James Moloney
Q
& A with author James Moloney
Q. As a child, which book was your favorite?
A. I simply cannot remember a favourite, but I do recall how much I enjoyed my mother reading aloud when we were on board ship traveling to and from England. It would have been a Famous Five. In later primary school, I would invariably choose information books for myself, but adored 'The Silver Brumby's Daughter' which was read to my Yr 6 class by Mr Cornish.
Q. What books from your childhood do you still possess?
A. A Reader Digest book about the history of art.
Q. As a child, who influenced you reading aloud?
A. Definitely Mr Cornish, my Yr 6 teacher. Apart from that ship-board
occasion, my mother was too busy with our large family to read to me, the
oldest, who was expected to read on my own. No other teacher read to us -
something I now regret. (Am I allowed to say I was not much of a reader until my
late teens)
Q. What do you believe are the benefits gained from reading aloud to children?
A. For the very young, there is the intimacy with parents that becomes linked
to the experience of books and reading. For emerging readers, it gives kids the
chance to be exposed to stories and language which are still too hard for them
to read themselves
The same applies for kids going into their upper primary years - but for these,
especially boys, the real importance is that these stories (reading aloud
experiences) might be the only books they have anything to do with.
Q. Name a book you secretly love, but never admit you read?
A. The novelization of the 'Upstairs, Downstairs' television series.
Q. What book would you choose to read aloud to children?
A. 'The Witches' by Roald Dahl. You can ham it up outrageously when reading the Grand Witches speeches and the language in general is fantastic.
Q. What is your favourite movie made from a book you have read?
A. 'The Razor's Edge' from the Somerset Maughan novel - the Tyrone Power version, definitely not the appalling Bill Murray version.
Q. Who is your favourite book character?
A. Quoyle from Annie Proux's wonderful novel 'The Shipping News' If we are talking kids books, then Erica Yurken from 'Hating Alison Ashley', by Robin Klein.
Q. Where is your special place to read?
A. In bed, but this tends to put me to sleep so I have an armchair in my bedroom these days.
Q. What book are you reading now?
A. Tim Winton's 'Breath' and 'The Origins of Impressionism'
