I litteraturstudien behandlas ämnesområdet boksamtal. Våra tidigare erfarenheter har visat på att boksamtal oftast saknas i samband med högläsning och läsning av barnlitteratur i årskurs F–3. Därför är syftet med litteraturstudien att beskriva vad forskningen säger om sambandet mellan boksamtal och läsutveckling samt elevers inställning till läsning av barnlitteratur, med en jämförelse av kapitelboken och bilderboken. Följande frågeställningar har valts ut: på vilka sätt påverkar boksamtal elevers läsutveckling, hur påverkar arbetet med boksamtal elevers inställning till läsning av barnlitteratur och vilka kritiska faktorer finns det i lärarens arbete med boksamtal?  Genom flera olika databaser samt en söktjänst har vi funnit relevant litteratur för litteraturstudien. Urvalet består av nio vetenskapliga tidskrifter och två doktorsavhandlingar, där övervägande studier är internationella. Materialet analyserades utifrån kriterier för inklusion och sammanfattades i Översikt över analyserad litteratur (Bilaga 1). Resultatet presenterar olika typer av boksamtal och vilka kritiska faktorer det finns i undervisningen som påverkar eleverna. Slutsatsen är att boksamtal har positiv påverkan på både elevers läsutveckling och deras inställning till läsning av barnlitteratur. Läraren anses vara en avgörande faktor då en alltför dominerande lärare kan förhindra elevens utveckling, samt att val av bok också kan ge olika konsekvenser för samtalskvalitén.

The aim of this master’s thesis is to examine how elderly people are depicted in a selection of literature for children up to 10 years. The subjects examined are: lifestyle, roles and attributes. The books were collected from the databases ELSA and a local library, Borås stadsbibliotek. The books are analysed after a tool made by the authors. It was created from knowledge of similar studies and the holistic way of looking at ageing that is used in the academic study of gerontology. It means that both psychosocial and physiological factors are considered. The study showed varied forms of lifestyle for the elderly people, although most of them were living alone. Physiological incapability’s was rarely described, whereas psychological condition was more frequent described. The most common role for the elderly was either as substitutes for parents or neighbours to the child. The illustrations of the elderly often showed grey hair, a bent posture and traditional clothing. / Uppsatsnivå: D

BAKGRUND:Intresset för undersökningsområdet har väckts genom våra gemensamma erfarenheter ombarnlitteratur och läsning. Eftersom böcker har en given plats i förskolan ville vi fördjupa ossi ämnet ytterligare för att undersöka samspelet mellan barn och pedagoger i de olikalässtunderna.SYFTE:Undersökningens syfte är att ta reda på hur barn och pedagoger agerar vid spontana ochplanerade lässtunder i förskolan/förskoleklass och hur den fysiska miljön kan påverka detta.METOD:Studien genomfördes med hjälp av nio kvalitativa intervjuer med pedagoger iförskola/förskoleklass och 14 observationer av barn och pedagoger i förskola/förskoleklass.RESULTAT:Vi har i undersökningen kunnat se att det finns både likheter och skillnader i de olikaverksamheterna när det gäller arbetet med barnlitteratur under planerade och spontanalässtunder. En av likheterna är att samtliga pedagoger som intervjuades är överens om att denfysiska miljön har en stor betydelse för användandet av böcker. De menar att både barn ochpedagoger inspireras till att vilja använda böckerna om den fysiska miljön är inbjudande. Enskillnad vi har kunnat se är hur tillgängliga böckerna är i de olika verksamheterna. Påsmåbarnsavdelningen står böckerna på en hylla i köket där de inte är tillgängliga för barnen,medan böckerna stod framme och lätt tillgängliga för barnen i femårsgruppen och iförskoleklassen.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine how gender is described in some of the most popular children’s picture books in year 2007 and 2008. The theory used is based on Berger’s and Luckmann’s theory about Social construction, Bjerrum Nielsen’s and Rudberg’s theory about Gender socialization, Gens’ theory How girls becomes women and boys becomes men and Hirdman’s theory about Gender contracts. The method used is an analysis of ideal types. The direction of the method is partly hermeneutical. The ideal types used in this thesis are based upon Max Weber’s ideal types. I have constructed three ideal types which I use in this thesis. These three are: traditional behavior, varying behavior and contrasting behavior. In ten picture books, I have picked some characters from each book, both children characters and adult characters, and put them into one of the ideal type groups. I will describe the method of selections of books and characters later in the thesis. The result shows that everyone of the children characters’ behavior in the books are in contrast to the traditional gender structures in the society. The adult characters, though, have a more even distribution to the three ideal types groups. This result is a contrast to the result of several science papers on this subject through the years. According to this result, it seems like the writers of children´s picture books over the last years have become more conscious of the traditional gender system and is therefore more willing to give the characters contrasting behavior due to the traditional gender roles. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to gain insight into the attitudes of children´slibrarian towards the position of the printed Children’s book in today’s medialandscape. The reason for our interest is our belief that librarian’s attitudes to newmedia and their work practice have an effect on how children perceive books andreading. The study is built on qualitative interviews among four children’s librarians.Our theoretical framework stems from a variety of researchers within the fields ofpedagogy and media studies such as David Buckingham, Sonia Livingstone, NeilPostman, Ylva Ellneby and Margaret Mackey. We use their theories to analyse andinterpret results from the interviews. This study reveals a considerable consensus thatthe printed children’s book is considered to be of importance as a means for learningto read and to develop the imagination. The most important conclusion that can bedrawn from the study is that new media is a stronger competitor to the printed bookparticularly in socio-economic poorer areas, and because of this, it is of greaterimportance for librarians to be aware of children’s media worlds in these areas. / Program: Bibliotekarie

The aim of this study is to investigate how a number of fathers read and what their perceptions of both their own readingand the reading they experience with their child/children look like. I also want to investigate their thoughts about the importance of reading to children. The study is based upon qualitative interviewswith four fathers who are active readers and have children between 3-6 years of age. The analysis does not offer any generalizations. As a conceptual framework for this study, I used Sten Furhammar’s categories of different types of reading to find out what fathers reading habits look like and what they wish to obtain. I also used Bo Møhl & May Schack’s different functions of children’s literature to identify what kind of reading habits fathers have together with their children and which motives that can be seen behind this reading. Fathers own reading habits can be explained by Furhammars category impersonal - instrumentalreading that associates with the quest for objective knowledge. The most common function of children’s literature that appeared in fathers reading with their children was the informative anddeductive category and the function of the literature as an instrument in the development of the children. The result of this study also shows that fathers think that reading is a valuable activity. Reasons mentioned for reading are being together,language and fantasy stimulation and knowledge about the surrounding world. / Program: Bibliotekarie

This Master’s Thesis aims to examine the attitudes concerning gender issues among children’s librarians. The main purpose is to examine what their views on the subject are, and if they consider gender issues when acquiring and mediating books. We are also interested in their opinions about gender stereotyping in children’s books. We have chosen to interview eight children’s librarians. This is our primary method, which we will combine with theories on gender and reading. The interviews showed that the biggest gender issue in general is the predominance of female librarians. Other than that there were few discussions on the subject at the libraries. The role as mediator was more reflected upon. The general view was that there is a delicate balance between too much interference and too little. The librarians consider promoting the children’s interest in reading to be their greatest concern, and this means gender issues might be overlooked. Their greatest influence is achieved through their choice of which books to acquire, and how they promote these. There are differing opinions on gender stereotyping in books among the librarians. The stereotypes can facilitate reading comprehension, as the children easily recognise the characters and identify with them. They can also limitate the child’s frame of reference.

The aim of this study is to examine views of picture books for children that reviewers in Swedish daily press express in their reviews in 2009 and 2010. The following questions were posed in the study: Are picture book reviews based on pedagogical criteria and/or aesthetic/literary criteria? Are picture books reviewed from an adult perspective and/or from a child perspective? Which elements of positive and negative criticism are to be found in picture book reviews? This qualitative study is based on 45 reviews of picture books in Swedish daily press. The theoretical approach is developed from four ways of looking at children literature that professor Maria Nikolajeva has compiled. The method used is idea analysis, which is a form of text-analysis. The results show that most of the reviews mainly were based on aesthetic/literary criteria, but many of them there were also based on pedagogical criteria. A common pedagogical criterion was if the book showed a desirable view or not. The results also show that there were both an adult perspective and a child perspective in the reviews. Positive and negative criticism indicated that a good picture book has an important message, provide a desirable view, and maintain high aesthetic/literary quality. In addition, it suits all ages, or is adapted to children.

Debates about suitable content in children's literature occur regularly. In spring 2010 such a debate took place in Sweden. The purpose of this Bachelor's thesis is to analyse the debate to identify ideas concerning the role of children's literature in society. A second aim is to examine how children's literature is described and which concepts are used by the debaters. The empirical material used for the analysis consists of ten articles, blog posts, radio- and TV- features published in March 2010. The combined theory and method applied is the discourse analysis described in Ernesto Laclau & Chantal Mouffe's discourse theory. In the theories of Laclau & Mouffe concepts like nodal points, equivalence chains, antagonism and subject positions play a dominant role in the production of objectivity. Three nodal points are identified in the analysis: 'censorship', 'children's needs' and 'parents of today'. The nodal points are connected to subject positions and acting space. They are also related to questions of power and the cumulative effects of media. It is my conclusion that there is a divergence between aesthetical and didactical outlooks in the debate. Another opposition in the debate concerns children's needs versus parents’ comprehension about children and childhood. The study also shows that authors and representatives from publishing houses are given particular acting space in comparison to representatives from the culture sphere and parents.

Jag vill med min uppsats försöka belysa hur bilden av sorg, saknad och längtan kan se ut om man jämför berättelser för barn som är skrivna på 1800-talet med hur barnboksförfattare skrivit under 2000-talet.Den metod jag använt för att undersöka de olika stilarna är ett litterärt experiment, i vilket jag gjort en omskrivning av några moderna berättelser och försökt att ge dem en karaktär av 1800-talslitteratur.Jag har för detta syfte valt ut två barnböcker som skrevs vid 1800-talets slut, nämligen Sagan om björken och stjärnan av den finlandssvenske författaren Zacharias Topelius och Den lilla flickan med svavelstickorna av den danske författaren Hans Christian Andersen. Dessa två berättelsers innehåll och stil har jag låtit färga två barnböcker skrivna under 2000-talet, nämligen Den dagen av Viveka Sjögren, utgiven år 2008, Ensammast i världen av Magda Eggens, utgiven år2003.Min slutsats är att bilder av sorg, saknad och längtan kan målas upp på olika sätt, och att tidsåldern förvisso speglar hur dessa bilder ser ut, men att de också kan upplevas olika beroende på vilka uttryck man använt.I min studie har jag tagit del av relevant teoretisk litteratur och har med stöd av andras forskning byggt ramar kring mina egna antaganden.