Oxford Australia Blog

Sharing our love of education, language, and books

Category: Literature

  • Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary

    To mark the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth this week we are publishing the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary. Books including Matilda, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Twits have inspired generations to play with language and make up words. Some Dahlesque words for your everyday: A word for the weekend… Hopscotchy – adjective…

  • Using humour to inspire young writers

    Hey, want to hear a joke? Novice pirates make terrible singers because they can’t hit the high seas.  (Cue collective groan) Sometimes humour can be in-your-face and silly (like the joke above), and other times it can be more subtle. Whether it’s a pun, a child’s knock-knock joke, a funny movie, or situation comedy on…

  • Pippi Longstocking Colouring-in Competition

    Last month Oxford University Press held a colouring-in competition to celebrate 70 years of the irrepressible Pippi Longstocking. Every day we received a new parcel of pictures, and by closing date we had more than 600 entries from primary school students across Australia. There were many inventive entries that colourfully captured the characters from Astrid Lindgren’s…

  • Adventures in the Frozen North

    Our books are all about different characters and different places, but they all have one thing in common: they are about ADVENTURES. And we have adventures while we’re making them. As you can see below, we’re ready for anything. Our latest outfits are designed for travelling to the Arctic, where the latest book, Pugs of…

  • Puppy Academy or Dr Kittycat?

    Here at Oxford we share a love for many things – books, baking, cheese and our beloved pets. Many desks are decorated with pictures of our furry best friends, and in honour of two new series from our Children’s division, we asked the staff a very important question: Are you team Puppy Academy or team Dr…

  • Super Happy Magic Forest: a review

      This month we are anticipating the release of an exciting and epic adventure in the Super Happy Magic Forest. To celebrate this super happy magic release,  Stephanie, age 6, reviewed the book and told us about her favourite characters. What score would you give this book out of 5? 1 = throw it away 2 = it…

  • Arthur Conan Doyle was born on this day

    Arthur Conan Doyle was born 156 years ago today in Edinburgh, Scotland. The third of ten children, Conan Doyle studied medicine at Edinburgh University and worked as a ship’s doctor before setting up his own practice in Southsea. He later gave up practicing medicine to pursue a literary career full-time and penned one of fiction’s…

  • Children’s literature quiz: answers

    The wait is over, the answers to our children’s literature quiz are here. Find out if you’re a children’s literature expert or whether you need to scrub up on your knowledge, by checking the answers below:  When was The Very Hungry Caterpillar first published? ANSWER:  A counting book by Eric Carle in 1969, this was…