Introduction: Aesthetics and Pedagogy

Introduction: Aesthetics and Pedagog

Introduction: Aesthetics and Pedagogy

Introduction: Aesthetics and Pedagog

Introduction to Volume 46

Introductio

Martin Hellström, Mariagripelikt: Maria Gripes barnböcker och tidiga ungdomsromaner tolkade genom barns litteratursamtal

Review/Recensio

”Du behøver bare se dig lidt omkring” : Representasjon av planter i svenske og norske bildebøker fra tidlig 1900-tall

”You only need to look around and see”: Representation of Plants in Swedish and Norwegian Picturebooks from the Early 20th Century Plants are not only vital to all other life on earth; as parts of settings and narrative frames as well as actors, they also form a frequent literary motif, not least in children’s literature. This article explores how plants are represented in Swedish and Norwegian picturebooks published between 1900 and 1930. Inspired by the emerging field of critical plant studies, it presents a plant-oriented quantitative analysis of 102 books. By examining what plant species and types the corpus contains, and how these botanical motifs are portrayed, the article seeks to nuance tendencies identified in historical accounts of the period. While affirming that both the forest and cultural landscapes are central picturebook topoi in the early 20th century, the survey reveals a remarkably diverse flora. The plant-oriented examination shows that representations of both wild and cultivated plants hold ecocritical potential

Introduction to Volume 45

Introductio

Margaretha Ullström, Folkhemsideologi i svensk ungdomslitteratur: En 1900-talsstudie

Review/Recensio

Karen Coats och Gretchen Papazian (red.), Emotion in Texts for Children and Young Adults: Moving Stories

Review/Recensio

Stöd, hinder och förväntningar på läsaren : Om textuella och visuella val i en bilderbok baserad på den animerade långfilmen Bilar

Support, 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

Sharing Maternal Fantasies : Reading Samtidigt i min låtsasvärld as an Alter-Tale to the Good Mom Myth

Theme: 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