Resource Key
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Databases
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Scholarly resources on JSTOR include Archival and Current Journals, Books, and Primary Sources.
- World Book Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window
Online version of the complete reference work along with dictionary, atlas, links, magazines, historical documents, audio, video, images, and 3D photograph
Media Reviews
- ABC. (2012). The story behind 'Jasper Jones'. Retrieved from http://splash.abc.net.au/home#!/media/1454052/
Video excerpt from First Tuesday Book Club. 'Jasper Jones' is a novel that recently featured on a list of '10 Aussie books to read before you die'. Does it belong on the list?
Trailer
Perkins, R. [Director], Silvey, C. [Author]. (2015, November 24). Jasper Jones movie trailer [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti0XVYcRR4s
Introduction
Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress.
Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother; falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu.
And in vainly attempting to restore the parts that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.
Author
- Australian Writers' Centre. (2011). Craig Silvey: Award-winning novelist. Retrieved from http://www.writerscentre.com.au/craig-silvey-award-winning-novelist/Transcript of an interview in which Craig discusses how his career began and the books he's written.
windmillbooks. (2010, May 19). Craig Silvey talks about Jasper Jones [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P72HGCm--mY
Adaptations
- Jasper Jones, novel dubbed 'Australia's To Kill a Mockingbird', jumps from page to stage. (2016, January 8). ABC Premium News.The much-loved, multi-award-winning Australian book Jasper Jones has recently been adapted for the stage and screen.
- Being Jasper Jones. (2014, July 6). Sunday Times, The (Perth). p. 80.Young indigenous actor playing a teenage misfit draws on his real-life experience.
Taylor, R. (2015, November 24). Jasper Jones film adaptation: ABC The Mix [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Axfg4NpXQ
Key Terms
- gothic adjective - noting or pertaining to a style of literature characterized by a gloomy setting, grotesque, mysterious, or violent events, and an atmosphere of degeneration and decay.
- bildungsroman noun - a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist.
- prejudice noun - unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding an ethnic, racial, social, or religious group.
- half-caste noun - a contemptuous term used to refer to a person of mixed racial or ethnic descent.
Genre
- Bowen, J. (n.d.). Gothic motifs. Retrieved from http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/gothic-motifsWhat does it mean to say a text is Gothic? Professor John Bowen considers some of the best-known Gothic novels of the late 18th and 19th centuries, exploring the features they have in common, including marginal places, transitional time periods and the use of fear and manipulation.
Print Reviews
- Williams, M. (2009). ‘Jasper Jones: A Novel’ by Craig Silvey. Retrieved fromPublisher hyperbole can be off-putting. Wariness seems in order when Craig Silvey's publisher suggests that Jasper Jones is an Australian To Kill a Mockingbird.
- Starford, R. (2010, March 17). Jasper Jones. Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/jasper-jones-20100317-qfcf.html
At 22, he had a flair for linguistic experimentation: with tone, rhythms and dynamics. Overall, the consensus was that Silvey had talent and, with maturity, he would produce better work.
Study Guide
- Mitchell, P. (2017). Jasper Jones study guide. Retrieved from http://www.jasperjonesfilm.com/downloads /Study_Guide_Jasper_Jones.pdfIt’s the story of Charlie Bucktin, a bookish 14-year-old boy living in a small town in Western Australia in the late 1960s. His adventures with Jasper Jones, an older Aboriginal boy with a mysterious past and potentially dangerous future, make Charlie grow up fast and find courage he didn’t know he possessed.