Mem Fox is
considered Australia's most popular children's author.
She was born Merrion Frances Partridge in 1946. She was born in
Melbourne, Australia but grew
up in Zimbabwe where her parents were missionaries. She attended
the
mission school there. Her mother was also a writer.(1)
Unhappy with the harsh treatment of black Africans in
Zimbabwe, Mem Fox left Zimbabwe when she was eighteen to attend drama
school in
England. She married
Malcolm Fox, a teacher, in 1969 and has one daughter.
After her marriage, she and her husband returned for a short
time to Zimbabwe. They moved to Australia in 1970 where she was a
teacher. She was also a storyteller, writing her first book
Hush, the Invisible Mouse in 1983.(2)
In reviewing
her book, Possum Magic, Jill Breslan has described her as a
storyteller whose books reflect Ms. Fox's work as a drama teacher and
actor. (3) Her picture
books
"feature Australian settings and characters and are noted for using
rhythm, rhyme, and repetition to present young readers with such themes as
the importance of memories and the power of love" (4). You will find a
review by Kay Vandergrift for one of her books at Hattie and
the Fox. You'll also find a great interview with Mem
Fox as she discusses her book, Wombat Divine, a Christmas story
at Bookpage.
She is also a popular college professor. She has taught
language arts courses for college students.
She loves language. She and her fellow lecturers try to be creative in
the use of language in
their classes. She says, "Although we're deeply serious about teaching
and learning, we're rarely serious in the act of teaching. We try to use
language energetically to amuse and enthuse."(5) She keeps a coffin in
her
office to show that language is fun!(6)
She tries to avoid stereotyping either by sex or by race in her books.
Why can't girls have adventures? Why
can't boys cry? She remembers when her young cousin, a boy, gave up
ballet lessons because his classmates made fun of him. She tries to avoid
gender bias in her writing.(7) She hated the racist attitudes she found
in Zimbabwe against people of colour. She still finds racist attitudes in
books written for children about Africans or Australia's aborigines. She
says, "I hope that more often than not I do succeed in writing the
literature of liberation: liberation from the tyranny of the attitudes and
expectations that the world thrusts upon each of us." (8)
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Biography Links
Mem Fox
Homepage
Meet Fox at her personal web page
Papers of Mem
Fox
From the National Library of Australia; includes a
biographical note.
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Bibliography
Books by Mem Fox
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Lesson Plans
EDK Australia
Unit
Ideas for a Mem Fox author study
Koala
Lou
Space down for review, activities & Internet links;
from CanTeach
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Bibliography and
References
1. Something about the Author, v. 51, p65-66.
2. See, Lisa. "On Tour with Mem Fox." Publishers Weekly, January
19, 1990. p72.
3. Ibid., p 112
4. Children's
Literature Review, v. 23, p109.
5. Fox, Mem. "There's a Coffin in My Office." Language Arts, v67,
September 1990, p469.
6. Ibid., p468.
7. Fox, Mem. "Men Who Weep, Boys Who Dance: The Gender Agenda between the
Lines in Children's Literature." in Language Arts, v. 70, February
1993, p84-86.
8. Fox, Mem. "Politics and Literature: Chasing the 'Isms' from Children's
Books." in The Reading Teacher, v. 46, no. 8, May 1993,
p654-658.
9. Ibid., p657.
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