Flickan i barnboken : En analys av tre utvalda barnböcker

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to explore how young girls have been portraited in children's literature in the last 40 years. Find out how young girls are portrayed in literature for children. The reason for the focus is that we as humans are constantly influenced and shaped by external factors and by the norms that are presented, among other things, in different types of media (Abercrombie 2006:22-24). The curriculum states that the school should help students to develop their identity and give the students techniques to think critically (Skolverket 2011:12). Thus, the purpose is to find out how to work norm critical based on different types of popular children's literature. Astrid Lindgren's Madicken (1976), Pija Lindenbaum’s Gittan and the Greyhounds (2000) and Per Gustavsson's Princesses Waking At Night (2009) will be analyzed to complete the study. The different texts will be analyzed from a discourse analytical perspective and from a socio-cultural perspective. To narrow the study, three keywords will have a little more significance: gender, norms, characters and children´s books. In order for the study to not be too large, the analysis will be based on three books from different decades: The 70’s, 00’s and 10’s. The analysis will thus be from a historical contemporary perspective to pay attention to how the development of the portrayal of girls has developed by comparing the ideals that are contemporary with the books. To sum up the results, we both influence and are influenced by literature. The literature and concepts used are developing and changing in line with society's norms and values. It also turns out that the more modern the literature is, the more questioning of the prevailing gender standards it becomes.