Barnboken – Journal of Children's Literature Research
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Elina Druker, Eva Billow. Bilderbokskonstnär och författare
No full textReview of Elina Drukers "Eva Billow. Bilderbokskonstnär och författare"
Gerda Helena Lindskog, Norrbarn. Norrland i 1900-talets svenskspråkiga barn- och ungdomslitteratur
No full textRevie
Kerry Mallan, Secrets, lies and children's fiction
No full textMallan, Kerry: Secrets, Lies and Children’s Fiction. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. ISBN: 978-1-137-27465-6.
”Gud, nu har jag bara dig” Teologiska, berättartekniska och retoriska aspekter av barnets närhet till Gud i Britt G. Hallqvists diktning
No full textWorks by the Swedish poet and hymn writer Britt G. Hallqvist (1914–97) were of crucial importance for the renewal of Christian poetry for children in Sweden during the 1960’s and 70’s. The aim of this article is to examine how the child’s relationship to God is shaped in Hallqvist’s prayers, poems and hymns for children from this period. Usually hymns for children depict God by means of description, but Hallqvist creates an active and reciprocal relationship between the child and God. She retells well-known Bible stories with a focus on children and from the perspective of children. In her poetry, she allows children to pose questions to God and to speak candidly with God, thereby enabling them to approach God with parrhesia. Furthermore, to characterize God, Hallqvist prefers metonymical devices – contiguity, personal relationships and human actions – and consequently she recognizes and defines God “by the children in his arms” (in a poem translated into English by Gracia Grindal in Preaching from Home, 2011: 223f). By such devices, Hallqvist’s Christian poetry for children becomes an ongoing conversation, characterized not by static definitions and descriptions but by action, movement and dialogue. Her so-called poetic theology turns out as inseparable from child theology, where the little child is placed in the center and regarded as foremost.Keywords: Britt G. Hallqvist; late modern Swedish literature; Christianpoetry for children; Bible stories; parrhesia; metonymy; poetictheology; child theolog
Re-writing the Script: Representations of Transgender Creativity in Contemporary Young Adult Fiction and Television
No full textThe transgender, gender-atypical or intersex protagonist challenges normative assumptions and expectations about gender, identity and sexuality. This article argues that contemporary transgender-themed young adult fiction and television uses the theme of creativity or the creative achievement script to override previously negative representations of adolescent transgender subjectivities. I consider three English-language novels and one television series for young adults and use script theory to analyse these four texts, each of which has an optimistic ending. The television series, Glee (2009- ), is now in its sixth season and therefore has not yet formally concluded. This more recent selection of texts which date from 2011 validate young adult transgender experience and model diversity and acceptance. Cris Beam’s I Am J (2011) and Kirstin Cronn-Mills’ Beautiful Music for Ugly Children (2012), both originally published in the United States, depict female to male transitions. Alyssa Brugman’s Alex as Well (2013), originally published in Australia, foregrounds the experience of an intersex teenager, Alex, raised as a boy, but who, at the age of fourteen, decides she is female. Glee introduced the transgender character Unique in 2012, and she continues to be a central member of the New Directions choir. The Swedish graphic novel, Elias Ericson’s Åror (2013), includes two transgender characters who enact the creative achievement script and fall in love with each other. In other words, Ericson’s graphic novel goes further than the English-language texts to date. Collectively, these transgender, gender-atypical or intersex protagonists and central characters assert their individual agency and creative sense of self. The transgender character’s particular creativity ultimately secures a positive sense of self.Keywords: transgender; creativity; young adult fiction; television;Glee; script theor
Maria Nikolajeva Reading for Learning: Cognitive Approaches to Children’s Literature
No full textRecension/Revie
Alf Prøysens Teskedsgumma i tantforskningsperspektiv
No full textAlf Prøysen’s Mrs Pepperpot has been adopted by Swedish children’s literature. Still, there is little research done on the stories about her. In this article, I explore the impact of Prøysen’s popular miniature character using topical research on the concept of elderly women or, so called, “aunts”. Mrs Pepperpot’s gender and age, as well as the nature of her shrinking, set her apart from other children’s literature miniatures. This reading, which takes into account how gender and age are made in literary texts, throws new light upon Mrs Pepperpot’s dual nature. The analysis shows how her dramatic adventures whilst a minikin are set off against everyday ”little life”, at the same time as interesting cracks appear in her role as caring wife and good mother via her childish playfulness and rebellious outbursts characterized by non-age adequate behaviour. Thus, Mrs Pepperpot is read as a complex literary character, or a “super aunt”, who encompasses both a female ideal and a resistance towards that ideal.Keywords: Alf Prøysen; Mrs Pepperpot; children’s literature; elderly women; aunts; literary miniatures; gender; ag
