Betty Gilderdale 1923 – 2021
Betty Gilderdale, an important figure in New Zealand
children’s writing, died in Auckland on 9 July 2021, aged 97.
Betty was born in London in 1923. She and her husband,
Alan Gilderdale, immigrated to New Zealand with their young family, in 1967,
and she became a lecturer at the North Shore Teachers’ College. Her passionate
interest in books for young readers meant that before long Betty Gilderdale was
widely recognised as a reviewer, defender, commentator and historian of New
Zealand children’s literature. She also became a skilful and witty picture book
writer.
Using her expertise in children’s literature, she did
much to establish the importance of New Zealand writers and their work. Her
enthusiasm for locally-produced stories and picture books inspired generations
of teachers, librarians and parents. Her painstaking research work resulted in
her ground-breaking history
A Sea
Change: 145 Years of New Zealand Junior Fiction (1982). For this remarkable
book, Betty Gilderdale set herself the task of reading and analysing every New
Zealand-linked children’s book published between 1833 and 1978. She succeeded
in this mammoth task, producing a well-ordered and readable survey, along with
an invaluable bibliography. Her judgements were clear and well balanced;
insightful but firm. ‘Few of the early books were literary masterpieces,’ she
noted.
Under the Rainbow
(1990) was her collection of extracts from books read by New Zealand children
in the 19th and 20th Century. Betty Gilderdale was able
to use her deep knowledge of children’s literature to provide a wide range of
exciting and dramatic extracts, often with contemporary illustrations, as well
as a good selection of poems.
Introducing
Margaret Mahy (1987) revised and updated as Magical Margaret Mahy (2013) was a lively account of Mahy’s life
and work. While it was aimed at students who were researching Mahy’s life, this
book’s appeal was universal. Every aspect of Mahy’s life was illustrated by
quotations from her stories. Thus a school visit, childhood memories,
unsympathetic teachers and the building of her house were all used as
springboards to the various facets of the Mahy imagination. Betty Gilderdale’s
carefully simplified writing style created a splendidly accessible celebration
of one of the world’s great writers for young people.
Betty Gilderdale also wrote a biography of Lady Barker
and published her own autobiography My
Life in two Halves in 2012. Her advice to young writers was succinct, ‘Keep reading. Keep writing. Turn off the
telly!’
Elizabeth’s husband, the late Alan Gilderdale, often
provided the splendid artwork which accompanied her words, including the
immortal picture book, The Little Yellow Digger (1992) which, with its various
sequels, has sold over half a million copies. The ubiquitous little digger has
been to school, visited the zoo, dug up dinosaur bones and saved a whale. With
the assistance of son Peter and artist Fifi Colston, the digger lives on into
the 21st Century, and has introduced the alphabet and even saved
Christmas.
In 2003 the Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Beloved Book
went to The Little Yellow Digger.
The book had just completed its first decade in print. ‘The Little Yellow Digger has proved to be one of those satisfying books
that a child wants to read over and over again,’ said Wayne Mills, chair of
the Children’s Literature Association (now Storylines) as he presented the award
to Betty and Alan.
In 1994 Betty Gilderdale won the Margaret Mahy Medal and
Lecture Award. Ten years later she became a Member of the New Zealand Order of
Merit ‘for services to children’s
literature.’
The best honour of all, however, came when the Children’s
Literature Association chose to give her their Award for Services to Children’s
Literature in 1999. (She had been a committee member for over three decades.)
In the following year the award was renamed The Betty Gilderdale Award in
honour of her lifelong advocacy.
It is hard to imagine a person who has made such a major
contribution to every aspect of children’s literature in New Zealand.
Trevor Agnew
(Winner, Betty Gilderdale Award, 2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment