt that using such diverse books would mix things up a bit. But, after a week of discussing three very different books, I started to realise that while they are very different, these three books had quite a lot of similarities.

  1. Fly-In Fly-Out DadAll are about absence, and missing loved ones. In Fly-in Fly-Out Dad Tiger misses his Dad, and Dad misses his son. Even when they are together they realise that soon they will be apart again. In 1915 Stanley, fighting at Gallipoli, misses his family desperately, and probably his twin sister Elizabeth most of all. And Elizabeth, at home in Australia, misses Stanley, and worries about him every day. In Roses are Blue, Amber misses her mum, even though Mum is still with her. She misses the way Mum was before her terrible accident, and the things they could do together which they now can’t.
  1. 1915All three feature strong child characters.Tiger is only little, and struggles to understand where Dad goes, and even why they can’t always be together, but he tries to be brave about this. It’s important though, that he is able to recognise that being ‘brave’ doesn’t mean he isn’t allowed to miss his dad or to feel sad about Dad’s absences. In 1915, Stanley and Elizabeth are not children – though as young teachers they really aren’t much past their teenage years. And they are both strong individuals. But to me, the child characters who strike me as strong here are Miles’ sons, Bobby and Harry , who Elizabeth teaches. They represent the many many children who, in World War 1 (as in other armed conflicts) watched their fathers go off to war, not knowing if they’d come back. And (spoiler alert) when their father does die, they do their best to carry on their lives. In Roses are Blue, Amber too has the strength to carry on, trying hard to be happy, to support her family – especially her baby brother, Jack – and to make the most of what she’s got.
  1. Roses are BlueAll three make people cry. I spent a lot of time during Bookweek (as with all my appearances, really) discussing why I choose to write books which rouse emotion. Though I don’t set out to make people cry, I’m kind of glad that I am able to connect with people in this way. And my aim is, that even when someone cries reading one of my books, they should feel happier afterwards.

There are probably other links between the three, and between these and my other books. Perhaps the biggest link is that, because they were written by me, inside each and every one of my books is a piece of me. Intentionally or otherwise, I put myself on every page. It’s one of the fun parts of being an author.

Bookweek Wrap Up

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Last week was Children’s Bookweek here in Australia, and I was lucky enough to spend the week visiting libraries around Perth and talking about books and writing.

A big shout out to the staff at The Grove,  Manning, South Perth, Cambridge, Mt Claremont and Canning Bridge Libraries, and to the staff and students from Cottesloe Primary School, Mosman Park Primary School, Manning Primary School, St Columba’s Primary School, Como Primary School, South Perth Primary School, Floreat Park Primary, Holy Spirit Primary, Moerlina School, Mt Pleasant Primary and the parents and littlies who came along to Storytime at Mt Claremont.

It’s hard to pick out highlights from such a wonderful and joy-filled week, but here are a few:

1. This gorgeous display of pictures illustrating the theme for the week, Books Light Up My World. Bookweek20152. The questions. Some are funny, some are insightful, some are hard, but the questions are one of the best parts of each session.

3.  Sharing my books. Writers spend so much time working in isolation, that a week like Bookweek is a wonderful opportunity to share with audiences. Not only do I get to inspire young readers, but they inspire me equally, if not more.

4. Games! Dressing up, singing, dancing, laughing. Can’t believe this is part of my job.

Bookweek2015b

5. The fact I get to it all again next year. I’ve already started taking bookings for Bookweek 2016. I’m looking forward to coming to a library or school near you.

Since Bookweek I have been to Townsville to speak to the students  of Kirwan State School. That’s the subject for another post.

sallymurphy.com.au