Science Fiction and Dystopias

14 • Autumn 2005

Science fiction and dystopias

‘O brave new world,/ That has such Consolmagno, curator of meteorites at people in it’ (Shakespeare, The Tempest the Vatican Observatory: ‘Ultimately, SF Vi183) is not about spaceships or bug-eyed monsters; it is about human beings’ (Tablet, The ironic use by Aldous Huxley in 1932 30/7/05). He suggests that a writer who of this quotation from Shakespeare for uses story to explore the interaction of the title of his dystopian novel perhaps the human with the ‘almost-human,’ foreshadows the ambivalence character- or ‘deliberately changes one or two key istic of so much writing about imagined truths’ about our world, is using a very futures, for both children and adults. At effective technique. Such stories at their least from the twentieth century onwards, best can work towards ‘a deeper under- it seems that Utopias are far fewer standing of technology, society, and in number than dystopias. Scenarios the fears and dreams of being human.’ abound, in which worlds, either created Perhaps the reason that children’s books in accordance with political or philo- that look towards an imagined future sophical theorising, or resulting from seem to be proliferating is that such scientific progress or disaster, are shown issues have become still more crucial to be flawed. In some of them, bands of in today’s world. Authors and publish- intrepid young people find their way to ers alike realise, perhaps implicitly, how a more hopeful future, perhaps achiev- key is the involvement of young people ing a deliverance that the adults had not in shaping the future and establishing even realised that they needed. human values within it.

In this issue of IBBYLink we have a range Pat Pinsent of articles by writers who vary in their interpretations of the terms ‘science The next issue of IBBYLink, Spring 2006, fiction’ and ‘dystopia’ and, as a result, will largely be devoted to summaries present a number of perspectives on the of papers at the November 12th IBBY current situation of this genre (or gen- conference on Children’s Literature in res!) in children’s literature. But I sus- Translation. We would, however, welcome pect that all those who create science reviews, comments, articles on other top- fiction or write about it would agree with ics for inclusion either in that issue or in a statement in a recent article by Guy subsequent ones.

Contents 2 Science Fiction – what is it? 10 Children’s Dystopias Luke Slater Kevin McCarron 5 The Transgender Factor 12 Historical If … Farah Mendlesohn Bridget Carrington 7 New dystopias and children’s literature 14 Dystopian Societies Kim Reynolds Pam Robson, with Nikki Gamble and Pat Pinsent 9 The Evils of Technology 18 Reviews Noga Applebaum 19 News and conferences Science Fiction – what is it? Luke Slater

and The term science fiction describes a broad the midst of the fictional time and place church, or perhaps more accurately, at hand. Consequently, protagonists in science fiction is used as a blanket term to describe a science fiction are often outsiders – trav- wide array of disparate, squabbling and ellers, even time travellers, rebels or schismatic faiths. Science fiction is in innocent fools – because this allows the some ways the poor relation of the litera- author to use the character as the senses dystopias ture family, looked down on by ‘proper’ of the reader in exploring a new world writers as the domain of hacks and tech- and thus assign basic expository duties to geeks and permitted a sense of superi- dialogue rather than the voice-of-god. ority only in the company of that even more disreputable fictional cousin, hor- If everyone in the fictional world knows ror. To mercilessly stretch the allegory, it what a spoodgeflanger does and what its is also notable that, despite this external role in modern society is, then any expla- condemnation, the internal disputes of nation for the audience must come in the science fiction community are more the form of either a pedantic narrative savage by far; no-one hates a stranger passage which has nothing to do with with the fury they reserve for their the story, or a meaningless discussion next-of-kin. between two characters who essentially agree on everything they are saying but All genre headings are vague and nebu- apparently feel the need to say it at great lous of course, but science fiction is espe- length anyway; the ‘as I am sure you cially so, despite the superficially obvious know…’ method. If the protagonist is a dictionary definition: foreigner of some kind, however, then it makes sense for their guide to describe Science fiction: fiction dealing princi- the role of this most basic of things, as pally with the impact of actual or imagined it would for a potential rebel to receive science on society or individuals or having a diatribe on the subject of how the a scientific factor as an essential orienting spoodgeflanger is not the boon that she component. believed it to be.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Science fiction may encompass a range of sub-genres and styles, but there are a In fact, even the name of this particu- few themes which recur repeatedly, from lar genre is contentious. Many people the most pedantic speculative fiction to – including almost anyone without a the fluffiest of space operas, and perhaps particular axe to grind in the debate – provide a better definition of science fic- abbreviate science fiction to the punch- tion than content. In his Pictorial History ier ‘sci-fi’. There is, however, a corps of of Science Fiction (Hamlyn, 1976), David particularly devoted fans of ‘serious’ sci- Kyle defines four key themes: remark- ence fiction who prefer the acronym SF, able inventions, imaginary voyages, usually using sci-fi as a derogatory term future predictions and social satire. This iBBYLink 14 for low-quality, inferior science fiction, is a useful, broad definition; almost all The British IBBY pronouncing it ‘skiffy’. These purists may science fiction involves one of these four Newsletter also insist that SF stands for speculative fic- features. Autumn 2005 tion, in order to distinguish their kind of literature from mere ‘science fantasy’. Remarkable inventions could include Pat Pinsent discoveries of biology as well as marvel- Editor lous machines. It is notable that in tales Common themes in science fiction of such inventions, their effect on the In science fiction, the setting is king. world around them is as important – if Kathleen Fedouloff While all of the features of good nar- not more important – than the specif- Design & Layout rative will be well-represented in any ics of their operation. Once more we worthwhile work of SF, most science see that the it is the fictional world that To sponsor a future issue of fiction – especially that of the sort pre- dominates. Imaginary voyages, be they IBBYLink, ferred by the purists – is ultimately about through time or space, serve as a vehi- please contact Pat Pinsent the effect of a novel element on society cle for commentary on the world of the [email protected] and humanity. Science fiction frequently story, and so indirectly on the world of commences in media res, or at least in the author. This ties in very closely with science fiction as social satire, wherein morass of pedantic concepts illustrated science fiction the absurdities of a future or alternate through techno-fetishist vignettes. Soft world point at less obvious faults in our SF, meanwhile, runs the gamut between own. The final theme – future prediction cheesy space opera and involving sci- and – involves the use of fiction to explore ence fantasy in which the technological possible realities, whether utopian, nihil- aspects are a vehicle for the story. istic or somewhere in between. dystopias Indeed, this last is often identified as the Less specifically, science fiction deals with key distinction between hard and soft SF. a number of key issues. These include, but In hard science fiction, technology and are not limited to: musings on alienation progress provide the focus and driving and the human condition, in particular force of the narrative. In soft science fic- the effect of scientific progress on human tion, on the other hand, all the technol- identity and interpersonal relationships; ogy in the world is purely an enabling the conflict between technocratic civili- factor. Hard SF stories would not take sation and nature, either human nature place without the science; soft SF uses it or the wider environment; and human only as a tool. reactions to the ‘other’, an unknown element in a rational worldview, which could be an alien, other humans with Sub-genres unusual abilities or beliefs, a new tech- As noted, science fiction covers a broad nology or simply an outsider to a closed territory. It is therefore in order to con- community. clude with a brief survey of some of the more common sub-genres of SF, and Journeys of discovery are a common some of the better examples of each. theme in all branches of science fiction. Whether the journey is epic or personal it • The Unknown Frontier. Exploration of will usually take the characters on a tour the unknown can combine elements of the key points of the setting. The jour- of all four key themes and is a com- ney may be literal, but especially in satiri- monplace in SF writing. The frontier cal stories it will often be allegorical. may be in space or under the sea, or it may lie between dimensions, but the journey is often more important than Hard and soft SF the destination and the reactions of A common critical distinction is drawn the travellers to their voyage matters between ‘hard’ SF – serious fiction, deal- above such trivialities as their per- ing in realistic science and the impact sonal lives. Classic explorations of the of progress on society – and ‘soft’ SF unknown frontier include Arthur C. – fantasy, quite literally, with knobs on. Clarke’s 2001 and Jules Verne’s 20,000 ‘Soft’ is often used in a derogatory fash- Leagues Beneath the Sea; more recent ion, but a fanciful setting can still be the examples include The Wormholers, by backdrop for serious writing, while well- Jamila Gavin. researched science is a poor substitute for good writing. • Dystopia. A future world exists in a state of socially engineered bliss, but The division is deep, and begins with apparent utopia covers a multitude the great-grandfathers of science fic- of sins which the characters in the tion. Jules Verne remarks: ‘It occurs to story must uncover. Frequently the me that his stories do not repose on a protagonists of a dystopian tale are very scientific basis…I make use of phys- powerless to change anything, even ics. [Wells] fabricates’ (1903), while the once they know the truth. Aldous same year H.G. Wells ripostes: ‘There’s Huxley’s Brave New World and George a quality in the worst of my so-called Orwell’s 1984 are classics of the sub- “pseudo-scientific” (imbecile adjective) genre, while M.T.Anderson’s Feed is a stuff which differentiates it from Jules modern, IT literate take. Verne…Something one might regard as a new system of ideas –“thought.”’ • Post-apocalypse. Fiction set in the aftermath of a world-shattering dis- At its best, hard SF uses plausible scien- aster, either natural or more fre- tific conceits to explore contemporary quently of humanity’s own creation. and universal social and humanistic Z for Zachariah, by Robert C. O’Brien, themes through stories about involving written for older children, is a stand- characters; at its worst, it consists of a out in the field. • Alternate history. There is a world very go mad include robots, genetic engi- like ours, but where some key event neering and computers (particularly occurred differently. Either random artificial intelligence), and this sub- chance – as in Stephen Baxter’s Voyage, genre often combines with dystopia. in which the US space program is This genre goes all the way back to and accelerated when JFK is merely crip- the Greek myths, but the first truly pled by Oswald’s bullet – or deliber- science fictional example would prob- science fiction ate intervention from the future or ably be Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; from other worlds sends history off at more recent technology gone mad a tangent, usually providing an arena stories include various versions and for satirical comment on orthodox updatings of this seminal story, such dystopias history. as Ann Halam Taylor’s Five.

• Secret history. A sub-genre which has • The other within. Similar to first con- gained massive popularity in recent tact, but here the other arises from years, the secret history posits a mod- within the human race as a result of ern day setting in which the legacy of mutation. Such stories may either con- either a lost race of pyramid build- cern themselves with how these muta- ers or an ancient Masonic conspiracy tions are received or with how they overturns accepted notions of history, cope with their own abilities. Aside usually paving the way for a desperate from the popular X-Men comics, good race to prevent Armageddon. examples of the other within include The Chrysalids, The Midwich Cuckoos • Time travel. Time travel fiction comes in and other works by John Wyndham, or two flavours – ‘they come to us’, or ‘we Peter Dickinson’s The Weathermonger, go to them’. In either case, the story is in which the ‘Changes’ transform usually a social satire and reflects upon modern-minded humans into the the mores and morals of the contempo- other within. rary protagonists. The classic example is of course H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine. • Space opera. Epic adventure set against A key idea in these stories is predesti- the sweeping grandeur of infinity. nation, or lack thereof, and the con- This much-maligned genre is the sequences of meddling in history (c.f. public face of SF and contains many alternate history), the latter explored elements of the fantastic – robots and by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee spaceships; heroes and villains; angels in King Arthur’s Court. and monsters, be they ever so technological; bold adventurers, wise-crack- • Alien contact. Humans meet aliens; as ing mercenaries with hearts of gold with time travel, we could go to them and evil empires. Not all space opera or they could come to us. What follows is soft SF, however; Larry Niven and ranges from paranoid diplomacy to Gerry Pournelle’s The Mote in God’s Eye all-out war, precipitated by either side, and Ben Jeapes’ The Xenocide Mission but happiness, hugs and puppies are are examples for older readers which rarely the outcome. Key themes here transcend simple science fantasy. are conflict with the other and the cosmic insignificance of the human • Cyberpunk. A fairly modern genre, race. Again, Wells gives us the classic cyberpunk explores the blurring of with The War of the Worlds, but Orson borders between man and machine. Scott Card’s Ender’s Game series and AI, VR and mind/machine interfaces John Christopher’s The Tripods are are staples of cyberpunk, as are dysto- modern examples for more advanced pian, corporate-led, technologically- readers. Alien contact is also a popu- dependent societies. The genre was lar focus for contemporary SF series essentially founded as an identifiable for children and young adults, such as entity by William Gibson in the semi- K.A.Applegate’s Animorphs. nal Neuromancer, which also coined the term ‘cyberspace’ for all the world • Technology gone mad. Not unlike dysto- to use. pian fiction, a technology gone mad story revolves around a remarkable [This article can be downloaded from invention which turns on its creators, the Booktrust website http://www.book- either by functioning too well, or by trust.org.uk/ where it is available as part rebelling against its destiny. Popular of a collection of teachers’ support mate- choices for the technology that will rial for teaching Science Fiction.] Children’s Science Fiction: the Transgender Factor science fiction Farah Mendlesohn and

My current research project is on sci- relevant to some of my arguments. These ence fiction written for children between outline arguments are as follows: dystopias (approximately) 1950 and the present day. The project is a book length exten- 1) Most science fiction written for chil- sion of the article ‘Is There Any Such dren does not use/reflect/build on Thing as Children’s SF?: A Position what we know of the cognitive capa- Piece’, published in The Lion and the bilities of children. Unicorn (Vol. 28, no 2, April 2004). It involves reading somewhere in the region 2) Science fiction written for children of three hundred books published over rarely seems to encompass the diver- this period, considering why we can date sity of forms and cognitive demands these books within distinct decades in demonstrated in the adult genre. accordance with the models of childhood they offer, and how this correlation 3) Science fiction written for children affects the attempts to construct SF spe- seems to be driven, above and beyond cifically for the younger reader. The age everything, by the cultural arguments at which children commonly start read- around issues such as education/ped- ing adult fiction is between eleven and agogy, citizenship and socialisation. fifteen, and, while fantasy written for children tends to be very popular and I propose to explore these arguments in well remembered, very few writers of SF the light of what I am tentatively calling for children are remembered fondly by the transgender reading protocols of sci- their grown readership. ence fiction. I want to emphasise that I am at a very early stage in my research One of the things that is beginning to and that much of it is not yet supported intrigue me about the research is the by hard evidence. degree to which research into children’s literature and children’s reading development seems to be shaped by truisms: Science fiction and the cognitive ‘Science fiction is for boys’, ‘A third of capabilities of children young readers are girls’, ‘Boys don’t read’. Small children tend to attempt to make What I want to add is Jacqueline Rose’s sense of strangeness by linking it to argument about ‘The Impossibility of things that aren’t strange, to use con- Children’s Fiction’, the subtitle of her text to decipher the unfamiliar. When influential book, The Case of Peter Pan I discuss cognitive development and SF, (1984). She develops this argument out I tend to focus on Piaget’s comments of the claim that children are neither the about children’s development of abstract producers nor the market for such texts, reasoning around the age of 12. Not which may be too simplistic an interpreta- coincidentally, this is the entry age for tion. All the evidence I’m collecting from most SF readers. As very little SF written SF readers about their reading patterns as for children demands abstract reason- children suggests that the pre-teen child ing, this may explain why most children who chooses to read rather than being who decide they like SF skip this mate- forced to do so, the ‘Reading Child’ as rial and go straight to the adult genre. distinct from the passive Child Reader, I am not altogether happy with this sim- is just as independent a market entity as ple explanation, however, because the any adult. The child’s choices, like those development of emotional processing, of adults, are constrained by the people where a form of abstract thought occurs, who select books for stock, whether they seems to happen earlier. At the age of are booksellers or librarians. 18 months a child will look thoughtfully at the cable on a lamp, tug it, and watch Rose’s point that children don’t write chil- the lamp tumble. At the age of two, the dren’s literature is more valid; children’s child will look thoughtfully at the cable literature is clearly written to reflect the on a lamp, tug it, and watch you to see period’s culturally specific ideas about how you will react. The child is turn- the child. Even though something simi- ing outwards from self as universe to a lar could be claimed in regard to pop- larger universe which links self to others. ular literature for adults, this aspect is But it is also a piece of abstract experi- mentalism. While the earlier situation theme of growing up was viewed as a demonstrates Piaget’s notion of concrete process of socialising children (boys) operation, the second strikes me as much into the work environment. Examples more to do with abstraction. include Robert A. Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy and Norton’s Catseye, both of and The problem with tests like these is that which treat emotions as luxuries to be they mostly took place at a time when dealt with later. From 1960 to 1980 the science fiction cultural pressures made it problematic commonest new plot, rejection of myth to separate boys and girls. In the past ten and parental beliefs, is quite clearly a years, as brain imaging has made it possi- product of the counter-culture. In Sylvia ble to forget crude measurements of size, Engdahl’s Heritage of the Stars, Ben Bova’s dystopias enough differences between boys and The Exiles, Suzanne Martel’s The City girls have started showing up to make Underground, or pretty much any book me wonder about how these experiments by John Christopher, the trajectory of have affected our idea of childhood. the plot is identical: in a ruined society Such test results help to explain how, the children discover that what their par- from about 1980 onwards, books for chil- ents have told them is a myth, and it is dren have been driven by an interest in the children who will reject the old and developing social maturity. They imply build the Truth anew. Running through that you can work on abstract emotional the books published in this twenty year reasoning many years before you can period is a fascination with pedagogy, work on abstract factual reasoning. how to teach independence, how to teach children to think. The snag is that there has always been evidence that there are gender differences: From 1980 onwards the emphasis shifts anecdotally, educators have been moan- away from parental rejectionism towards ing about boys’ emotional immaturity a redemption of parental input. In Bev since the eighteenth century at least; their Spencer’s Guardian of the Dark (1993), inability to reason abstractly at the level of although the protagonists reject the myth emotional consequences for their actions. that there is nothing outside the cavern Recent studies of mathematical ability sug- in which they live, and go forth to find gest that boys are better at maths than girls, a better world, we discover in the penul- but only temporarily, especially if there timate chapter that the young people’s are cultural incentives for them to do well. rebellion has been coached and coaxed Girls acquire the same abilities later on, by the Patriarch. Two recent examples but often after people have given up try- of this rejection of the parental line, ing to teach them. The same may well be William Nicholson’s The Windsinger and true for boys’ linguistic and empathic abili- Jeanne du Prau’s City of Ember, seem to be ties—it isn’t that they can’t acquire them, aimed at the early-teen age group, and but we expect them to acquire them at the suggest the extent to which this idea has same time as girls do, and then assume by now fallen out of favour with society. they can’t be added later. In the 1980s, much of the SF published for children concentrates on the inner land- Children’s Science Fiction and scape, and seems to see as its mission the Cultural Pegagogy socialisation of children less for the fac- The SF written specifically for children tual world than for the emotional world. before 1980 tends to concentrate on Even the political issues, such as envi- reasoning related to information and ronmentalism, reflect this. Significantly, objects rather than emotions. Most of the much of the SF written for children from fiction is written by men, apparently with the 1980s to 2000 is written by women, an implied audience of boys (even the and also by people who don’t write in the apparently exceptional André Norton adult genre. Part of what I’ve been argu- had male protagonists in her most suc- ing is that SF written for children tends cessful books). This SF is not necessarily not to share the social ideals of SF writ- good, having a relatively small number ten for adults, partly because the writers of plots: travel to a new planet/world and are ignorant of the genre, but also arising prevent sabotage; travel to a new world from literary protocols imported from and help it; or repel alien invaders. ‘feminine’ ideas of child development. Incidentally, I am using the term ‘femi- SF for children seems to appear in clus- nine’ for a mode of thought, not to claim ters. An obvious example comes from that ‘women think like...’. For instance, the ’40s and 50s, where the universal a feminine mode of thought emphasises people skills and protectiveness. A cal problems, and judge that the best science fiction masculine mode of thought emphasises books are ‘relevant’, talking to children information skills and risky behaviour. about the world they are in. Books about Indices of maturity have shifted from the history or science either get labelled as and early nineteenth century to the present work or as inferior literature. Why then day to emphasise feminine qualities over would boys admit to reading this mate- masculine qualities. rial? Rather than gaining credit, they dystopias are told it diminishes them. Similarly, One of the big issues in persuading chil- any girl who likes it will be labelled both dren to read is the truism ‘boys don’t boyish and immature. However, having read’. We know, however, that there said this, Holly V. Blackford’s new book are many boys who read science fiction Out of this World: Why Literature Matters and its precursors such as myths, leg- to Girls (2004) is a valuable corrective ends, history, science, and anthropol- to many assumptions that have been ogy. Responses to my questionnaires deployed as working hypotheses (mine (http://sfquestions.blogspot.com) sug- included). gest that neither males nor females saw ‘emotional development’, ‘social issues’ By contrast, the reading protocols of SF or ‘relevance’ as being of interest to look first for a wider consequence, the them in their reading as children. All sense of wonder, the marvelling at the of this is problematic in a climate in world. I would claim that children’s SF which one of the reasons we encourage between 1960 and 1980 suffered from, children to read fiction is to develop among other problems, a ‘femininisa- their emotional maturity. So we select tion’ of the metaphoric drive, and that as ‘good’ books those which emphasise this alienates SF readers of both sexes emotional interests rather than practi- who are far less oriented to interiority.

New dystopias and children’s literature

Kim Reynolds

Dystopian fiction holds up the mirror to today of course – but it was left to future culture to reveal what we most fear: it takes generations to imagine the many ways in our present dreams and aspirations and which human invention can set us on the subjects them to scrutiny to reveal their path to new kinds of dystopias. faults, their petty, egocentric dimensions, and their consequences for aspects of life In my time as a teacher of children’s lit- overlooked by those in power who pro- erature I have seen a succession of dys- pose to implement their grand designs. topian sub-genres, based on a variety In other words, dystopian fiction explores of developments and behaviours, which humans’ inability to conceive and man- demonstrate the topical and sometimes age the world we live in for the good of culture-specific nature of dystopian all. It usually does this by focusing on writing. Some of the themes have been contemporary trends and preoccupations reworked at different times for new gen- and exploring their possible long-term erations of readers, but an indication of effects. Children’s literature, as a vehicle the range and role of dystopian fiction for shaping future generations, has a long for children over the last 30 years can tradition of exploring frighteningly bleak be seen in the following personal, anec- scenarios with a view to finding ways to dotal recollection of notable themes avoid the mistakes that writers believe will and texts I have encountered over this lead to the kinds of dystopian worlds they period. Perhaps not surprisingly, the imagine. number of dystopian scenarios seems to have increased decade by decade. While the mechanics of dystopian fiction are broadly similar over time, the things that frighten and preoccupy us change 1970s – 80s with increasing rapidity. The world from The combination of Cold War mentality which Bunyan’s Pilgrim flees (to the uto- and the related nuclear arms race domi- pia of the Celestial City, the real focus of nated dystopian writing at this time, that text) is beset by sin, trickery, obfus- with books like Robert Swindell’s Brother cation, doubt and despair – still problems in the Land and Robert C. O’Brien’s Z for Zachariah, both of which explored the ous, leading to some powerful dystopian idea of nuclear holocaust brought about visions [Louise Lawrence’s The Giver; by wars between the ‘super powers’. The William Nicholson’s The Wind Singer]. resulting dystopias tended to be stories of survival in a ravaged and toxic world. and 1990s to the present By the turn of the millennium, all the science fiction 1980s – 90s previous strands can still be detected in Armageddon scenarios changed their basic dystopian fiction for children, but with premise during this period, as tensions new variations. Rowling’s Harry Potter between the old ‘super powers’ reduced series increasingly depicts a world suf- dystopias and power bases shifted. Nuclear disasters fering from various kinds of terrorist were still a possibility, but more likely to be scenarios; Meg Rossoff’s award-win- the consequence of accidents at power sta- ning first novel, How I Live Now reflects tions than war [Gudrun Pausewang’s Fall fears of war and invasion, while numer- Out], while the possibility of human error ous books assume the worst about the arising from biological experiments [Victor Internet, computers, and scientific ethics Kelleher’s Parkland; Melvin Burgess’s [Alan Gibbons’s Shadow of the Minotaur]. Bloodtide], and secret scientific/technologi- Books about abuses of cloning [Nancy cal projects dominated dystopian thinking Farmer’s House of the Scorpion], the ravag- about how humans might destroy them- ing of rain forests [Elizabeth Kay’s The selves. Related to technologically/scientifi- Divide], the ruination of species [Ann cally generated disasters, this period saw Hallam’s Siberia] and even the furthest an increasing number of writers exploring reaches of the environment [Geraldine the possibilities of environmental melt- McCaughrean’s White Darkness], and the down in response to pollution and human triumph of violent individuals and heed- failure to respect the needs of the planet. less groups – sometimes disguised as fan- Perhaps the most time-specific dystopian tasy – continue to sound warning bells themes of this period related to the rise for new generations of readers. of Reaganism and Thatcherism in the US and UK; by the end of the 1990s many writ- In combination with the daily news from ers were exploring the consequences of the around the world, it is important to social divisions the policies of this period ask whether the right balance between were bringing about between rich and concern and optimism is being struck. poor [Louise Lawrence’s The Disinherited], Bruno Bettelheim has argued that an and the privileging of the individual above important use of fairy tales is to provide society (the concept of which Margaret young readers/listeners with stories that Thatcher famously denied). Fears about show them triumphing over adversity. It diminishing resources, and an increas- would be foolish indeed to suggest that all ingly totalitarian and youth centred cul- books should be optimistic – that would ture spurred writers to consider worlds in be to deny the genuine problems – but by which those who were deemed not to be creating fear around so many aspects of able to contribute adequately to the mate- culture and the future, there is also the rial and economic needs of society – the danger of making change seem impossi- elderly, the infirm, the differently-abled – ble, of demonising the technologies that or who refused to participate as instructed will be needed to bring about solutions, [Malcolm Rose’s The Obtuse Experiment], and denying the contributions that can were regarded as dispensable or danger- be made by individuals.

The Evils of Technology science fiction

Contemporary Dystopian Science Fiction for Young People and Noga Applebaum dystopias In their critical introduction to Utopian logical society is equated with oppres- and Dystopian Writing for Children and sion and the dystopian cities are sterile Young Adults (2003), Hintz and Ostry and devoid of nature. define dystopian texts as ‘precise descriptions of societies… in which the For many children’s science fiction ideals for improvement have gone tragi- authors, the humanities and the arts, cally amok’ (p. 3). They claim that dys- especially literature and music, represent topias in novels for young adults can be the essence of being human, while tech- seen as metaphors for adolescence and nology is usually not perceived as a crea- the transformation from a state of inno- tive or ethical endeavour, but rather as a cence to that of experience (ibid. 9-10). threat to human values. The dystopian A browse through their extensive anno- technological worlds they create have no tated bibliography reveals that a signifi- regard for reading books or composing cant percentage of dystopian writing for music, which are either banned activities young people belongs to the popular or simply of no interest to a society satu- genre of science fiction. The dystopian rated with images and virtual realities. worlds described in these books are In Rodman Philbrick’s The Last Book in very often technological or post-tech- the Universe (2000), society has fallen into nological. Hintz and Ostry believe that chaos as a result of addiction to surfing in these science fiction novels, children virtual fantasy worlds, and the only writer are ‘exposed to anxieties about technol- left is cruelly lynched. Sonia Levitin’s The ogy while being shown the wonders that Cure (Levitin 1999) depicts a seemingly it can perform’ (ibid. 11). However, an harmonious world in which, with the aid examination of science fiction written of technology, artistic talent is actively for children from 1980 onwards sug- discouraged for fear of it creating diver- gest a prevalent anti-technological bias sity which might lead to conflict. A young amongst many of the authors. musician defies the rules, thus conveying the message that artists are the keepers As the western world is still in thrall to of the soul of humanity. As a result of nineteenth century ideas of childhood, the exposure to technology and the dis- and adults perceive children as naturally regard for literature, language is seen as innocent (see Warner 1994; Jenks 1996; being in danger of impoverishment, in Higonnet 1998; James, Jenks et al. 1998), novels such as Feed (Anderson 2003), Daz man-made technology is often constructed 4 Zoe (Swindells 1990) and Sleepwalking as being in opposition to nature, and by (Morgan 2004). extension, as the embodiment of corrupting experience. Glimpses of this attitude As we live in a rapidly advancing techno- are already found in William Blake’s Songs logical era, it is easy to understand why of Innocence and Experience (1794) in which many children’s science fiction authors pre-Victorian industrialism is depicted as visualise the future as being full of new already corrupting and evil. gadgets and gizmos. However, a fear that the past would be trampled in the proc- In many contemporary children’s science ess of technological progress prevails in fiction novels, technology is depicted as novels such as The Giver (Lowry 1993) the destroyer of nature, democracy, art, and Useful Idiots (Mark 2004). and language. In Peter Dickinson’s Eva (1988) humanity has overwhelmed the Human values and cultures are not all planet, and the natural world, with its that is seen as being threatened by tech- jungles and animals, is almost completely nology. The flood of dystopian writing gone, and can only be experienced virtu- surrounding the issue of cloning not only ally on the ‘Shaper’. The scant patches reflects general public anxiety in a post- left ‘were always being nibbled away human era but more specifically adult as somebody found a new method of fear of the disintegration of the family exploiting them’ (1988:20). Similarly, in structure and with it the power relations Robert Westall’s Futuretrack 5 (1983) and between child and parent. As clones have Julie Bertagna’s Exodus (2002), techno- no parents in the biological sense we are accustomed to, they pose serious ques- their young readers. As these young peo- tions as to the future of adult control ple are likely to grow up in a technologi- over children’s lives. This speculation cal environment, the negative messages may well explain the emphasis in many about technology embedded in litera- of these novels on a cloned child pro- ture written for them may perpetuate and tagonist finding or creating alternative the ambivalent attitudes of previous gen- familial relationships. In Patrick Cave’s erations. Moreover, the increased ability science fiction Sharp North (2004), three generations of of children to adapt to new technology, cloned women form a sisterly bond, while in comparison to their elders, may offer in Halam’s Taylor Five (2002) a cloned an insight into the subconscious motiva- girl forms an alternative mother-daugh- tion of adults in creating these dystopian dystopias ter relationship with her gene-mother. worlds, since this ability threatens the power hierarchy existing between the Of course there are exceptions. Steven knowledgeable, experienced adult and Bowkett’s Ice (2001) and its sequels, the innocent, helpless child, outdated which form The Wintering trilogy, also though such a concept may be today. depict a technological dystopia; however the author suggests that the founda- tion for a better future lies in forming Bibliography: Secondary texts a partnership between technology and Higonnet, A. (1998) Pictures of Innocence: STOP PRESS! nature. A similar message is found in The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood McNaughton’s The Secret under My Skin London: Thames & Hudson The winner of (2000). In Cooper’s Earthchange (1985), the CLPE Poetry C.P Snow’s myth of ‘the two cultures’ is Hintz, C. and E. Ostry (2003) Utopian and Award 2005, dispelled, as the scientist is also a gifted Dystopian Writing for Children and Young announced poet, and in Fox’s Eager (2003), an Adults, New York & London: Routledge on June 6th, endearing tale of a humanoid robot, the is Sensational! message conveyed is that technology is James, A., Jenks,C. et al. (1998) Theorizing edited by Roger part of nature. Childhood, Cambridge: Polity McGough Unfortunately, these examples are Jenks, C. (1996) Childhood, London: sparse; science fiction authors writing Routledge for children and teens continue to display a significant distrust of technology Warner, M. (1994) Managing Monsters: in the form of diverse dystopian tech- Six Myths of Our Time (The 1994 Reith nologised worlds which they create for Lectures), London: Vintage

Children’s Dystopias

Kevin McCarron

I am sure I would find broad agree- Danziger, Melvin Burgess, and Jean Ure. ment if I were to suggest that there are Over the years I have published a con- at least six or so children’s dystopias siderable amount on Adolescent Horror, which can safely be regarded as ‘classics’: and my first area of interest was that of Robert O’Brien’s Z For Zachariah, Robert reader response: essentially, why were Swindells’ Brother in the Land, Louise these horror narratives so popular? I Lawrence’s Children of the Dust, Gudrun want, very briefly, to ask the same ques- Pausewang’s The Last Children and Fall- tion of these children’s dystopias. Why Out, John Rowe Townsend’s Noah’s Castle, are they so popular? John Christopher’s Empty World, and Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now. To this list The most common cause of the night- could be added numerous other authors marish future depicted within the who have made strong contributions to genre is nuclear war, the second is this very popular genre – this list would environmental collapse. Children’s include, among others, Robert Westall, dystopias are extremely graphic in Diana Wynne Jones, Nicholas Fisk, Paula their depictions of a post-apocalyp- 10 tic landscape, far more so than their They are also, and I think here lies the science fiction adult counterparts. Indeed, Louise real appeal of the genre, relentlessly Lawrence’s Children of the Dust and critical of us, adults: the greedy, self- Gudrun Pausewang’s Fall-Out and ish, violent, macho lunatic criminals and The Last Children, in particular, were who have brought about the end of the severely criticised for their bleakness. world. The official advice given by the Pausewang defended herself robustly: Government to the stricken populace dystopias ‘The young readers of my “nuclear nov- in these texts is at the very least useless, els” are not being confronted with the and more often than not, dangerously dangers of the nuclear war for the first wrong. Parents are particularly useless time… if adults want to protect chil- in such texts, almost always dying in the dren from fears about the future they opening pages, incapable of providing should change reality, not condemn my protection to their children, themselves books.’ My suggestion here is that ado- little better that the warmongering lescents read these grimly pessimistic morons who have wreaked such devasta- accounts of millions dying, radiation tion. It has been suggested by a number sickness, a slow and painful death, of literary theorists, including Todorov, as factual; the books are, at least on Bakhtin and Rosemary Jackson, that one level, received as factual, neutral the genre of fantasy itself offers a subtle information. They satisfy a pragmatic temptation to transgression, dispensing agenda. as it does with the materialist rational- ism of Western culture. Certainly, the Pausewang’s persuasive defence of her children’s dystopia could be seen as a site writing is later undermined, for me, by for the most violent displaced Oedipal her simplistic and sentimental evalu- urges. Additionally, these texts offer ation of young people, of whom she unlimited scope for simplistic self-right- writes: ‘The young are more imagina- eous criticisms of the prevailing order. tive than we are. They’re bursting with Only slightly tongue in cheek, I suggest ideas.’ No, they are not! They are burst- that a primary appeal to the adolescent ing with emotions, often inchoate and lies in the genre’s ability to point out unarticulated, which they confuse with that things could hardly be worse and ideas. These dystopias are also often IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT! No post-apoca- powerfully emotional, although I keep lyptic world has ever been brought about in mind here Peter Hunt’s useful admo- because a teenager left his Nintendo DS nition to remember when reading chil- charging for an entire weekend. dren’s books that I am a guest; they were not written for me. Nevertheless, a scene Finally, I note that while these texts are such as this one, from the last page of relentlessly, overpoweringly pessimis- Brother in the Land, strikes me as almost tic regarding the fate of most human unbearably moving: beings, they are reasonably optimistic about the chances for survival of the He had a creeping dose. There was noth- principal characters. Here, though, ing we could do…We kept him wrapped up a paradox emerges, or perhaps less and sat watching the life go out of him. He charitably, a contradiction. There’s no didn’t make a fuss or anything, and then getting around the fact that the world- one night he slipped away. view that emerges after the apocalypse We buried him in the garden. It was rain- is Hobbesian: in extremis, nearly every- ing. We’d wrapped him in sacking and body is cruel, violent and greedy. The there wasn’t quite enough, and we could values that these texts celebrate, most see a bit of his bald head glistening in the notably self-sufficiency and courage, are rain. I know you’re supposed to say some- placed within a larger context within thing over a grave but I didn’t know what, which gender-specificity is inscribed so I said what Branwell said once. I said in the natural order of things, and ‘He who places his brother in the land is the importance of the family is never everywhere’. Just that. It’s hard to talk when queried, although the family is often you’re crying. reconfigured as a ‘tribe’. Nevertheless this alternative family is hermetic, and Overall, the genre echoes the sentiments places its own needs and desires ahead of the ironic soviet observation ‘One mil- of all other competing claims. The most lion deaths is a statistic. One death is a powerful background text in children’s tragedy.’ So, children’s dystopias are, dystopias is Edmund Burke’s Reflections ostensibly anyway, factual and they are on the Revolution in France, not Thomas undeniably emotionally powerful. Paine’s The Rights of Man. 11 Historical If … Joan Aiken, the Worlds of Willoughby Chase and beyond

Bridget Carrington and Why do we want to have alternate and impulsive reactions being accompa- science fiction worlds? It’s a way of making progress. You nied by expletives such as ‘croopus’ and have to imagine something before you do ‘odds cuss it!’ as though they were authen- it. Therefore, if you write about something, tic corruptions of ancient oaths. Aiken hopefully you write about something that’s intended to kill Dido off in this book, but better or more interesting than circum- relented, sparing one of the most engag- dystopias stances as they now are, and that way you ing young women in children’s literature. hope to make a step towards it. Night Birds on Nantucket (1966) sees Dido foiling an assassination plot which would Joan Aiken: ‘Wolves and Alternate employ a massive cannon to fire from Worlds’ in Locus Magazine, May 1998 New England to England itself, but whose http://www.locusmag.com/1998/ recoil threatens to damage the American Issues/05/Aiken.html mainland. This fantasy of monumental and truly awesome imagination is only Joan Aiken always took pains to explain to rivalled by the plan in The Cuckoo Tree her readers how she set her books within (1971) to disrupt a coronation by rolling their historical/ahistorical and literary St. Paul’s Cathedral into the Thames! context. As a result, her novels, particularly Dido remains determined throughout the Willoughby Chase sequence, are well sup- the books that, while she will fight to pre- ported by notes, prefaces and afterwords, serve the Stuart monarchy, and ensure in which she explains the circumstances that Simon gains his apparent birthright, giving rise to particular episodes in the she will never live in luxury, even when reign of King James III, his heirs and suc- that decision will deny her the opportu- cessors. It was in 1952 that Aiken first cre- nity to remain with him. Only the surpris- ated her imaginary nineteenth century in ing events of the final episode of Aiken’s which the House of Stuart had retained the Jacobite history, The Witch of Clatteringshaws English throne though under a constant (2005), offer the possibility of an alterna- threat from Hanoverian pretenders, but tive for the two young lovers. it wasn’t until ten years later that the first of the sequence, The Wolves of Willoughby The later novels in the sequence present a Chase, was finished and published. Each of far more dystopian world. The Stolen Lake the eleven Willoughby Chase books stands (1981) and Limbo Lodge (1999), although alone, but also relates to the people and fitting between Night Birds on Nantucket events of the others. The degree of dysto- and The Cuckoo Tree in the chronology of pia present in each varies, as Aiken stated Aiken’s Willoughby related world, were in her 1998 article ‘Wolves and Alternate written after some of those describing Worlds’ when discussing the original book: subsequent events. Aiken acknowledges ‘At that point, the alternate world wasn’t her debt in Limbo Lodge to the young so important. I just knew vaguely that it Brontës’ imaginary world Angria: ‘I’m wanted to be in the reign of James the using bits and pieces of these ideas, Third and the Channel Tunnel with the inventing a Pacific Ocean which has world coming through from Europe, so I been colonized by the Angrians’ (Locus, could give myself scope if I wanted to, to 1998). Aiken also affirmed that she was a change things, alter the course of history.’ firm believer in the use of ‘exaggeration and nonsense’ to enliven her writing, Although Simon Battersea was intro- engage her audience and strengthen the duced in the first novel, it was the second, dystopia. The distorted mapping of her Black Hearts in Battersea (1965), which saw Willoughby world, in which familiar place the arrival of the heroine of many of the names and natural features are trans- remaining books, Dido Twite. It could ported to unfamiliar locations in a land- be argued that Dido, as an enterprising, scape altered as much geographically as energetic, thoroughly independent and its society is historically, serves both as somewhat anarchic young Cockney, her- points of contact and jarring reminders self adds a dystopian dimension, being so of the dislocation of this created world very unlike what readers might expect of a with our own. working class nineteenth-century adolescent. Aiken peppers her behaviour with In two of the last works in the irreverent and unladylike action, brave sequence, Is (1992) and Cold Shoulder 12 Road (1995), her alternative worlds ial misbehaviour while terrifying crea- science fiction move truly from historical fantasy to tures eat the neighbours, and sports dystopia. Throughout the Willoughby fans lament the state of soccer while the Chase books, characters’ names are cockatrices raven through the streets. and chosen, in a manner common in both The monsters invade Britain, driving Shakespeare and Dickens, to reflect most of the population underground, their personalities and positions, and while the Cockatrice Corps travel from dystopias Aiken, like Dickens, extends this to London to Manchester on an armour- places; in Is she envisages trainloads plated train to do battle with Shovel- of children tempted away to Playland tuskers, Basilisks, Flying Hammerheads, by the promise of an everlasting sup- Telepods, Cocodrills, Kelpies, the dread ply of fun and sweets, only to find that Mirkindole, and worse, for Trolls lurk they will instead spend the rest of their dangerously beneath every bridge. short lives as slaves in horrifying con- Dakin Prestwick and his orphaned ditions mining coal in Blastburn, the cousin Sauna Flow travel with them to underground kingdom of Gold Kingy. escape their homes; Sauna’s precogni- Where Dickens describes the actual tive abilities greatly aid the Corps, but circumstances in which the children they also make her a target for the evil of poor families lived and worked in behind the cockatrices. A missing book Victorian cities, Aiken creates a hor- of occult lore written by one of Sauna’s rifying alternative-nineteenth-century ancestors may hold the key to dispelling dystopian underworld, which elabo- the monsters, but Sauna is kidnapped, rates on reality, deepens the anguish and the Cockatrice Corps must save her and emphasises the horror of what we and recover the book before the enemy know to have been a genuine historical does. This novel, expanded from a short situation. story, replaces the vicious humanity which populates the Willoughby worlds As well as bizarrely altered aspects of with monsters, a more visual representa- authentic Victorian society, set within tion of evil. In so doing, Aiken increases a distorted but recognisable historical the fantasy elements, but decreases the framework, Aiken uses literary refer- subtle and far more horrifying reality ences, both from the traditional oral that it is humankind, not otherworldly repertoire and from well known authors, creatures, which harbours all the which she alters to suit her plot. This malevolence necessary to intimidate provides an intertext with the plot, and and subjugate the world and its inhabit- thereby a commentary on the created ants. The dystopian world of Willoughby world, a curiously distorted half memory Chase, altered from the world we know, from the reader’s previous experience. but not beyond our comprehension, is Throughout the sequence, there are perhaps a more salutary experience for twisted echoes of real historical rhymes readers than the science fictional world and ballads (often Dido’s father’s com- of Cockatrices. positions), and constant references to people and events from literature, Aiken believed passionately in the power while the journeying elements of Is and of imagination to inspire and direct us to Cold Shoulder Road have undertones of better things. In her 1998 interview she John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Aiken’s asserts that frequent incorporation of characters, names and identities from other sources People need stories...to remind them brings readers a wider set of references, that reality is not only what we can see or as well as the twisted characterisation or smell or touch. Reality is in as many layers timescale attached to the recreated char- as the globe we live on itself, going inwards acter or situation. to a central core of red-hot mystery, and outwards to unguessable space. People’s Aiken classed the Willoughby books as minds need detaching, every now and ‘short’ fantasy, which she found easier to then, from the plain necessities of daily write than creating a complex and sus- life. People need to be reminded of these tained fantasy world. In The Cockatrice other dimensions above us and below us. Boys (1996), however, she attempted a Stories do that. science fiction story which is wonder- fully humorous as a result of situations Thankfully, the recent republication of arising when humans try to act by ordi- the Willoughby Chase sequence will ensure nary rules in extreme circumstances. So that Aiken’s stories continue to do this adults still scold their children for triv- for many future generations of readers. 13 Dystopian Societies Represented in Fiction for Young People

Pam Robson, with Nikki Gamble and Pat Pinsent

and Few authors of fiction for older children escape the control of a malevolent global represent the future very positively, and Artificial Intelligence – seen through the science fiction it is hard to find a futuristic novel that eyes of two children, Kell and Shamra. portrays any kind of utopia. A number The author says: of distinguished authors, such as Peter Dickinson, have created whole series I’m not worried particularly about the dystopias around a fictitious dystopian society. Armageddon which will inevitably result Dystopian sources include state-spon- from the development of technology, or the sored totalitarianism and violence; abuse cloning of humans, or the creation of an arti- of the environment and the resultant dev- ficial cell. But I do think that if these ideas astating effects; and rapid advancement are not challenged or debated, then vested of technology which leads to unethical interests will have their way. Technological use or annihilation. The following selec- development will prevail not necessarily tion includes both series and single titles for evil purposes but for commercial pur- in which disturbing dystopian societies poses, which might have evil outcomes. are portrayed. Some proffer a hopeful Imagination can lead you to project possi- closure for the reader, while in others clo- ble outcomes and consequences of tech- sure is ambiguous or even pessimistic. nological development. (www.writeaway.org.uk)

Series Fiction A gripping quest. n Malorie Blackman • Noughts and Crosses, 2001, ISBN: 0552546321; n Peter Dickinson • The Changes Trilogy Knife Edge, 2004, ISBN: 0385605277; (The Weathermonger (1968), Heartsease Checkmate, 2005, ISBN: 0385607733. (1969), and The Devil’s Children(1970), London: Doubleday Harmondsworth: Puffin (reissued in 2003 by Collins Voyager to accompany a This controversial series represents black television adaptation) people, the eponymous Crosses, as the ruling class; the despised Noughts are Each of these three stories is set in a all white people. Callum, a Nought, is Britain of the future during the epon- the childhood friend of Sephy, a Cross. ymous Changes. The Weathermonger Their future is doomed. Callum becomes portrays the British as having been a Liberation extremist and the first story overcome by a spell cast by the wizard, ends with his execution. Chapters are Merlin, who has been disturbed in organised alternately to represent the his underground sleep and, through viewpoints of both main characters. the machinations of a do-gooder, has There is much violence here, and sexu- become addicted to morphine. As a ally explicit scenes. In the second vol- consequence, machines and motor cars ume, Sephy has given birth to Callum’s are now regarded as the source of all child, a girl. Sephy, who now lives with evil and superstition reigns once more. Jude’s mother, Meggie, provides an alibi Anyone found tinkering with technol- for Callum’s evil brother, Jude, the mur- ogy is branded as a witch and put to derer of a young black woman. Sephy death; society has become brutal and tries to earn a living as a singer but is primitive. Geoffrey and his young sister reviled for her actions and tries to kill Sally, who are immune to the spell, set Callum’s baby. As the story closes Meggie out to find its source and succeed in per- is trying to save the baby’s life, creating suading Merlin to reject morphine. Life an open-ended situation for a sequel. returns to normal but Dickinson, who In the third volume, Sephy’s daughter, has admitted to a tendency to under- Rose, is growing up in a prejudiced and cut his own premise, offers an ambigu- dangerous world. ous closure, hinting at the doubtful advantages of the internal combustion n Stephen Bowkett • The Wintering Trilogy engine in his final sentence: ‘And the (Ice, Storm, Thaw) London: Orion English air would soon be reeking with petrol.’ Pre-quels Heartsease and The The epic tale of humanity’s fight to Devil’s Children inform readers of events recover from the next ice age and at the beginning of the Changes. 14 n Jeanne DuPrau • City of Ember [sequels involving serious gender issues and reli- science fiction to follow]. London:Random House gious fundamentalism, Ure encourages ISBN: 0552552380 much philosophical discussion, with no happy endings or easy solutions. and Hundreds of years ago, the city of Ember was created by the Builders to contain everything needed for human survival. Single Novels dystopias It worked – but now the storerooms are n Alison Allen-Gray • Unique, Oxford: almost out of food, crops are blighted, University Press. ISBN: 0192753355 corruption is spreading and worst of all – the lights are failing. Soon Ember Fifteen year old Dominic discovers that could be engulfed by darkness. But when he has been cloned from the body of his two children, Lina and Doon, discover dead brother. There is a happy, though fragments of an ancient parchment, violent, ending. they begin to wonder if there could be a way out of Ember. Can they decipher n M. T Anderson • Feed, London:Walker, the words from long ago and find a new ISBN: 074459085X future for everyone? Will the people of Ember listen? Not overly complex and the In one sense, Feed is an affecting, but prose is accessible and very readable. unremarkable teenage romance, and this is its triumph. Within a subtly-realised n John Marsden • Tomorrow, When the dystopia, Anderson weaves a story that is War began (1993) (ISBN 0330363891); almost brilliant in its banality and stag- The Dead of Night (1994); A Killing Frost; gering in its emotional truth, with no real Darkness, Be My Friend. Basingstoke: conclusion – a shockingly powerful novel, Macmillan, 1993. which reads like a digital-age, teenage ver- sion of 1984. (Review: Luke Slater (www. Gripping futuristic series set in an writeaway.org.uk). A set of teachers’ notes for Australia invaded by an unspecified this book is available on the Book Trust website. force, possibly from Asia. Ellie and her http://www.booktrust.org.uk/) friends are thrust into a nightmare world in which their families have been n Neil Arksey • Playing on the Edge, interned. Events, including romantic and Harmondsworth: Puffin. ISBN: sexual relationships within the group, 0141307501 are revealed through Ellie’s ‘writing’ as they wage guerrilla warfare against the This gripping futuristic novel is set in the invaders but their heroism ends in near U.K in the year 2064. Football teams are tragedy. Marsden raises real moral issues controlled by big business and players are about land. The ending is inconclusive. drugged to enhance performance, until a coach and members of a team become n Philip Reeve • The Hungry City leaders of a wave of public opinion that Chronicles (Mortal Engines, Predator’s Gold ousts the unscrupulous organisers. and Infernal Devices) London: Scholastic. n Julie Bertagna • Exodus, Basingstoke: Set on Earth thousands of years in Macmillan, ISBN: 033039908X the future. A shield wall divides the Tractionists in mobile cities from the This futuristic fantasy uses the threat of static Anti-Tractionists. Protagonists Tom Global Warming for its theme; the year and Hester are caught up in a struggle is 2099 and oceans cover the land, only which leads them to the arctic wastes. mountain tops remain. Mara’s island home is finally submerging and the n Jean Ure • Plague99 (1989); After the islanders flee to the legendary New World, Plague [Come Lucky April](1992); Watchers where they find a regime that enslaves at the Shrine (1994) London: Methuen. refugees. The story is open-ended.

Three teenagers attempt to survive n Henrietta Branford • Chance alone when plague sweeps London. of Safety, London: Hodder, ISBN: Later descendants of two plague survi- 0340699639(1999) vors from the isolated communities now existing without technology are seeking A society of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ has knowledge about this event and about been created because the country is gov- other communities. By considering the erned by unscrupulous people. An opti- extreme values held by such groups, mistic ending. 15 n John Christopher • The Guardians, asters and HIV. Now there is only one Harmondsworth: Puffin, ISBN: artificial world, led by an insane old man 0140305793(1970) kept alive by life-giving drugs. Issues also involve cloning. There is a chilling plausibility to this and story about a future world of ‘haves’ and n Lesley Howarth • Ultraviolet, ‘have-nots’, each confined to live in sepa- Harmondsworth: Puffin, ISBN: science fiction rate zones. Life has degenerated into a 0141310782 holding situation in which the population has been conditioned into accept- Global warming provides a powerful ance of their position in society; no-one premise here; deadly sun’s rays confine dystopias attempts to cross borders. the population indoors for most of the year, playing Quest computer games. n John Christopher • A Dusk of Violet’s father, Nick, spends his time Demons, Harmondsworth:Puffin ISBN: developing a plastic protective covering 014036420X (1993) kept from general public use by commercial greed. The story swings between real- The reader must wait until the last chap- ity and virtual reality so that the reader is ter before discovering the reason why never quite sure what is happening. people have adopted a strange new life style governed by Demons. Civilisation n Eric Johns • After the End of the World, has been destroyed by over-popula- London: Walker, ISBN: 0744577705 tion and violence. The new order of isolated tribes is designed to prevent a This futuristic story with strong language recurrence. and sexual innuendoes portrays a group of young teenagers, suspended in a hiber- n Ann Halam • Siberia, London: Orion, nation programme, waking fifty years ISBN: 1842551299 into the future to discover that the world has rejected machines and reverted to a Both Ann Halam’s thought provoking medieval society. Much here to provoke previous books for young readers, Dr. discussion. Franklin’s Island and Taylor Five, considered the dangers of the misuse of scien- n Diana Wynne Jones • The Homeward tific knowledge. In Siberia, she creates a Bounders, London: Collins, ISBN: world so damaged by human mismanage- 0006755259, 1981; A Tale of Time City, ment that in its permafrost only scaveng- 1987 ISBN 0 7497 0440 3, London: ing creatures survive amid a brutalised Methuen; Hexwood, London: Collins, human population. Sloe’s journey as she ISBN: 0006755267, 1993. fulfils her mother’s wishes and preserves the seeds of the genome bank is a true These and other relevant novels by Jones Bildungsroman. A powerful message were considered in IBBYLink, Spring prompting discussion of the fragility of 2005. life and of relationships between all living creatures. (Review: Bridget Carrington n Louise Lawrence • Children of the Dust, (www.writeaway.org.uk)) London: Red Fox, ISBN: 0099433427

n Libby Hathorn • The Climb, London: Set in Britain after a nuclear holocaust, Hodder, ISBN: 0340687444 this book is divided into three sections with the voices of three generations, in Set in an unnamed fascist state, this is the shaping of a better world. One of the a powerful romance which raises some few dystopian novels to end on an opti- tough moral issues. Peter, once a weak- mistic note. ling, bullied by stronger boys, has devel- oped into a top athlete; climbing is his n Louise Lawrence • The Disinherited, forte, which enables him to rescue Maya London: Red Fox, ISBN: 0099301873 who is hiding from the state. This powerful novel portrays a Britain in n Carol Hedges • Bright Angel, Oxford: which natural resources are exhausted University Press, ISBN: 0192752820 and unemployment is the norm. Sharp divisions between the minority rich and A cyber crash in the year 2049 has the majority poor have re-emerged. destroyed all computer information. The There is a chillingly realistic storyline world has been destroyed by natural dis- with an unnerving plausibility. 16 n Lois Lowry • Gathering Blue, London: the viewpoints of Daz and Zoe who live science fiction Bloomsbury, ISBN: 0747555923 on opposite sides of the division line.

Civilisation has been destroyed in this n Robert Swindells • Brother in the Land and future world and replaced by a medieval (1984/2000) society in which the disabled are rejected and sent to the ‘Field’ to die. Kira is crip- When this bleak but well-written and dystopias pled, but saved in order to weave the story moving vision of a nuclear disaster was of the past and the future; she comes to first published, its ending lacked the understand that she must be instrumen- element of hope; the more recent reis- tal in changing society. sue provides a very slightly more positive slant. n Lois Lowry • The Giver, London: Collins, ISBN: 0007141424 n Nick Warburton • To Trust a Soldier, London: Walker. ISBN: 0744536928 Jonas lives in a future world where there are no colours, no music, no pain and A thoughtful novel set in Britain of the no real families. Old people, unwanted future where machines have been dis- babies and others are ‘released’. Jonas carded, and war is in progress as the comes to realise that this means being result of an invasion. A teenager, Mary killed by injection, so escapes to a differ- is involved in guiding a group of soldiers ent type of community. and witnessing the violence of war. n Jan Mark • Useful Idiots, Oxford: David n Robert Westall • Future Tract 5, Fickling, 2004, ISBN 0385 60413 0. London: Kestrel 1983

Set in 2255 on the ‘Rhine Delta Islands’ The country is divided into three classes: (formerly the United Kingdom), this the middleclass Ests, the underclass book presents a confrontation between Unnems, and the controlling Techs, and the values of the scientists (who refuse violence between them is the inevita- consideration of the past) and the abo- ble result. Surprisingly prescient for its riginal inhabitants. A demanding read. period. n R.C. O’Brien • Z For Zachariah, n Chris Wooding • Endgame, London: Harmondsworth: Puffin, ISBN: Scholastic, ISBN: 0439978882 0141300310 A powerful ideological novel: the world A nuclear holocaust has devastated the is about to face not only world war three, land. Ann Burden is alone on the farm but also a new ice age. Then a riot breaks when she sees a man approaching wear- out. The central teenage characters have ing a plastic suit. A cat and mouse game many problems but all is in vain when follows and Ann finally leaves her small the siren sounds because nuclear bombs world. O’Brien leaves the reader with an have been detonated. This is a bleak, vio- element of hope. lent read, a true dystopia. n Kate Reid • Operation Timewarp, London: Orion. ISBN: 1842552031

A time machine carries three children into the year 2099, to bring about the collapse of a vicious dictator in a society in which children have been genetically selected to be non-violent and compli- ant. A gripping, plausible read with a probable target audience of 9-12 years. n Robert Swindells • Daz 4 Zoe, Harmondsworth: Puffin, ISBN: 0140372644

This tale of the future imagines Britain divided into a police state of ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’. Alternating chapters present 17 You’re Thinking About Tomatoes

Michael Rosen, illustrated by Quentin Blake. Barn Owl Books 2005 paperback £4.99. ISBN: 1 9030154 4 8 reviews Frank isn’t much looking forward to the school visit to a stately home – it will be so boring that ‘you want to sit down and sleep for a year’. He certainly doesn’t imagine that the objects on display will come alive, nor tell him their story, nor have some very 21st century ambitions and generally make his day anything but boring. Michael Rosen is already well known for some of the funniest, most irreverent, and most child-centred poetry currently available. This is his second book about Frank, who starred in You’re Thinking About Doughnuts. You’re Thinking About Tomatoes continues Frank’s bizarre adventures amongst the treasures of British museums and stately homes, for which it is clear the young hero has a healthy disrespect. Frank’s despairing route through Chiltern House, trying to complete his worksheet, takes him past a painting of the 18th century children of the house, where he is upbraided by a shadowy figure behind the children, who then steps out of the picture and enlightens him about the plight of young black servants at that time – treated as a family pet, yet beaten and locked up when they disobey. Frank then encounters an Egyptian mummy who wants to star in a horror film, an ambition brought on by the thoughtless and unfeeling attention he has had since he was robbed from his tomb, and became an object of popular and scientific interest. As Frank collects more reanimated followers, he hears their stories, all of which introduce readers to the idea that history is more than dates and facts – it’s also the story of people’s lives, and very unjust lives those often were.

A funny, lively, but often worryingly confused story, full of humour and horror, and with an undeniably serious intention. The observation both of disengaged schoolchildren and exasperated teachers is dreadfully accurate, but unfortunately the pervasive supernatu- ral chaos may obscure the underlying messages. The Alice-like animation of inanimate objects, filled with malevolence and able to threaten and deliver injury to human visitors, exacerbates an already nightmarish situation, and may well encourage in readers a concern more in the titillating possibility of evil objets d’art than in the evils of the past.

Bridget Carrington Books Received

Charmian Hussey • The Valley of Secrets, London: Hodder, 2005.£5.99.ISBN0 340 89377X

First published by a small Cornish press in 2003, this book is ecologically driven by the author’s commitment to preserving the flora and fauna of the Amazonian rain forests. The focal (and almost single) character, Stephen, inherits his great-uncle’s Cornwall estate, to which a variety of real and imaginary plants and animals, plus one threatened Indian, Murra-yari, had been brought early in the twentieth century from Brazil. Stephen gradually discovers these, notably a ‘tigerwomp’ whom he names Tig, and also reads his uncle’s journal. Very well intentioned, but for me the credibility of what is in most respects a ‘realist’ text is impaired by the invention of the ‘bugwumps’ – I’d have preferred Hussey to have used only the real species on the lists in the text, compiled by Christopher Crump (who also illustrated the book). There is also an extensive bibliography and a list of relevant organisations.

Gerard Benson • Omba Bolomba, illus. Cathy Benson, Huddersfield: Smith Doorstop Books, 2005, £6. ISBN1-902382-70-6

A very varied collection of 60 short poems. The rhythmical title poem with nonsense words is complemented by the visual emblem of ‘The lighthouse’, several unrhymed poems about animals, and the autobiographical, post-Lear ‘How delightful to know Mr Benson.’ Humour is to the forefront in ‘School for wizards and witches’ (Macbeth via ‘Harry Potter’?), which begins: ‘So today, children, we will learn to make/ Fillet of a fenny snake,’ and ends with praise of the pupils for all being ‘really evil today’. ‘Dan Malone and his mobile phone’ reveals Benson’s command of the language of ‘txt’, while ‘The Earwig football song’ is short enough to quote in its entirety: ‘Earwig Oh,/ Earwig Oh,/ Earwig Oh!’ The illustrations add an additional witty element. 18 Hans Christian Andersen Awards 2006 – the nominees news

Country Author Illustrator notes Argentina Ema Wolf Isol Misenta dystopiasevents Austria Adelheid Dahiméne Heide Stöllinger

Belgium Pierre Coran Klaas Verplancke exhibitions

Brazil Joel Rufino dos Santos Rui de Oliveira conferences Canada Jean Little Michèle Lemieux

China Zhang Zhilu Tao Wenjie

Croatia Joza Horvat

Denmark Josefine Ottesen Lilian Brøgger

Finland Hannele Huovi Virpi Talvitie

France Pierre-Marie Beaude Grégoire Solotareff

Germany Peter Härtling Wolf Erlbruch

Greece Eugene Trivizas Vasso Psaraki

Iran Mohammad Hadi Mohammadi

Ireland P.J. Lynch

Italy Angela Nanetti Emanuele Luzzati

Japan Toshiko Kanzawa Daihachi Ohta

Netherlands Toon Tellegen Annemarie van Haeringen

New Zealand Margaret Mahy

Norway Jon Ewo Svein Nyhus

Portugal Matilde Rosa Araújo Alain Corbel

Russia Sergey Kozlov G.A.V. Traugot

Slovak Republic Ludomir Feldek Martin Kellenberger

Slovenia Lila Prap

Spain Jordi Sierra i Fabra Javier Serrano

Sweden Barbro Lindgren Eva Eriksson

Switzerland Hanna Johansen Etienne Delessert

United Kingdom Philip Pullman David McKee

USA E. L. Konigsburg Ashley Bryan 19 The authors and illustrators listed on the previous page have been nominated for the 2006 Hans Christian Andersen Awards. The jury will meet before the Bologna Book Fair in March 2006, and the winners will be announced at the fair. They will news be presented with their medals at the IBBY Congress in Beijing, China in September 2006.

notes As always, it is interesting and somewhat depressing to note how few of these names will be familiar to British readers. Margaret Mahy is no stranger, of course, having won the Carnegie Medal twice with The Haunting (1982) and The Changeover (1984), events and also being the author of many picture books such as A Lion in the Meadow and The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate. However, only a fairly small portion of her oeuvre is currently in print in the UK.

Thanks to Walker Books, E L Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E exhibitions Frankweiler became available to British readers in 2003 (it won the Newbery Medal in 1968) and they have now published her more recent novel The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place. Her other (1997) Newbery winner The View from Saturday has not been published here. Books illustrated by African American illustrator Ashley Bryan are only avail- conferences able in the UK as imports. The Irish nomination for the illustration award, P J Lynch, is well known and has twice won the Kate Greenaway Medal, for When Jessie Came Across the Sea (1997) and The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (1995). Canadian author Jean Little’s novel about bereavement Mama’s Going to Buy You a Mockingbird was available in the UK some years ago but no longer.

Once we move away from the nominations from countries where the dominant language is English, the picture worsens. Apart from these, of the writers listed above, Eugene Trivizas is best known here as the author of a picture book illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig (Egmont) and recently his novel The Last Black Cat (Egmont) has been translated. The only book illustrated by Wolf Erlbruch generally known to British audiences is the humorous The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It Was None of His Business (Chrysalis). As anyone who attended the talk given by him and Sara Fanelli at the Goethe Institut in London a couple of years ago will know, he has produced many other interesting books. If only they were available here, along with the work of some of the other illustrators on this list such as Gregoire Solotareff and Javier Serrano who have both been nominated previously. Books by the Swedish nominees Barbro Lindgren and Eva Eriksson, such as The Wild Baby, have been available here but do not seem to be now. Some of the work of the Swiss illustrator Etienne Delessert, published by the Creative Company, is distributed in the UK by Portfolio Children’s Books. This includes Beauty and the Beast and The Seven Dwarfs.

Happily, we will be able to find out more about all the nominees when the Hans Andersen Awards issue of Bookbird is published around the time the awards are presented, in Summer/Autumn 2006.

Ann Lazim

Book Launch

Frances Lincoln launched their new Dual Language series, which currently involves texts in English, Gujerati, Panjabi, Bengali and Urdu of Amazing Grace, Rama and the Demon King, and The Leopard’s Drum, at the Newham Bookshop, Barking, on 13th July. Authors and translators of these books were present, as well as Prodeepta Das whose Prita goes to India shared the launch. A goodly number of people, who had not been deterred from travelling by the prevailing tension, enjoyed the refreshments and good company as well as the chance to look at the books. A worthy project!

20 Bookbird news

The attractive latest issue of IBBY’s international journal (Vol.43, no.3) includes a number of interesting items, such as an article on Anthony Browne’s latest book, notes Into the Forest, a critical evaluation of two African picture books, and an analysis of the effect of translation into French of some animal books. The international note is maintained by a look at the Simke Kloosterman award for children’s literature in dystopiasevents Friesland, a wide range of book reviews, and an interleaving feature of ‘Postcards from around the World,’ which highlight a number of books and other topics. To sub- mit articles, email [email protected] or [email protected]; for details re exhibitions subscribing (individuals $40, most easily done by credit card) contact the University of Toronto Press, 5201 Dufferin St., North Yok, ON. Canada M3H 5T8 (utpress@ utoronto.ca) conferences

CONFERENCES and OTHER EVENTS

No Child is an Island: The Case for Children’s Literature in Translation • Annual IBBY Conference at Froebel College, Roehampton University. Saturday 12th November 2005. Plenary Speakers include Emer O’Sullivan, Anthea Bell, Sarah Adams, plus other translators and authors; workshop topics covering a large range of countries and languages. IBBY members should have received Registration Forms or will receive them with this issue of IBBYLink. Contact Laura Atkins at NCRCL, Froebel College, University of Roehampton, Roehampton Lane, SW15 5PJ, 020 8392 3008, [email protected]

October 19 - 24 Frankfurt Book Fair • With IBBY participation at the stand of the German Section of IBBY (Arbeitskreis für Jugendliteratur)

The Children’s Bookshow – Outside In

This begins in Children’s Book Week, October 3rd to October 10th, at the British Library and ends in November at L’Institut Français in London. This year’s theme focuses on Children’s Writers in Translation Events with writers from abroad will be held throughout England and there will be a series of schools workshops.

Events venues and writers proposed:

Oxford Tuesday Oct 4th • lpm Museum of Natural History, George St, Oxford OXl 2AG Stefan Casta (Sweden) and Nicolette Jones (Children’s editor Sunday Times). Booking: Borders 01865 203 901, or 11 Magdalen St Oxford

Manchester Thursday October 6th • l0am and 1.30pm Central Library, St Peter’s Sq, Manchester M2 5PD www.manchesterpoetryfestival.co.uk, www. librarytheatre.com 0161 236 711 Matthew Sweeney and Owen Sheers (also doing translation workshops in schools from Romanian and Welsh)

October 6th is National Poetry Day

London Friday October 7th • The British Library, 96 Euston Rd, London NWl 2DB Christine Nostlinger (Austria) Nicolette Jones booking: 020 7412 ‘7222 www.bl.uk

Cheltenham Saturday October 8th

Ilkley Literature Festival, October 7th – 16th

Sheffield Tuesday October 18th • 1pm The Crucible Theatre, 55 Norfolk St, Sheffield Sl 1DA Michael Rosen, Hervé Tullet. Booking: 0114 249 6000 www.offtheshelf.org.uk 0114 273 4400 21 Newcastle Northern Children’s Book Festival November 7th – 14th • Daniel Morden (Grimm’s Tales) Oliver Wilson-Dickson, venue to be confirmed

news Leicester Tuesday November 22nd • 10.30am The Phoenix Arts Centre, 21 Upper Brown St, Leicester LE1 5TE Andrew Fusek-Peters (Eastern European poetry for children) www.phoenix.org.uk booking: 0116 255 4854 notes London November 23rd • 6.30pm L’Institut Français 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT Erik L’Homme, François Place, Michael Morpurgo www.institut francais. events org.uk Booking: 020 7073 1345 or 020 7073 1307 or [email protected] For further information: contact Sian Williams: [email protected]; 020 8960 0602

exhibitions Other conferences

conferences Stories for Children, Histories of Childhood • l8th-l9th November, 2005, Tours, France. Contact [email protected] or [email protected]

Cartooning Life? Graphic Novels and YA Literature • MLA Conference, Washington DC, December 27-30th 2005. Contact t.mielke®worc.ac.uk

Your World, My World: exploring global issues through children’s literature • Friday 3rd February 2006 at the University of London, Institute of Education

In the 21st century concerns that affect the lives of children in Britain are shared by others across the globe: human impacts on the environment are becoming more apparent and widespread making sustainable development that both protects the environment and safeguards human rights, a contemporary imperative. Many children grow up in a world where war and conflict rage around them. There are 30 ‘high-intensity’ wars raging around the world, virtually all between factions within states, and there dozens of more localized conflicts. Human rights issues including racism, children’s rights and justice systems are of concern to people across all con- tinents. Although on the surface these may seem to be separate concerns, many of the issues are in fact inter-related.

This conference seeks to examine the ways in which children’s literature embraces global issues. Workshops will provide guidance on book selection as well as providing practical support for placing children’s literature at the heart of the curriculum for addressing global issues. The conference will be of interest to teachers working with pupils in key stages 1 – 3, school librarians, literacy consultants and advisors as well as those who have a particular interest in citizenship, science and geography education. Key note speakers: Beverley Naidoo, Nikki Gamble Workshop presenta- tions: Paul Gardener, Centre for anti-racist literature, DeMontfort University; Ann Lazim: CLPE & IBBY; Prue Goodwin: University of Reading; Janet Evans: Liverpool University; Alison Kennedy, Egmont Press; John Cook, University of London Institute of Education.

For further information, contact Nikki Gamble ([email protected] or see www. writeaway.org.uk)