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Students in Late Adolescence:
... have a developing sense of themselves as active
players who have some responsibility for the direction
of community life, and are often concerned about major
social and environmental issues and the ethical implications
of human activity and knowledge.
... Learning experiences should enable students to attain
a high level of competence in the use of language for
a range of complex and relatively sophisticated purposes.
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Students...
... study the ways in which texts can reflect, reinforce
and/or challenge values and world-views.
... consider broader social implications, analysing the
ways that texts both reflect and construct ways of thinking
about the world.
... identify in more detail the values, attitudes, beliefs
and ways of thinking reflected in texts, and the ethical
and political implications. |
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An odyssey
is any long series of wanderings. The word originates from The
Odyssey, an epic Ancient Greek poem describing the ten year
wanderings and adventures of Odysseus (Latin=Ulysses)
returning home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
Click on the two approaches listed
below for learning ideas and fiction titles to get you started.
If your students are not already familiar
with Homer's Odyssey this is an ideal opportunity to
introduce them to one of the most enduring and gripping stories
in our Western literary heritage. Begin with one or more of
the retellings listed for Early
Adolescence. Interested students, groups
or classes could then dip into the original for comparison.
There are a multitude of sites devoted to
Homer, The Odyssey and the Iliad. Most of the
best are aimed at tertiary level studies. However, the following
sites are useful and accessible starting points for teachers
and senior secondary students interested in the subject.
The
Odyssey
Page by Page Books
An online edition of The Odyssey.
Random
House Teacher's Guides
An online teacher's guide on the Random House
site for The Odyssey which includes background information,
focus questions for each book, projects, themes and further
reading. Probably too detailed for most secondary schools but
teachers may find some useful ideas.
There
are many excellent, recently published novels to supplement
the commonly studied texts in the senior secondary years. So,
exploit the Journeys to promote some of these books together
with old favourites, to encourage wide reading. Students in
Late Adolescence are able to appreciate more sophisticated,
multi-layered texts and relate well to books which explore people's
moral, psychological or philosophical development. Journeys,
if interpreted metaphorically, as a personal journey of self-discovery
or growth, is certain to motivate reflection, lively debate,
and creative written and artistic responses.
Teachers could use Literature Circles
with their students asking each group to read and analyse a
book of their choice then report back to the class.
The books below offer opportunities to discuss issues such as:
- the journey from childhood/adolescence to
adulthood
- developing personal values about what is
important in life
- journeys of recovery such as coping
with loss for example in Vigil
or The
Odd Sea
- psychological journeys as in
I am the Cheese
- journeys of survival as depicted in
Young Nick's Head
Note that the fantasy genre often is dismissed
by the uninitiated because it takes readers into imaginative
worlds and situations not regarded as 'realistic'. However,
as masters of the genre, Philip Pullman and Isobelle Carmody
maintain, others put fantasy labels on their books; they try
to write stories that provide an insight into the human condition.
That is, they write about a realistic subject using the mechanism
of fantasy (Pullman,
2000).
Much fantasy, like mythology, is a way of explaining and commenting
on the real world and how we live. Journeys in fantasy therefore,
such as Lyra's odyssey in His Dark Materials trilogy
shed light on what it means to grow up and become adult.
(ibid), so do overlook fantasy to support the odyssey theme.
Mature, avid readers in particular will appreciate the layers
of meaning embedded in the best of fantasy.
BALINT, Christine. The
Salt Letters
Allen & Unwin, 1999
Age 15+ Sarah Garnett voyages to New
Holland in the mid 1850s, cramped in the unmarried women's quarters.
The Salt Letters is a highly evocative novel, in which
impressions, memories of home and the narrative thread of the
letter Sarah is unable to write to her mother, hold the novel
together. The reader gains a fresh insight into what the experience
of such a sea voyage must have been like for single, inexperienced
women like Sarah, as well the myriad powerful motivations they
had for undertaking such a journey.
CLÉMENT, Catherine. Theo's
Odyssey
Flamingo, 1999
Age 15+ Take an overly inquisitive,
angelically handsome fourteen-year-old French boy, call him
Theo, add the diagnosis of a rare form of Leukaemia, provide
him with an aunt, Martha, who is something of a psychopomp,
and you have the barest outline of Theo's Odyssey.
Against this plot develops the traditional quest. In this case,
the search for a cure for Theo. However, the manner in which
his slightly unconventional aunt undertakes the quest is what
makes the book.
First published in French in 1997.
CORMIER, Robert.
I
am the Cheese
Penguin, 1998
Age 15+ Adam Farmer is on a journey. As he travels through
the United States on his bike, the reader travels through his
psyche, as explained in a series of psychiatric interviews.
It becomes clear that a family secret is being revealed and
that this secret has led to the bike journey and the interviews.
I am the Cheese is compulsive reading from beginning
to end, although the conclusion is quite disturbing. I believe
this book will appeal to many teenagers. The challenging style
and themes of the book also mean that there are many aspects
suitable for class discussion.
EARLS, Nick. After
January
University of Queensland
Press, 1996
Age 15+ Earls has captured the 'nowhere' feeling that
exists when people have finished with one part of life but not
yet started on the next; the waiting, the reflection, the looking
forward, the not knowing.
Alex Delaney has finished his HSC and is waiting for his offer
of a place at university. While waiting he spends his January
at Caloundra, in Queensland, at the family holiday house; a
place where he has spent each summer of his seventeen years.
This summer Alex spends his time thinking, swimming, reading,
watching television, talking or not talking to his mother -
just as he has always done. But this year it is different. Whilst
out surfing he meets Fortuna and decides to stay in Caloundra
when his mother returns to Brisbane.
HERRICK, Steven. The
Simple Gift: A Novel
University of
Queensland Press, 2000
Age 15+ A young man decides to leave home to escape his
abusive father and sets out for a life on the road, catching
an empty coal train to Bendarat. He is befriended by the train's
driver and then a succession of unlikely characters, each of
whom give something to this determined, lonely boy just as he
gives of himself to them in return.
HESSE, Karen. Young
Nick's Head
Simon & Schuster, 2001
The journal of young Nick, a stowaway on Cook's ship Endeavour
on his voyage of exploration to Australia.
Originally published in the USA under the title, Stowaway.
HEST, Amy and LYNCH, P. J. When
Jessie Came Across the Sea
Walker, 1997
Picture book. At the turn of the nineteenth century thirteen-year-old
Jessie lives with her grandmother in a poor village. Their simple
existence includes only one unusual aspect: her grandmother
insists that Jessie joins the boys who receive reading and writing
lessons from the rabbi. Their quiet life changes forever when
the rabbi selects Jessie to go alone to America, the 'promised
land'.
Kate Greenaway Medal 1994.
McCARTHY, Maureen. Chain
of Hearts
Penguin, 1999
Age 15+ This powerful and absorbing story is not so much
a chain of hearts but a maze - and a very well controlled maze.
The stories and innermost feelings of Sophie, her Aunt Fran,
her mother Geraldine and even her Great-Aunt Ruby are brought
to the reader across the generations and between city and small
town life, by dint of dedicated chapters with the individual
protagonists as narrators.
MITCHELL, Euan. Feral
Tracks
Mitchell Wordsmithing, 1999
Age 15+ Feral Tracks is reminiscent of Puberty
Blues but from a male perspective. It depicts adolescent
disillusionment with school and family by following the main
character's journey around Australia. We begin the story with
a description of Daniel and his friend Nick's four-week holiday
where the predictable introduction of drugs, sex and beginning
self-awareness is enough to whet Daniel's appetite for further
travel. He soon sets off again financed by four dollars but
this time indefinitely.
MOLONEY, James. Angela
University of Queensland Press, 1998
Age 16+ Angela and her best friend Gracey, an Aboriginal
girl from a small community in an outback country town, have
reached the end of their school years and are graduating from
a prestigious Brisbane school. Both girls have their sights
set on getting into courses offered by the University of Queensland
and living in Brisbane. Angela looks forward to the coming year
when they will continue their deep friendship into the next
seemingly predictable stage of their lives. The security of
her white background with all its backing of the accepted establishment
and her well-educated, supportive family, blinds her to the
difficulties which could arise for her friend.
PULLMAN, Philip. His Dark Materials Trilogy
Northern
Lights Book1
Carnegie Medal 1995
The
Subtle Knife Book 2
The
Amber Spyglass Book 3
Pullman's
engaging trilogy at its simplest, is a story about two children
who find friendship and the strength to face many challenges
together. At its most complex, it challenges our very beliefs
about what is real and good and true and asks us to believe
that anything is possible and that human strength and courage
knows no bounds.
The trilogy should be an essential part of the fantasy collection
for young adult readers.
Find more information about Philip
Pullman and His Dark Materials
trilogy in the Authors section of the CMIS website.
Audiocassettes of each book are also available.
REIKEN, Frederick.
The
Odd Sea
Allen & Unwin, 1998
Age 16+ The Odd Sea is a heart-wrenching tale
about how a family copes with the unexpected disappearance of
their eldest son. Ethan, a bright, athletic and musically talented
teenager goes for a walk one sunny Autumn afternoon down to
the nearby pond, and simply vanishes. The setting is a small
American town, with a strong arts community and the locals rally
to assist authorities in the search as various leads are followed
without result.
STEVENS, Leonie. Eat
Well and Stay Out of Jail
Penguin,
2000
Age 15+ A quirky entrant in the young adult fiction genre,
Eat Well and Stay Out of Jail is subtitled a berserk
love story on wheels. This is a fitting description with
its combination of romance and road novel.
TOLKEIN, J. R. R. The
Hobbit
HarperCollins, 2000
Wonderful for reading aloud, this classic fantasy follows the
dangerous and reckless journey of Bilbo Baggins in a quest for
treasure. It is the precursor to The Lord of the Rings
trilogy.
This edition is beautifully illustrated by Alan Lee.
First published in 1937.
WHEATLEY,
Nadia. Vigil
Viking, 2000
. Age 15+ Vigil, an unusual novel, puts into perspective
the discordant wanderings and ramblings of a tormented, guilt-ridden
mind as it seeks forgiveness and new direction through recollections
of the past.
The essentially simple narrative reinforces the savage effect
of loss on a young man's mind when he is informed that two friends
of pre-adolescent years, Dean Bower and Tim Morris, have met
their deaths. Nathan West begins a geographical, historical,
mental and spiritual journey to his home town to confront and
come to terms with the angst that has caused his mental suffering.
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