Barnboken – Journal of Children's Literature Research
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Sharing Maternal Fantasies : Reading Samtidigt i min låtsasvärld as an Alter-Tale to the Good Mom Myth
No full textTheme: Motherhood and Mothering. Ill. ©Stina Wirsén
Adult characters in children’s literature often remain in the “blind space”, Vanessa Joosen observes (Adulthood). Whereas this is true for a lot of children’s books, there are also picturebooks that focus on mothers, often designed as tributes to motherhood. Within this array of books on mothers, however, some offer a more nuanced portrayal of motherhood than others. Samtidigt i min låtsasvärld (Meanwhile in My Imaginary World, 2018) by Lisa Bjärbo and Emma AdBåge shares a mother’s imagination with the readers. The mother’s inner world is connected to shared pleasures, which are easily considered to be “childlike”. By using a mother’s perspective in a picturebook intended for children and adults Bjärbo and AdBåge create an intergenerational experience. Building on concepts and insights from sociology, age studies and children’s literature studies and the textual and visual analysis of Samtidigt i min låtsasvärld, I reflect on the way picturebooks have the affordances to create an intergenerational understanding of daily situations and, by doing so, could contribute to breaking the good mom myth
“We Are the Beaker Mums” : The Influence of New Momism in the Tracy Beaker Series
No full textTheme: Motherhood and Mothering. Ill. ©Stina Wirsén
This article sustains that children’s literature has the potential to legitimise and subvert dominant motherhood ideologies. Drawing on feminist motherhood theory in the fields of gender studies and children’s literature, this article critically analyses the influence of New Momism in Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker series (1991–2019), contributing to a body of research on these acclaimed books for children. New Momism is an ideological movement which romanticises motherhood and sets highly demanding, impossible-to-meet standards of motherhood (Douglas and Adams 4). New Momist ideology resulted in a series of mother stereotypes advanced by the media, such as the “celebrity mum”, the “welfare mother” and the “supermum”. Mother characters in the Tracy Beaker novels are analysed against these stereotypes to ascertain to what extent their existence is supported or disavowed. This article is divided into two sections that coincide with the two sequences of the series. The first focuses on the two main mother characters: Carly, Tracy’s biological mother, and Cam, Tracy’s foster mother. The second part focuses on the character of Tracy as a mother and how her socio-economic background affects her experience of mothering. The presence of mother stereotypes such as the celebrity mum and the welfare mother demonstrate how New Momist ideas are embedded in the text. However, these patriarchal ideas of motherhood are also undermined in the novels, most notably through the challenge of mother stereotypes, the dismissal of the mother ideal and the portrayal of diverse motherhood experiences. Finally, an evolution in the treatment of motherhood throughout the years can be observed in the series, with the most recent novels presenting a more progressive perspective on working-class motherhood and female sexuality.
 
Stöd, hinder och förväntningar på läsaren : Om textuella och visuella val i en bilderbok baserad på den animerade långfilmen Bilar
No full textSupport, Barriers, and Expectations of the Reader: On Textual and Visual Choices in a Picturebook Based on the Animated Feature Film Cars
Whenever an animated feature film aimed at children is released from a bigger production company, tie-ins will follow, including picturebooks. These books can be found in everyday grocery stores and have the potential to reach many children. Although discussed, few systematic descriptions of the literature in question exist. In this article, I examine textual and visual choices in the picturebook Bilar (Cars, 2015) based on the Disney & Pixar film with the same name (Lesseter). I investigate what barriers and what support it offers the reader to grip the story, but also whom the book addresses as a reader. The analysis focuses on resources important for comprehension, namely temporality and cohesion. Close-up analysis of text and pictures reveals and tries to explain temporal and logical gaps. The analysis shows that Bilar is quite complex, with features that contribute to distancing the story from the reader. The temporal unfolding advances quickly, but quite evenly, with few pauses. Leaps are drastic and linguistically unmarked, and intentions and events are presented indirectly. The text has few explicit causal ties and deviates from what is expected. Overall, the pictures repeat information in the text, but they also contradict the text in a way that suggests it was unintentional. Although the text manages to mediate the plot and intention – to the adult reader – it is hard to grasp in total without the movie in mind. The addressed reader, then, is plural: an adult and a child who have watched the movie and can fill the gaps, and who do not care too much about logical details. However, the study and the conclusion is based on a traditional view of the book and of reading. An investigation of the book in use might change or widen the understanding of this type of product
Ett utile dulci för ungdom: Ungdomens bibliotek som bokserie och förlagssatsning
No full textAn Utile Dulci for Youth: Ungdomens bibliotek as Book Series and Publishing Project
The Swedish publishing house Svensk läraretidnings förlag published the extensive book series Barnbiblioteket Saga (the Children’s Library Saga) between 1899 and 1970. In this article, the publisher’s less extensive book series Ungdomens bibliotek (the Library of Youth) is analysed as an example of the marketing techniques that the publishing house used to reach different target groups. The article investigates how the publishing house used their smaller book series as a way to diversify and increase visibility for their books at a time when the main series Barnbiblioteket Saga was growing into a vast phenomenon that was becoming increasingly difficult to overview. This is investigated through an analysis of the book series’ paratexts, drawing on different theories from the field of publishing studies about the marketing of literature. The article focuses on marketing – through the book covers as well as material inside the books – and advertising. The study provides an explanation of how the publishing house used their marketing of Ungdomens bibliotek to strengthen their brand and expand their business from the 1920s through the 1940s. They accomplished this by developing strategies for curation: they curated a book series targeted for a more specific audience segment than the larger Barnbiblioteket Saga, while also emphasising the qualities that were associated with all their work: pedagogy, accessibility, richness (in subjects and variety), and formation
Mat og måltid som symbol for modring : En analyse av bildebøkene Mor av Kim Fupz Aakeson og Mette-Kirstine Bak og Stripekalven av Marit Kaldhol og Justyna Nyka
No full textTheme: Motherhood and Mothering. Ill. ©Stina Wirsén
Food and Meals as Symbols for Mothering: An Analysis of the Picturebooks Mor by Kim Fupz Aakeson and Mette-Kirstine Bak and Stripekalven by Marit Kaldhol and Justyna Nyka
In this article, we analyze the picturebooks Mor (Mother, 1998) by Kim Fupz Aakeson and Mette-Kirstine Bak and Stripekalven (The Striped Calf, 2008) by Marit Kaldhol and Justyna Nyka based on the following question: How do Mor and Stripekalven treat food and meals as markers for both positive and negative aspects of mothering? In the analysis, we draw on, among others, Ulla M. Holm’s theory of mothering as a type of care practice and examine the four different women that act in the books. Our main finding is that the women, who end up practicing mothering, are complex and composite: they are capable of nurturing the children as well as themselves. Our study also reveals that care practices are portrayed as challenging when children are opposed to receiving them. Lastly, we conclude that the female characters in the books who qualify as mothers are ambivalent figures and not unequivocally good.  
Peter Kostenniemi, Hemsökt barndom: Bilder av barnet i gotisk barnlitteratur
No full textReview/Recensio
Når mor blir et dyr : Om transformerte mødre i to skandinaviske bildebøker for barn
No full textTheme: Motherhood and Mothering. Ill. ©Stina Wirsén
When Mothers Become Animals: Transformed Mothers in Two Scandinavian Picturebooks for Children
This article examines the animal nature of the mother figures in the two Scandinavian picturebooks Pija Lindenbaum’s När Åkes mamma glömde bort (When Owen’s Mom Breathed Fire, 2005) and Kari Saanum and Gry Moursund’s Pinnsvinmamma (Hedgehog Mom, 2006). The main aim is to study how the mother's role is portrayed in the two picturebooks when she is transformed into an animal, and the functions of animal transformations. The article shows that the two mothers’ transformations can be understood as journeys in the child characters’ playful mind, where the mentally unavailable mothers are situated in the “magical circle” of play. When being transformed, the mother figures lose their original body and mothering abilities, and the power balance between mother and child changes. Finally, we discuss whether the two picturebooks represent a traditional view of the mother figure as safe and reconciling, or whether they challenge the limits of normative motherhood. The theoretical framework includes picturebook theory, transformation theory and mindscape theory.
 
Maria Ulfgard, Nils Holgersson tur & retur: Barnens brev till Selma Lagerlöf
No full textReview/Recensio
Christopher Kelen & Chengcheng You, Poetics and Ethics of Anthropomorphism: Children, Animals, and Poetry
No full textReview/Recensio
”Det verkar vara en klurig fråga”: Humor som strategi i skandinavisk barnelitteratur om hvordan barn blir til
No full text”It Seems to Be a Complicated Question”: Humor as Strategy in Scandinavian Facts-of-Life-Books
The aim of this article is to examine how a selection of Scandinavian children’s books, spanning from the 1970s up until today, have addressed questions concerning where children come from. Previous research has shown that various forms of humor have been used in the dissemination of information on intercourse and conception. In our article, we examine how and why humor is used when presenting adult sexuality in books for children. We consider humor to be a strategy to take the edge off a challenging topic. However, this strategy does not come without a cost. With the help of critical theory and humor theory, we problematize the strategic use of humor, as it may contribute to the reproduction of heteronormative notions and patterns. In the article, we map several recurring tactics, which we have categorized into five humoristic expressions: transgression of taboos, humorous recognition, absurd humor, naivistic humor, and anthropomorphic humor.