Bush, City, Cyberspace
The Development of Australian Children's Literature in the 21st Century

Provides a comprehensive analysis of Australian children's literature from its earliest examples in the mid-19th century to those of today. Discusses novels, short stories, picture books and poetry for children and adolescents.

The book is similar in coverage and approach to Australian Children's Literature: An Exploration of Genre and Theme , written by the same three authors and published by the Centre for Information Studies in 1995. In the intervening period, much has changed in the field, notable examples including the blurring of the dividing line between 'quality' and 'popular' literature; the blending of genres; the rise of a truly indigenous literature; the demise, to a significant extent, of 'Outbackery' in fiction; the acceptance of multiculturalism as the norm; and the advent of the literature of cyberspace, with new methods, and the sheer speed, of communication between writer and reader. All these trends, and others, are reflected in this work.

The origins of Australian children's literature
On being Australian: The Gallipolli legend
Migration and national identity
White voices/black voices: Indigenous children's literature
The role and significance of the natural environment
Negotiating the maze of life 1: Focus on the family
Negotiating the maze of life 2: Additional dilemmas for today's children an adolescents
Future histories of Australia
The hero and the quest from Dot and the Kangaroo to Dragonkeeper
Popular fiction for the cyber-generation
Australian children's poetry
Australian picture books.