Dot and the Kangaroo

Pedley, Ethel C., 1860？-1898Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 184K words
Chapters: 19

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Dot and the Kangaroo by Ethel C. PedleyAuthor: Pedley, Ethel C., 1860?-1898,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Feb 1, 2003

Editor's review

A classic of Australian children's literature, this is the story of a little girl, Dot, who loses her way in the bush and is taken in by a kangaroo, who carries her across the wild country in search of the way home. Its most distinctive quality is that it turns Australia's unique fauna into talking characters with real temperaments; new animals and new difficulties keep appearing along the journey, and the pace is brisk and the imagination abundant. Beyond the pleasures of adventure, the narrative naturally brings in an awareness of the animals' plight and a reflection on human behavior, yet the moralizing never feels forced and the story remains foremost. The language is plain, and the length suits either continuous read-aloud sessions or chapter-by-chapter independent reading; it is a fitting entry point into the tradition of Australian children's literature. Because it was written in the late nineteenth century, some wording and expressions bear the marks of their era, and a brief explanation may help during shared parent-child reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Upper-primary readers who can already read longer stories independently
Parents and teachers looking for an animal adventure story suitable for bedtime reading aloud
Readers interested in Australian animals and the tradition of children's literature
Families who wish to use a simple English original for shared parent-child reading

Not a good fit for

Readers who prefer realistic animal nonfiction and want accurate biological knowledge
Teenage and adult readers seeking complex plots and multi-strand narratives
People uninterested in anthropomorphic animal narratives who read only nonfiction

Reading tips

Proceed chapter by chapter; pause at the end of each chapter and let the child retell where Dot has gone and whom she has met.
During shared reading, look at pictures of Australian animals together to help the child match the characters to real animals.
At passages where animals help one another or come into conflict, pause to talk about the characters' choices before reading on.
After finishing the book, look back at the beginning and the end and compare how Dot's state of mind changes between setting out and coming home.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What age is this book suitable for?

The content is mainly animal adventure with no complex structure, suitable for upper-primary children to read independently; younger children can have it read aloud by a parent. The specific choice should also take into account the child's English level and attention span.

Are the animals' habits in the story true to life?

The animal characters are anthropomorphized: they talk and have emotions, so the book should not be treated as a book about animal habits. It offers imaginative animal figures; to learn about real habits, look for a nonfiction science book to compare.

Is the English original suitable for beginning readers?

The language is generally plain, mainly narrative and dialogue, and easier to read than many nineteenth-century English works, though some old-fashioned words remain. It suits children who already have some foundation in English reading, or shared reading with a parent.

What can one get from reading this book?

Mainly the reading pleasure of an adventure story, a felt sense of Australian animal figures, and an initial reflection on the relationship between people and animals. It is not meant to provide systematic education; its value lies in the literary experience and the stimulation of imagination.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Pedley, Ethel C., 1860？-1898 Author · Australian · 1860–1898

Pedley, Ethel C. (1860?–1898) was an Australian writer of children's literature. Her birth year is uncertain, and public information about her is limited, with many details of her life unknown. She is known for Dot and the Kangaroo, which also represents the two works held in the collection. Writing for young readers, she often set her stories in the Australian bush, making kangaroos and other native animals into characters and weaving in elements of Aboriginal legend, which gives her work a distinct local color within early Australian children's literature. Although she died young and left only a small body of work, this representative book has kept her remembered and offers a window into late nineteenth-century Australian children's literature and nature-themed writing.