https://www.theunshackled.net/rundown/?fbclid=IwAR3Ork_PVpx4CgDAyu2NnfVVegAiWYVH_eGJjKsDIRTrNAn1LutPXesSk24

"Have you ever found yourself looking back over your childhood and wishing there had been more violence in the books you had access to?

Are you a parent that is frustrated by the lack of sexuality in the bedtime stories you read your kids?

La Trobe University’s Bold Thinking series has the event for you.

‘Breaking taboos: What’s off limits in children’s literature?’ will probe the progressive idea that there should be no boundaries in books written for our young.

Featured on the panel is the celebrated children’s author Morris Gleitzman. “I’ve written many books for young people that some say explode and delve naughtily into taboo areas. Well,” he says in the video promoting the event, “what are taboos in children’s reading? Is it sex? Is it violence? Is it terrorism? Is it abortion? Gender fluidity? Or is it something a little subtler? Perhaps even a little more interesting?”"

"all his other books have either been shortlisted for or have won numerous children’s book prizes, and he has covered a wide range of topics in his books intended for children. In ‘Adults Only’, he writes of a lonely little boy trapped on an island who has strange dreams about playing ping-pong with his teddy bear. In ‘Pizza Cake’, we find a story about school teachers that are so revered and sought after in society that they are bought and sold for millions of dollars. In ‘Doubting Thomas’, a little boy’s nipples itch every time someone tells a lie around him. Morris had originally written the character with ears that got hot in the presence of lying, but after he was alerted to the fact that there was already a book with that exact theme, his editor suggested he change it. He was then presented with a list of other possible body-parts to use, with ‘penis’ as a first suggestion. Morris said “I didn’t want to repeat myself and become known as the penis author,” and refers to the word ‘penis’ as “one of the ones you can only include in a children’s book if you use words but not pictures.”

His most awarded book to date, ‘Bumface’, marketed to 9 – 12 year olds does exactly this. It’s not often that a book regularly named in Australian polls as a favourite child’s book uses the word ‘penis’ and ‘sex’ so amply within its first chapter alone. (‘Penis’ is in fact the 9th word to appear in the book.) It revolves around yet another little boy, Angus, who is 11, and his desperation to get his mother to stop sleeping around and falling pregnant to different men. We also have a sub-plot where Angus befriends a 12 year old girl about to get shipped off to India to marry a much older man. The book received numerous awards including the Bilby award, the COOL award and the YABBA award."

Goddamn degenerate fucks