Book Bingo One: A Beloved Classic – Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner

It’s book bingo Saturday today, which means marking off my first square of the year on the new bingo card. This year I am officially on the card with Theresa and Amanda, and our shiny new card is below, as it my progress card – so you can see which categories I have marked off as the year progresses.

Much like last year, I will be aiming to review the book before each Book Bingo Saturday, and then linking the review into the fortnightly book bingo post. The first square I marked off for 2019 was the beloved classic square – and the book that slotted into this square was Seven Little Australians by Ethel Turner.

Published in 1894, Seven Little Australians is an Australian classic, and one of the earliest examples of children’s literature in Australia. Seven Little Australis is the story of the Woolcot children living in the late colonial days of Australia, seven years from the Federation of the nation. Here, we meet Meg, Pip, Judy, Nell, Bunty, Baby and The General – whose mischief making drives their father to his wits end, and results in drastic measures that eventually lead to catastrophic and heartbreaking events that will change the lives of the Woolcot family forever.

I first read this at school, when searching for something new to read, and enjoyed it then at about nine or ten, and didn’t come across it again until I studied Children’s Literature at university. It was one I remembered but for years, had not come across even though it is one that isn’t often out of print. I have aways enjoyed this book, for various reasons, and one of the main reasons I enjoyed it was because it is so uniquely Australian – it is a story of family and love, and written at a time in history when certain views were held, yet these views were not explicitly stated, there was still the implicit

Another aspect that makes this a beloved classic is the focus on the female characters, in particular Judy, who is spirited and doesn’t fit the mould of what a perfect nineteenth century girl should be. My full review is posted on this blog and I have now kicked off my year for book bingo and reading challenges. More to come in two weeks time!