Over the next few days, Alison's organisation and talent angers Erica until finally she snaps, offending Alison and calling her a snob. She is seated beside Erica in class and though at first Erica wants to impress Alison in the hopes that she will befriend Erica, her jealousy of the girl grows stronger throughout the day, until she finally pushes Alison away. She outshines her classmates by putting effort in her projects, and just as her ego begins to bloom, a section of one of the upper-class estates surrounding Barringa East is reclassified as part of their suburb, and due to the zoning system a new student, Alison Ashley, is placed in Erica's class.Īlison Ashley is a beautiful, rich, neat and intelligent girl, traits that Erica instantly grows envious of. While many of the teachers at Barringa East primary are incompetent, her grade 6 teacher Miss Belmont is intelligent and disciplinary, and Erica thrives under her control. Erica often creates highly exaggerated stories about herself to impress her classmates and hide the true lack of class in her family and is a hypochondriac, constantly visiting the School sickbay for made-up ailments. Erica attends Baringa East primary where she is entering the 6th grade at the beginning of the novel, and she is distant towards the other students as she feels her intellect is far higher than theirs. She believes that she belongs in a more luxurious place and that she is destined to be a famous theatrical actress. It has since become a play, adapted by Richard Tulloch and directed by Nici Wood, and a film, Hating Alison Ashley directed by Geoff Bennett with Delta Goodrem in the title role.Įrica Yurken is an arrogant girl who believes herself superior to everyone in Baringa East, a council town that is dilapidated and mostly vandalised. The book was nominated for 8 Australian literature awards and won the Young Australian Best Book Award (YABBA) in 1986 and the Kids Own Australian Literature Award (KOALA) in 1987. One of Klein's most popular preteen novels, it has since become a standard English text for school students across Australia. It portrays the agonies of school-girl rivalries, constant embarrassment by family, and painful and often brutally funny awkwardness and insecurity.
Written as a preteen comedy, the book has a strong moral undercurrent about the pursuit of happiness and perfection, the pressures of growing up and the power of friendship.
(Puffin Books, London and Melbourne, ISBN 0-14-031672-8) Written by science fiction and children's author Robin Klein. Hating Alison Ashley is a 1984 Australian novel.
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