Children’s Literature in the Nordic World

This book introduces Nordic children’s literature and some of the children portrayed in these stories: from the little matchbox girl and the small boy revealing the nakedness of the emperor in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales to independent boys and girls in more recent children’s books.

It provides an account of the role played by books in the lives and upbringing of children in the Nordic countries from the 18th century Enlightenment until today. The emergence of a specific market for children’s books coincided with early school reforms, and children’s literature has been used for education, entertainment and aesthetic experiences, for disciplining and debate, for strengthening of traditions and for experimenting with new ideals and lifestyles.

The book addresses these and the changes and continuities in the relationship between child readers and adult authors, artists, publishers, teachers, librarians and parents. Important contexts that explain the world of children’s books in the Nordic countries are introduced: family patterns and values, pedagogical methods and everyday routines in creches, kindergartens and schools, different types of libraries - as well as literary and artistic trends in everchanging media. Many such developments interact with European and global trends, but distinctive features of Nordic children’s culture, cherishing the voices of independent, active and creative children, are visible - both in the books themselves and in the ways in which they are used.