Books Worth (Re)reading

When the first book-length study of Australian children’s rhymes, Cinderella Dressed in Yella, was published in 1969, it was greeted with excited interest. Here was a collection that carefully documented the everyday chants and verbal lore of the playground, and took the activities of children seriously. Such an approach resonated among an Australian population increasingly aware of the origins and existence of a rich national folklore, and open to progressive educational ideas that recognised the contemporary culture of childhood. Cinderella was an important book of its time, running to several printings and a minor censorship scandal about children’s ‘vulgarity’, with a revised edition published in 1978.