Punctuation is a killer!

Book Week is fast approaching!

Yesterday, in the school library, I was discussing some of the CBCA shortlisted books with Stage 2 classes, and we turned our attention to Ned Kelly’s Jerilderie letter (Black Dog Books), which is edited by Carole Wilkinson.

Now, the Stage 3 students became very aware of the Kelly Gang last term, thanks to their "Gold!" unit in HSIE (Human Society & Its Environment), and our library focus on bushrangers. I wasn't expecting Stage 2 students to have much of an awareness about Ned.

A student in one class was asked what he knew about Ned Kelly the bushranger. I was fully expecting something to do with metal helmets, or robbing people, or maybe a connection to the late Heath Ledger (whose Ned Kelly movie was mentioned in recent obituaries for the Australian actor.)

"Ned Kelly had a lot of headaches. I saw him on the Nurofen ads on TV." (Sure enough, I saw the commercial myself last night! Nurofen's a prominent pain medication.)

I read Carole Wilkinson's introduction to Ned Kelly’s Jerilderie letter to another class and we discussed her mention of Ned's rambling style as he narrated the long letter to gang member, Joe Byrne, and how Wilkinson had to correct Byrne's spelling errors and missing punctuation.

"What is wrong with having no punctuation?" I asked.

"Full stops tell you when to take a breath," someone suggested.

"Is that how Ned Kelly killed people?" another student piped up.

Huh?

"Is that how he killed people? By making people read all those sentences without taking a breath?"

Heath Ledger - what?

We just had a radio news flash that Aussie heartthrob actor Heath Ledger - soon to be seen in the new "Batman: The Dark Knight" motion picture as The Joker - has been found dead in Manhattan, New York, USA.

Oh dear.


Vale Heath Ledger. R.I.P.

Captain's Log: Supplemental. Well, this became one of those ultra sad "Where were you when __________________ (insert name here) died" days.

I decided to take a train ride up to Katoomba today; in every shop along the main strip, everyone was talking about Heath Ledger. It was Australia in disbelief, and mourning. I found a discounted copy of his "Ned Kelly" movie (which I thoroughly enjoyed at the cinema) on DVD, and had to buy it. I'd always intended to get one, but now it was essential. The young actor will probably always be intrinsically linked with train rides to Katoomba, second hand book stores, and the novel I finished reading ("The Dominion" story in "Worlds of DS9, Book 3") on the way up. Kinda like how John Lennon is always intrinsically linked with a certain bus ride from Ramsgate to the city, on a date near my birthday.

No doubt details of Heath Ledger's death will be big news for some time to come.