Rod Morrison

Refugee Wolf Rod Morrison

Big Bad Ben is a larrikin wolf and seeks refugee status on the Planet of Straw, the Planet of Sticks and the Planet of McSpaceMansions. Our anti-hero speaks Aussie slang and in this speculative, dystopian satire set in 2500 AD, Big Bad Ben hurtles through space on a clapped out space shuttle after being hunted down by the humans. In a universe of surly porkers and excessive consumerism, the Super Hungry Pigs reject the wolf by giving arbitrary reasons. The allegorical, fairy tale structure of The Three Little Pigs - whereby the pigs constantly say "no" to the wolf - is used to tell a story about how our society of excess has increasingly become inward looking. The universe of Refugee Wolf evokes a world of excess gone wrong and one which is also narcissistic in its consumption of a mythical world called Spacebook. A skewed sense of oneself arguably makes society fear "the other", namely, asylum seekers. Novelist and Patrick White 2016 award winner, Carmel Bird, endorsed the story and she said it was "a powerful, engaging, accessible exposition of the issue of Australia and refugees. Also very funny." This is a special education edition. It can be used as a guide by teachers to explain the symbols contained in the story. It can also be used by students to understand the underlying meaning of the story.