‘Significant oversight’: Where Jamie Oliver’s children’s book went wrong

Jamie Oliver’s latest children’s book barely made it onto shelves before being pulled at the weekend following complaints from a First Nations educational body over cultural insensitivity and trivialisation.

The British celebrity chef’s second children’s book, Billy and the Epic Escape, includes a sub-plot set in Alice Springs in which the novel’s villain abducts a First Nations girl living in foster care in an Indigenous community. According to the book’s publisher, Penguin Random House UK, no consultation with any Indigenous organisation or individual was undertaken before publication.

While some are satisfied with the withdrawal of Jamie Oliver’s Billy and the Epic Escape, others question how it was published in the first place.Credit: Instagram (@jamieoliver)

“Penguin Random House UK publishes this work and takes responsibility for the consultation, or what we would call an authenticity read of the work” a spokesperson said. “It was our editorial oversight that this did not happen. It should have, and the author asked for one. We apologise unreservedly.”

Oliver was unavailable for comment.

Angie Faye Martin, a Kooma/Kamilaroi novelist and sensitivity editor, said it was a significant oversight that no Indigenous organisations, communities or individuals were consulted. “Often, strengthening just one or two areas of weak representation elevates the entire story,” she said.

There is no universal industry standard for consultation before a book’s publication, Martin says. However, it is best practice for publishing houses to include consultation when the manuscript consists of First Nations characters to protect the Indigenous community from exposure to offensive material.

Jamie Oliver’s second children’s book, Billy and the Epic Escape, was withdrawn from book stores following complaints from a First Nations educational body.Credit: Instagram

“Children’s minds are impressionable, and it’s crucial to provide them with texts that encourage respectful, open-minded growth. First Nations children should never be exposed to stories that trivialise their culture or perpetuate harmful stereotypes. Equally, it’s important for non-Indigenous children to learn that First Nations people have rich, resilient and healthy cultures.”

The chapter in question is titled To Steal a Child. Dr Cass Lynch, a Koreng Wudjari Noongar woman and co-founder of the all-Aboriginal storytelling festival and publishing project Woylie Fest, says it appears irrelevant to the overall story.

“It’s distressing to see white saviourism presented uncritically, and then hear the denigration of Indigenous beliefs, and the neglect of a child in care who’s left alone with a stranger who kidnaps them,” she says. “It’s presented as ‘normal’ and ‘what things are like’. Disadvantage in Indigenous communities isn’t normal, and it’s dangerous for the public to be convinced that it is.”

Consultation would have encouraged those involved to ask themselves important questions they may not have considered, Lynch says.

Several First Nations writers believe Jamie Oliver’s children’s book would have greatly benefited from consultation with Indigenous groups.Credit: Paul Stuart / ©2022 Jamie Oliver Enterprises Ltd

“Why is it important to the story that [the character Ruby] is an Indigenous kid from Alice Springs? What is it about Central Desert beliefs that serve the narrative? Questions like these would have required the author to reflect on whether they were working from a place of intention and knowledge or a place of stereotype,” Lynch says.

Since those questions weren’t asked, Lynch says, Ruby comes across as an uncanny and off-putting character, a “blank puppet espousing vague Indigenous-like beliefs”.

Bronwyn Bancroft, a Bundjalung writer and illustrator who produced the children’s book Our Birds, says topics involving post-colonial trauma should always be handled with care and sensitivity. Though she has not yet read Billy and the Epic Escape, she says it probably “should not have seen the light of day”.

“The idea that you could write or edit and publish a book [that includes Indigenous communities or themes] without consulting First Nations people is wrong and presumptive,” she says.

Bancroft also points to the growing number of children’s books written by celebrities and ghostwriters as yet another hurdle for full-time authors and illustrators. The past few years have seen A-list stars, such as Eva Mendes, Jake Gyllenhaal, Cynthia Erivo and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, publish their own takes on kids’ literature, arguably crowding out writers.

“I have written and illustrated 47 children’s books since 1992, and it has been difficult to break through as a Bundjalung woman,” Bancroft says. “We should be highlighting and promoting the experience and knowledge embedded in our First Nations authors and illustrators whose job it is to bring these stories to life.”

Lynch agrees, noting that the public should learn about Indigenous culture from First Nations people rather than through the “biased or misinformed lens” of non-Indigenous writers.

Martin – who consistently has her own writing reviewed to avoid unintentionally offensive content – says a systemic approach must be adopted.

“This involves publishing houses implementing stronger prepublication protocols, such as co-authoring, community consultation, and hiring sensitivity editors.”

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