Barnboken

Introduction: Norms of (Dis)ability in Nordic Children’s and Young Adult Literature

Josefine Wälivaara; Jenny Jarlsdotter Wikström; Louise Almqvist — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:28:07 +0000

^{Theme: Norms of (Dis)ability in Nordic Children’s and Young Adult Literature.}

Introduction: Norms of (Dis)ability in Nordic Children’s and Young Adult Literature

För sjuk för skolan?

Mårten Michanek — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:15:17 +0000

^{Theme: Norms of (Dis)ability in Nordic Children’s and Young Adult Literature.}

Too Sick for School? Stomachache, Resistance, and Metaphors in Nordic Children’s and Young Adult Books about School Refusers

This article examines how contemporary Nordic children’s and young adult literature represents extended school absenteeism as a question of (dis)ability. Drawing on theories of characterization and picturebook modality, it analyses 16 Danish, Finland-Swedish, Norwegian and Swedish books published for young readers 2015–2025. The analysis focuses on how inability, diagnoses, and therapy are mobilized in characterization, plot, and paratexts. The discourse of school refusers as disabled is manifested throughout the material in characters who are unable to go to school even though they want to, informative sections on diagnoses, and therapeutic treatment reflected in the narrative structure. The literature, however, also contains various ambiguities that invite readings attentive to the limits of this discourse, suggesting that some experiences of distress resist categorization and communication.

Når isbjørnen puster deg i ansiktet

Åse Kristine Tveit — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:10:44 +0000

When the Polar Bear Breathes in Your Face: Svalbard as a Transitional Site in Children’s Literature

How does Svalbard’s natural environment shape depictions of transitional phases in children’s literature? Children’s books set in extreme environments show that such settings serve as arenas for dramatic events that test and reshape children’s agency. Drawing on the concept of agency in childhood sociology and insights from ethnology, this article explores how Svalbard’s nature frames narratives of change and transition between life stages. The protagonists of two selected novels—Operasjon Arktis (Operation Arctic, 1971) by Leif Hamre and The Last Bear (2021) by Hannah Gold—confront life‑threatening situations that enable them to transcend the limits of what they and others believed possible. Their encounters with polar bears are pivotal: in Hamre’s work, the bear is a deadly threat, whereas in Gold’s it appears as a suffering victim. Read as rites of passage, these stories trace the young characters’ movement from bewilderment or fear to decisiveness and agency.

The Ethics of the Gaze

Maggie M. K. Chan — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:00:42 +0000

^{Theme: Norms of (Dis)ability in Nordic Children’s and Young Adult Literature.}

This article examines the ethics of the gaze in disability representation in Mariangela Di Fiore and Hilde Hodnefjeld’s Elefantmannen (Elephant Man) from 2013, a Norwegian picturebook that recounts the life of Joseph Carey Merrick (1862–1890). Drawing on critical disability studies, Laura Mulvey’s gaze theory, and Ato Quayson’s concept of aesthetic nervousness, the analysis explores how the book stages five distinct gazes: the spectacle gaze of the freak show, the societal gaze of everyday encounters, the clinical gaze of medical professionals, the empathetic gaze of visitors, and Merrick’s own gaze. The article argues that Elefantmannen deploys multiple gazes to implicate readers in the ethics of looking at disability, exposing how visibility is shaped by ableist norms while foregrounding the limits of empathy. By turning the gaze back on the reader and generating aesthetic nervousness, Elefantmannen challenges conventional disability narratives and invites reflection on how children’s literature can move towards ethical representation based on recognition.

Mellan medier och bildkulturer

Elina Druker — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 08:57:33 +0000

^{Theme: The Children’s Library Saga and the Swedish Teachers’ Magazine’s Publishing House. Logo: The Swedish Institute for Children's Books}

Between Media and Visual Cultures: Einar Nerman and Svensk läraretidnings förlag

The Swedish artist Einar Nerman had an international career as both an artist and illustrator during the 1910s and 1920s. In addition, he produced an extensive body of work within children’s literature. This article examines connections between these fields by studying his illustrations in Christmas magazines published by Svensk läraretidnings förlag during the 1920s and 1930s. His work in children’s literature is characterized by modernist stylization, striking visual compositions, and strong color contrasts. The article explores his movement between performance arts, entertainment magazines, and children’s literature. Taking Nerman’s illustrations in the Christmas magazines Jultomten (Father Christmas) and Tummeliten (Tom Thumb) as its point of departure, the study also illustrates shifts in the publisher’s strategies and visual profile. By examining the artist’s transgressions of media boundaries, the article contributes to an understanding of how illustration in children’s literature and magazines developed during the first decades of the twentieth century. Nerman’s contributions illuminate how children’s magazines functioned as sites of aesthetic negotiation, where modernist impulses coexisted with national romanticism and established visual traditions. Rather than marking a clear break, his work highlights processes of gradual transformation shaped by both technological change and commercial expansion. In this sense, the article sheds light on how children’s literature of the period was constituted through ongoing exchanges between artistic experimentation and developing conditions of illustrated print culture.