a stick of celery with the tips curled, a tiny perfect tomato like a ruby. she had a chicken drumstick wrapped in foil. Long, pale-gold hair caught back with a filigree clasp, and tiny gold roses, the size of shirt buttons, in her ears.'ĪLISON '. ' She was wearing this soft blue skirt, and a shirt the colour of cream, with not a crease nor a wrinkle nor a loose thread anywhere. You'd have thought it would be more convenient for them.'Īlso Robin Klein creates such masterful contrasts between the glamour of Alison and the grungy, messy chaos of Erica (Yuk, Erk or Gherkin), ' It was funny none of the teachers' kids were enrolled at our school.

Librarians always seem fascinated if you know someone else who is a librarian.' was telling Mrs Cheale that her aunt was a librarian. Usually if someone dared lay a finger on any uncovered books, she changed from a patient teacher into a monster with fangs and a black velvet cloak. She showed Alison the new books that hadn't been processed yet. ' Mrs Cheale took a real shine to her straight away. He was straight out of teachers' college.'Įrica shows Alison around Barringa East Primary School and takes her to the library. But since none of the other teachers on the staff, except Mrs Wentworth, wanted to come to the camp, Miss Lattimore had to give in. She'd threatened to quit the Education Department and earn a living making macrame flowerpot hangers. From the sick bay I had heard her having a fight with Mr Nicholson. ' (Miss Lattimore) hadn't wanted to come along to the camp. Teachers who read this book will smile when they read :įour teachers take the Year six kids to camp. There are some moments in this book where the writing just sparkles. Making a phone call from a public phone costs 20 cents.I'm terribly fussy about scratching my records.' Record albums ' I can't play any for you right now.Mums with rollers in their hair and smoking.School worksheets are made using a spirit copying machine.Valjoy, Erica's sister, works at a milkbar.The school secretary uses a golf-ball typewriter.At the camp rain forces them inside for ' an evening of projected colour slides.'.Hating Alison Ashley is 32 years old and if you need to find evidence of the way our lives have changed this book can provide so many examples - here are few :

This book was so famous in the 1980s that it became a movie (it received a great deal of criticism) and a play. Our copy of Hating Alison Ashley is in bad shape and it has the unappealing movie cover so before adding a new copy to my shopping cart I thought I should re-read this classic story. We have packed up our school library for new carpet and at the same time culled some of our older books. Hating Alison Ashley was first published in 1984 and that is the year I read it.

Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein