Scan barcode
A review by storytimewithlily
The Complete Adventures of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie by May Gibbs
4.0
I've always loved these stories. The last time I read it was maybe 9ish years ago so I was well overdue.
May Gibbs was a feminist icon, never having kids and bargaining hard for her fair share of the money made when talking with publishers. She was also ahead of her times in her "advocacy for the preservation of wildlife"
The Gumnut stories are super cute and easy to read and I have a lot of nostalgia and love for them. I also want to live at the bottom of the sea and ride sea dragons.
***
So I've only just gotten through the first story. Will update again once finished.
I never realised that Snugglepot and Cuddlepie were such killers?! Like one kills a whole bunch of ant eggs (sure wasn't his fault when he was dropped on them) and it was just like "whoops". then they killed a couple bird eggs when asked to babysit and then tried to cover it up by putting other eggs in the nest which turned out to be lizard eggs. Then nearly got the frog guy killed (he was eaten but then escaped)
And then there's the racism?
Like even when I was younger and reading these books I could recognise that the art design for the Banksia Men were pretty racist (although they are based on real banksia bushes, they're the only "black" looking creatures, all with squinting evil eyes and fat lips and all are evil. But this may also be just my interpretation and no one elses) and people definitely shouldn't be able to get away with something like this these days (though I do also recognise that May Gibbs was a white woman writing in the early 1900s so probably didn't consider it as racist). But also the only dark-skinned gumnut was referred to as "the Red Gumnut". I guess this is similar to how native Americans were depicted in Peter Pan.
I can understand the history but if you're reading this to kids these days please go out of your way to educate them that this behaviour and type of representation should not be allowed today.
May Gibbs was a feminist icon, never having kids and bargaining hard for her fair share of the money made when talking with publishers. She was also ahead of her times in her "advocacy for the preservation of wildlife"
The Gumnut stories are super cute and easy to read and I have a lot of nostalgia and love for them. I also want to live at the bottom of the sea and ride sea dragons.
***
So I've only just gotten through the first story. Will update again once finished.
I never realised that Snugglepot and Cuddlepie were such killers?! Like one kills a whole bunch of ant eggs (sure wasn't his fault when he was dropped on them) and it was just like "whoops". then they killed a couple bird eggs when asked to babysit and then tried to cover it up by putting other eggs in the nest which turned out to be lizard eggs. Then nearly got the frog guy killed (he was eaten but then escaped)
And then there's the racism?
Like even when I was younger and reading these books I could recognise that the art design for the Banksia Men were pretty racist (although they are based on real banksia bushes, they're the only "black" looking creatures, all with squinting evil eyes and fat lips and all are evil. But this may also be just my interpretation and no one elses) and people definitely shouldn't be able to get away with something like this these days (though I do also recognise that May Gibbs was a white woman writing in the early 1900s so probably didn't consider it as racist). But also the only dark-skinned gumnut was referred to as "the Red Gumnut". I guess this is similar to how native Americans were depicted in Peter Pan.
I can understand the history but if you're reading this to kids these days please go out of your way to educate them that this behaviour and type of representation should not be allowed today.