A leading expert in children’s literature will give a free public talk in Worcester, examining the role climate change plays in story books.
Jean Webb, Professor of International Children’s Literature at the University of Worcester, will deliver the talk, titled ‘Environmental Havoc in Contemporary Fiction for Children and Teenagers’, at Script Haven bookshop on the high street in Worcester on Tuesday 15 April at 6.30pm.
Professor Webb said: “Around the 1990s we started to see more and more books aimed at children where the audience were being made more and more aware of climate change.”
She continued: “Books like Tony Davis’ The Big Dry, which explored droughts in Australia, or Marcus Sedgewick’s Floodland, which sees Norwich turned into an island by flooding, and the children have to go and make a new life.”
She added: “Throughout recent history, authors have been writing about the impact of weather on characters. In Wind and the Willows, for instance, Mole decides he’s going to be adventurous and bold going into the woods by himself but gets caught in a snowstorm and Ratty has to rescue him, so weather is being used to represent threat and danger.”
Books can be a way for children to discover and first come into contact with the impact human behaviour can have on the world around us.
Professor Webb said: “If we look at Watership Down, the reason the rabbits were threatened in the first place was because of the building of roads and housing development causing a loss of habitat, so you can see themes like this in stories aimed at children.”
She continued: “The authors write about the things that matter to them, and they want to protect the younger generations by getting them to think about these things. Parents also read these stories too, so the writers make a difference simply by making more people aware of these issues.”
The event is part of the Curious Minds Literary Festival, which aims to reunite young minds and families with creative writing.
This talk is aimed at adults, and along with many other events, people are invited to attend on a ‘Pay As You Feel’ basis, to ensure affordability for everyone, and there’s no need to book for the events.
For information on courses at the University of Worcester visit www.worcester.ac.uk or for application enquiries, telephone 01905 855111 or email [email protected]