At last a laureate for Children’s literature in Victoria. And it’s none other than our hero of the imperfect line, Mr Leigh Hobbs. And believe me, to get the imperfect line as a direct connection between the subconscious, the hand, and the humour impulse, requires consumate skill, discipline, and practice. It aint easy drawing for children with a child’s eye. What a victory for fun and laughter. We, (the anchored and intensely serious editorial team at PCbyCP) are truly delighted!

Leigh is the bloke in the frame. All the others are not REAL people.

And who wouldn’t be delighted, it’s emblematic of two things, a taste for literature, and the fact that children are still allowed within the metrics of NAPLAN and ATAR some room for laughter. It also, may say something about Victoria. That those who run our really august institutions, our public galleries and libraries, are still engaged with life and laughter. It suggests that there is still room for stories that are unburdened by the weight of instructional moral certainty and prescriptive “correctitude”. (Whatever that means).   This is all terribly bad news for the unreadable, and un-funny, whom we are led to believe comprise most of the judging panels in other children’s book awards..

Mr George Christensen Qld Nationals. Proof perfect that our new breed of “Innovative Progressive Conservatives” are exceedingly well read and are representative of a broad, (massive in fact) church.

We congratulate the State Library of Victoria and it’s board, whom we believe are very astute in these matters. And let’s not forget the broader constituency of thinking, reading, laughing victorians who quite rightfully find more sense in Ol Tom, Horrible Harriet and Mr Chicken than anything that occurs within, outside or on the outer limits of contemporary  political dialogue.

And you guessed it, all this happened because laughter, like   great ideas in print are axiomatic with INNOVATION. Sadly, as a consequence, there’s  a somewhat misguided attempt by the other states  to establish  a CLL.

The very exciting CCL, ( Children’s Literature Laureate) Medal. To be worn by Leigh at all times during his period of laureatedom. The inscription is French (high literature) and translated reads; ” For Merriment”. The crown represents ‘Fun”, as distinct from most other awards.

Not to be outdone, Queensland is pursuing its very own Children’s Literature Laureate, and we’re informed by unsubstantiated rumour deep within the near north that the forthright Nationals member for Dawson, Mr George Christensen, is recommending the recently reprinted ‘Mein Kampf’. Curiously, it is also rumoured that the Tasmanian Minister, Mr Eric Abetz also put ‘Mein Kampf’ on the top of his list. We have suggested tactfully that in spite of the popularity of this book in previous print runs, that the author is “Austrian” and not ‘Australian’. And though a simple and inadvertent mistake, rendered the tome ineligible for selection.  We feel obliged to remind both excellent “right thinking” parliamentarians, that their choice, though colourful and fantastic in the genre of the very popular “Game of Thrones”, was not entirely suitable for children as there seemed no evidence of a happy ending.

From South Australia, comes the recommendation from those closest to the Minister for Innovation ‘Scouting for Boys’,  which; ‘extols camp-life, and dressing up, with an eye to civic duty’. We felt this also lacked a consistent narrative and happy ending.

And from the Northern Territory there’s an interest in a reprinted and abridged ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, in which Tom, an idealistic and enthusiastic aboriginal adolescent seeks freedom from the yoke of ‘Stronger Futures’ In his search for ‘truth’ he is imprisoned, imprisoned, and imprisoned again. The book culminates in his emergence from the prison system in his eighties ‘educated and civilised”. Though instructional, we felt it lacked a clearly positive educational message. And from Canberra, ‘Kafka’s guide to Parenting’, which purported to be a mix of drama, reality and fiction.

So it’s tributes a plenty and join with us all in a heartfelt congratulations to our dear friend and patron Leigh in his elevation to laureate-hood. Asked if the weight of laureate-dom, would turn his craft pompous, sour and serious, as happened to the english poet laureates, the author replied, “Not likely”. And that’s another reason to be cheerful.

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