Redan i små barns vardag, kan en traditionell genussyn observeras i exempelvis leksaks- och klädaffärernas kategorisering av ”flick- och pojkprodukter”. En kategori-sering som jag anser kan styra in barnen i den konstruerade bilden av hur man är, och därmed ska ”göra”, sitt kön. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka tre förskole-avdelningars barnlitteratur, som barn i åldrarna ett till tre år har tillgång till, ur ett genusperspektiv. Studien syftade även till att ta reda på hur förskollärare från respektive avdelning ser på och uppfattar den barnlitteratur som de använder sig av i sitt arbete med barn.Studien utgick från en i huvudsak kvalitativ metod där tre olika datainsamlingsverktyg användes för att samla in underlag till studien: fotografering av barnlitteratur, en översiktlig litteraturanalys av barnlitteratur samt kvalitativa intervjuer med förskol-lärare.Resultatet visade att de undersökta förskoleavdelningarnas bokutbud har dubbelt så många böcker om manliga karaktärer än om kvinnliga karaktärer. Dessa karaktärer skildras utifrån ett könstraditionellt perspektiv vilket på olika sätt förstärker den manliga dominansen. När det gäller förskollärarnas uppfattningar om barnlitteraturens betydelse och innebörd visade det sig att deras utsagor kännetecknas av ett dubbelt budskap där deras verbala medvetenhet inte praktiseras i deras handlingar, vare sig när det gäller val av barnlitteratur eller användning av barnlitteratur. / Already in the everyday of children, a traditional view of gender can be identified. For example how toys and clothing stores’ categorize products for girls respective boys. A categorization that I consider may direct children into the constructed picture of how one is, and therefore “does”, its gender. This essay aimed to investigate the selection of children’s literature at three pre-schools, that children between the ages of one and three, from a gender perspective. The purpose with this essay was also to find out how pre-school teachers, from each pre-school, comprehend the children’s literature that they use in their line of work.The essay is based mainly on a qualitative study that used three different types of methods to collect data as the study’s foundation: photography of children’s literature, a general literature analysis of children’s literature and qualitative interviews with pre-school teachers.The result showed that the book selections of the investigated pre-schools had double the amount of books about male characters than about female characters. These characters are portrayed from a stereotypical gender perspective that, in different ways, reinforces the male dominance. The result that pertains the pre-school teachers’ comprehensions of the importance and significance of children’s literature in pre-schools showed that their statements are characterized by a double message. A message where their verbal awareness does not show in their actions, not in the way they select children’s literature nor in the way they use children’s literature.

This essay seeks to investigate identity formation and the role of the oriental other, the Calormene, in C.S. Lewis popular children’s books, The Chronicles of Narnia, as well as the threat levelled at Narnia and what it constitutes. The oriental other as a threatening corruption is a common image in European colonial discourse, therefore a brief summary on post-colonial theory and critique thereupon and a background on the occidental attitude towards the discursive Orient based mainly on Orientalism by Edward W. Said, as well as a short account of Emile Durkheims theory on social divisions of labour and identity formation in groups is provided in the first theoretical section, Images of the Other. In the second section the Narnian identity and what it is composed of is examined. Here I argue that the Narnian identity is connected to an ideal and primordial English identity. This is shown primarily through the linking of Narnian nature and food with the English countryside and its “plain food”. Consequently, food in the Narnian space possesses a great power. The food of the Other corrupts while the hearty Narnian or English food holds the power to redeem those corrupted. The third section is dedicated to the threat against Narnia. This is composed mainly of Calormenes and Witches, both of which are described to be ancient and whose evil, I argue, nonetheless is an eventual consequence of rational thinking and modernity. In the fourth section the Calormene, the Other in Narnia, is examined. The Calormene society is inextricably linked to slavery, which is portrayed as the utmost consequence of rationality, and characterized by its spiritual poverty. This section also discusses how the Narnian can be corrupted and turned “Other”.

The aim of this study is to describe how children’s literature is included in working with vulnerable children. Six persons in different professions have been interviewed to research this. Three of them are preschool teachers and three of them work in places where they meet vulnerable children. The interviews have been thematically analyzed to answer how they work with children’s literature, which the themes in the books are and why the books are used. The result shows that themes as secrets and rights are included in work both in preschool and in places where they meet vulnerable children. Though it also shows that there are more themes included where they meet vulnerable children, such as violence, feelings and integrity. The ways in which the children’s literature is used includes reading, digital reading, dramatizing, dialogue and drawing in preschool. These ways to include children’s literature is also used where they meet vulnerable children, although not all of them. This study is about a subject that has touched many people and will need to be researched further in the future.

Thesis (Magister Technologiae (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010 / This study traces the effects of a children’s literature intervention on first year B Ed students’ reading habits and attitudes. A review of relevant literature includes concepts of literacy, with specific reference to family literacy, adolescent literacy and critical literacy; effective literacy practices; reading, reader response and theoretical perspectives of literature, including children’s literature, and its application in the classroom; motivation and reader-identity. A variety of quantitative and qualitative methods were used to gather data over a period of eighteen months. The data captured attitudes to reading and traced changes in attitudes, habits and motivation resulting from an intervention that required students to engage in reading a range of children’s literature texts. Findings showed movement from apathy to engagement at the lowest levels of change and from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation at successive levels of change. Most significantly, the intervention caused discontinuous (permanent) change in students’ constructions of themselves as readers. Key words: critical literacy; adolescent literacy; reader response; children’s literature; extrinsic / intrinsic motivation; discontinuous change; reader identity.

Summary: The aim of this paper has been to analyse and categorize Patrick Süskind’s short story Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer (English title: The Story of Mr Sommer (1991)). To this end, the distinctive features of two categories of literature, children’s literature and postmodern narration for adults, have been examined. The formal elements of the text, narrator, structure and language, as well as the thematical elements of the text, have been analysed using a hermaneutic method and concepts of narratology. The analysis has shown that Die Geschichte von Herrn Sommer presents several elements representative of the two catagories of literature – literature for children and literature for adults. As a result, it can be ascertained that this short story should be regarded as a text of hybrid structure, thus placing it, not in one of these categories, but in both.

The purpose of this project is to survey the presence of folk expressions, i.e. proverbs, proverbial expressions, wellerisms and familiar expressions, in some of the realistic children’s books by Astrid Lindgren. The purpose also includes the study of the contextual and pragmatic functions of the expressions as well as how the expressions are integrated into the text by the change of the formulaic standard structure. The contextual and pragmatic function concern when, how and why the expressions are used and who the users of the expressions are. The questions at issue are: What kind of folk expressions occur in the children’s books by Astrid Lindgren? What contextual and pragmatic functions do the expressions have? How are the expressions integrated into the text? To be able to answer the questions, folk expressions were excerpted from the books with the help of close reading. The contextual and pragmatic functions of the expressions were determined by analysing the communicative context, the senders and the receivers of the expressions, the senders’ purpose in using the expressions. Furthermore, the changes in the structure of the expressions were analysed in order to determine how the expressions were integrated into the text. The result shows that the 52 folk expressions found in general are used in dialogues between adults as senders and children as receivers. The senders use the expressions mainly to comment on anything or anyone with the purpose to explain, i.e. a didactic purpose. The majority of the expressions have not changed their formulaic standard structure, and the expressions that have changed are used as allusions, paraphrases or ellipses of folk expressions.

Previous research has shown multiple benefits and challenges with the incorporation of children’s literature in the English as a Second language (ESL) classroom. In addition, the use of children’s literature in the lower elementary English classroom is recommended by the Swedish National Agency for Education. Consequently, the current study explores how teachers in Swedish elementary school teach ESL through children’s literature. This empirical study involves English teachers from seven schools in a small municipality in Sweden. The data has been collected through an Internet survey. The study also connects the results to previous international research, comparing Swedish and international research. The results suggest that even though there are many benefits of using children’s literature in the ESL classroom, the respondents seldom use these authentic texts, due to limited time and a narrow supply of literature, among other factors. However, despite these challenges, all of the teachers claim to use children’s literature by reading aloud in the classroom. Based on the results, further research exploring pupils’ thoughts in contrast to teachers would be beneficial. In addition, the majority of the participants expressed that they wanted more information on how to use children’s literature. Therefore, additional research relating to beneficial methods of teaching English through children’s literature, especially in Sweden, is recommended.

The aim of this dissertation was to critically analyse Terry Pratchett’s Johnny Maxwell trilogy in terms of three areas, namely Pratchett’s use of various fantasy techniques; how comedy and satire function as distancing mechanisms; and how fantasy and comedy function in accordance with Erikson’s and Bettelheim’s theories concerning identity formation in adolescent and child readers. The primary aim of this dissertation was therefore to provide a literary reading of Pratchett’s trilogy, Only You Can Save Mankind (1992), Johnny and the Dead (1993) and Johnny and the Bomb (1996). However, it also acknowledges the possible didactic and developmental benefits of the books. The trilogy is entertaining, exciting, witty and child-friendly (Baldry cited in Butler, James and Mendlesohn, 2004:41), but it is also clear that Pratchett endeavours to challenge his child readers by presenting everyday situations from foreign and unusual perspectives. This dissertation argues that, as Baldry states, Pratchett ‘expands the thinking of his young readers with new ideas or unconventional ways of looking at familiar ideas’ which will ultimately help them consider their own lives in alternative and perhaps even more meaningful ways (quoted in Butler, James and Mendlesohn, 2004:41). The idea of ‘distancing techniques’ is vital for this study, because it proposes that readers can be transported from their Primary Realities (in which they live and function on a daily basis) into Secondary Realities or worlds which are unlike the Primary Reality in form and composition, but not unlike them in the way they function. Once this removal has taken place, bibliotherapists argue that readers are able to look back upon their primary world with new insight into their sense of industry and identity and also into the way their primary reality functions and the way they function within it. J.R.R. Tolkien (1985:35) explains that ‘…fact becomes that which is manipulated by the fantasy writer to produce a keener perception of the primary world and a greater ability to survive in it’. Owing to Pratchett’s specific comic brand of fantasy, a discussion of his comic and satiric techniques is also presented. Part of this discussion again concentrates on the ability of comedy to act as a distancing mechanism, while another discusses how Pratchett uses comedy to satirise certain aspects of society. As Bergson (1911:17) states in his book, Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, laughter is a way of ‘correcting men’s manners’. Pratchett thus makes use of various comic techniques to mock and ridicule certain features of society, such as its obsession with television, its materialism, or its obsession with computer games. This research is important as the fantasy genre is often considered to be mere popular fiction, to which parents and school teachers are frequently averse. However, with the increase in sales of fantasy works over the past decade, especially in adolescent and children’s fantasy, study of the genre and its possible influence on readers is becoming increasingly necessary. This dissertation undertakes to show that fantasy works can be both complex and satisfying literary works while they also have a positive influence on child readers. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / English / unrestricted

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka skillnader i pojkars och flickors litteraturval, beroende på genus. Undersökningen tittar på karaktärernas betydelse, handlingen och författarens genus, för att se om det är detta valet grundas på och varför faller det där det gör. Jag har tittat på tidigare forskning och resultat från PISA och PIRLS, vilket var grunden till att denna studie gjordes. För att komma fram till ett resultat har jag använt mig av intervjuer. Informanterna var 20 elever i årskurs 4–6 och 2 mellanstadielärare. Resultatet visade en skillnad i litteraturvalet beroende på genus, men denna skillnad tydliggjordes först bland informanterna i den högre åldersgruppen. / The purpose of this study is to investigate differences in boys and girls literature choices, depending on gender. The survey looks at the significance of the characters, the act and the authors gender, to see if this is the basis of which the choice is based and why does it fall where it does. I have looked at previous research and results from PISA and PIRLS, which was the reason why this study was done. To arrive at a result, I have used interviews. The informants were 20 students in grades 4–6 and 2 middle school teachers. The result showed a difference in the literature choice depending on gender, but this difference was first clarified among the informants in the higher age group.

Research on the portrayal of child characters with dyslexia in picture books is limited, therefore in this thesis, I analyzed six children’s picture books published in English speaking countries including the United States, Canada, and Australia for their portrayal of dyslexia, the plot, the characterization of the child, and the child’s relationship with others. I read through the books multiple times and conducted a content analysis to identify patterns in the portrayal of images of dyslexia and the child characters over the period of 1995-2018. Through the analysis of images of dyslexia, it became apparent that dyslexia had a major impact on the story of the six books and was often described as a challenge. Furthermore, the character’s teachers were often the first to recognize the symptoms of dyslexia,and the characters commonly received treatment through their schools. When analyzing the plot, the themes of acceptance and pretending as well as the shift from happy endings to realistic endings became apparent. When the portrayal of the child characters were analyzed, their strengths were in areas outside of reading and writing, and their weaknesses were due to dyslexia. In addition, the characters’ negative self-concept and their lack of ethnic diversity became evident. Lastly, the analysis of the character’s relationships with others showed the supportive role of their parents and teachers, along with the shifting portrayal of bullying classmates to supportive friends. The analysis of this thesis revealed similar findings to previous research conducted on children’s books portraying children with dyslexia,as well as comparable findings to the research on the real experiences of children who have dyslexia.