My main publications

Books

Articles


 

Books

 

Click on the title for more information.

 

The Magic Code: The use of magical patterns in fantasy for children, Stockholm, Almqvist & Wiksell International 1988 

 

(ed) Modern litteraturteori och metod i barnlitteraturforskningen, Stockholm, Centre for the study of childhood culture 1992 

 

(ed) Voices from far away. Current trends in international children's literature research, Stockholm, Centre for the study of childhood culture 1995 

 

(ed) Aspects and Issues in the History of Children's Literature, Westport, CT, Greenwood 1995 

 

Children's Literature Comes of Age.Toward a new aesthetic New York, Garland 1996. Korean translation 1998.

 

Introduction to the Theory of Children's Literature. Tallinn, Tallinn University Press 1996; 2nd enlarged ed. 1997

 

Barnbokens byggklossar, Lund, Studentlitteratur 1998, 2nd revised and enlarged edition 2004. Danish translation Boernebogens byggeklodser, Copenhagen, Hoest 2001.

  

(with Ulla Bergstrand) Läckergommarnas kungarike. Om matens roll i barnlitteraturen ("The Realm of Gourmands. The function of food in children's literature"), Stockholm, Centre for the study of childhood culture 1999

 

From Mythic to Linear. Time in children's literature, Lanham, Scarecrow 2000. Paperback reprint 2003.

  

Bilderbokens pusselbitar, Lund, Studentlitteratur 2000. Danish translation Billedbogens pusslespil, Copenhagen, Hoest 2003.

 

(with Carole Scott) How Picturebooks Work, New York, Garland 2001 . Paperback edition 2006. Japanese translation forthcoming.

 

The Rhetoric of Character in Children's Literature, Lanham, Scarecrow 2002. Paperback reprint 2003.  

 

The Aesthetic Approach to Children's Literature,  Lanham, Scarecrow 2005

 

(with Sandra Beckett, eds)Beyond Babar: The European Tradition on Children's Literature. Lanham, Scarecrow 2006


Power, Voice and Subjectivity in Literature for Young Readers, New York, Routledge, 2009

Articles (a selection)

 

Click on the link to access the article online (sometimes you need a password to read the full text)

 

 

The function of the charm, Labrys (London) 1981:7

 

Mod, vänskap och uppfyllda önskemål. Några milstolpar i den ryska fantasilitteraturen (=Courage, Friendship and Fulfilled Wishes. Some Milestones in Russian Fantasy), Barnboken 1984:2 

 

Gamla tabun upphävs i moderna ryska barnböcker (=Old Taboos Broken in Modern Russian Children's Books), Rysk kulturrevy 1984:2 

 

Bilderboken som försvann. Några tendenser i den sovjetiska bilderboksskonsten (=The Picturebook That Disappeared. Some Trends in the Soviet Picturebook Art), in: I bilderbokens värld, ed Kristin Hallberg & Boel Westin, Stockholm, Liber 1985 

 

Rimliga orimligheter. Kornej Tjukovskijs dikter för barn (=Sensible Nonsense. Kornei Chukovsky's Poetry for Children), in: Vällingsäck och sommarvind. Versen i barnens värld, ed Vivi Edström & Märta Netterstad, Stockholm, Liber 1987 

 

The marvelous within the everyday: fairy-tales by Veniamin Kaverin, i: Proceedings of the international kongress "Dimensions of the marvelous", ed Juliette Frölich, Oslo 1987 

 

Edith Nesbit - the maker of modern fairy tales, Marvels and Tales 1987:1(1) 

 

The insignificance of time: Red Shift, Children's Literature Association Quarterly 1989:14(3) 

 

How fantasy is made. Patterns and structures in The Neverending story by Michael Ende, Marvels and Tales 1990:4(1) 

 

A typological approach to the study of The root cellar, Canadian Children's Literature 1991:63 

 

Barnkultur i glasnost-tider (=Children's Culture in the Time of Glasnost), Opsis Kalopsis 1991:3/4 

 

En text undersöker sig själv. Metafiktionen i barn- och ungdomslitteraturen (=A Text Investigates Itself. Metafiction in Children's Literature), in: Svensklärarföreningens årsskrift 1991 

 

Härmande eller dialog? Den intertextuella analysen (=Imitation or Dialogue? Intertextual Analysis), in: Modern litteraturteori och metod i barnlitteraturforskningen, ed Maria Nikolajeva, Stockholm, Centre for the study of childhood culture 1992 

 

Igenkännandets glädje: C S Lewis Narniaböcker i strukturalistisk belysning (=The Joy of Recognition: C S Lewis' Narnia books from structuralist perspective), in: Modern litteraturteori och metod i barnlitteraturforsningen, ed Maria Nikolajeva, Stockholm, Centre for the study of childhood culture 1992 

 

Typologiska studier av barnlitteratur: till kenotypbegreppet (=Typological Studies of Children's Literature: Toward the Notion of Kenotype), Barnboken 1992:1 

 

Fantasy: The Evolution of a Pattern, in: Fantasy and Feminism in Children's Books, ed Rhonda Bunbury, Geelong, Deakin University Press 1993 

 

Alan Garners magiska landskap (=Alan Garner's Magical Landscapes, in: Läseboken. Festskrift till Ulf Boethius, ed Carina Lidström, Eslöv, Symposion 1993 

 

Klassiker - bara för nostalgiska vuxna? (=Classics - Just for Nostalgic Adults?) Opsis Kalopsis 1994:2 

 

Stages of transformation: folklore elements in children's novels, Canadian hildren's Literature 1994:73 

 

Children's literature as a cultural code: a semiotic approach to history in: Aspects and Issues of the History of Children's Literature, ed. Maria Nikolajeva, Westport, Greenwood 1995 

 

Katherine Paterson, in: De skriver för barn och ungdom. Svenska och översatta nutidförfattare, Lund, Btj 1995 

 

Patricia MacLachlan, in: De skriver för barn och ungdom. Svenska och översatta nutidförfattare, Lund, Btj 1995 

 

Diana Wynne Jones, in: De skriver för barn och ungdom. Svenska och översatta nutidförfattare, Lund, Btj 1995 

Russian Children's Literature Before and After Perestroika, ChLA Quarterly 1995:20 (3) 

 

Tormod Haugen - postmodernist (=Tormod Haugen - Postmodernist), in: Tormod Haugen - en artikkelsamling, ed Ola Loslök & Bjarne Öygarden, Oslo, Gyldendal, 1995; reprinted in: Nye veier til barneboka, ed Harald Bache-Wiig, Oslo, Cappelen 1997 

 

Söder om solen. Om barnlitteratur i Sydafrika (=South of the Sun. Children's Literature in South Africa), Opsis Kalopsis 1995:5 

 

Pigs aren't meant to have fun: The swedishness of Swedish children's literature, in: Other worlds, other lives, ed Myrna Machet et al, Pretoria, UNISA Press, 1996, vol I 

 

Literature as a rite of passage: A new look at genres Compar(a)ison 1995:2 

 

Literature for Children and Young People in: The History of Swedish literature, ed Lars Warme, Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press 1996 

 

Barnlitteratur: en berättelse om konsten att växa upp (=Children's Literature: The Story About Growing Up), in: Konsten att berätta för barn,

Stockholm, Centre for the study of childhood culture 1996 

 

(with Ulla Bergstrand) Läckergommarnas kungarike. Matens funktion i barnlitteraturen (=The Realm of Gourmands. The Function of Food in Children's Literature), Barnboken 1996:2 

 

The "serendipity" of censorship, Para*doxa 1996:3-4 

 

Hur en nationell litteratur definierar sig själv (=How National Literature Defines Itself), Horisont 1996:6 

 

Barnkultur - vuxnas skydd mot ondskan (=Children's Culture - Adults' Protection Against Evil) Opsis Kalopsis 1997:1 

 

Reflections of change in children's books titles, in: Reflections of Change, ed Sandra Beckett, Westport, CT, Greenwood 1997 

 

National identity in minority literature for children: the case of Swedish-language literature in Finland, in: Gunpowder and Sealing-Wax: Nationhood in Children's Literature, ed Ann Lawson Lucas, Hull, Troubador 1997 

 

The child as self-deceiver: narrative strategies in Katherine Paterson's and Patricia MachLachlan's novels, Papers 1997:7 (1) 

 

On the egde of childhood. Bookbird 1997:35(2) 

 

Two national heroes - Jacob Two-Two and Pippi Longstocking, Canadian Children's Literature 1997:86 

 

Vivien Alcock, in: Författare och illustratörer för barn och ungdom 1 A-B, Lund, Btj 1998 

 

Cecil Bödker, in: Författare och illustratörer för barn och ungdom 1 A-B, Lund, Btj 1998 

 

Vad lämnar vi efter oss till våra barn? Framtidsvisioner i barn- och ungdomslitteraturen (=What Are We Leaving to Our Children? Visions of

 

Future in Children's Literature), Opsis Kalopsis 1998:2 

 

Exit children's literature? The lion and the unicorn 1998: 22(2) 

 

Susan Cooper, in: Författare och illustratörer för barn och ungdom 2, Lund, Btj 1998 

 

Med Bachtin mot 2000-talet (=With Bakhtin Toward the 21st Centrury). Vår lösen 1998: 3/3

 

Från Nils Holgersson till datorernas död: Stockholm i barnlitteraturen (=From Nils Holgersson to the Death of Computers: Stockholm in Children's Literature, Opsis Kalopsis 1998:3 

 

Janne min vän - en väg utan återvändo (=Johnny My Friend - Beyond the Point of No Return), in: Forankring och fornying. Den nordiske ungdomsromanen ed Eli Flatekval. Oslo, Cappelen 1999 

 

Children's, Adult, Human..? in: Transcending Boundaries. Writing for A Dual Audience of Children and Adults, ed Sandra Beckett, New York, Garland 1999

 

Patricia MacLachlan in Författare och illustratörer för barn och ungdom 5, Lund, Btj 1999

 

Katherine Paterson in: Författare och illustratörer för barn och ungdom 6, Lund, Btj 1999

 

Hur man skapar en succé: Fenomenet Harry Potter (=How to Create a Success: The Harry Potter Phenomenon). Opsis Kalopsis 2000:1

 

(with Janina Orlov) A Room of One's Own: The Advantage and Dilemma of Finno-Swedish Children's Literature, in: Text, Culture and National Identity in Children's Literature, ed Jean Webb, Helsinki, Nordinfo, 2000

 

Toward Linearity: A Narrative Reading of The Mouse and His Child in: Russell Hoban: Forty Years, ed Alida Allison. New York, Garland, 2000 

 

Fantasy literature and fairy tales, Slavic and Baltic Countries, Scandinavian Countries and a number of short entries in: Oxford Companion of Fairy Tales, ed Jack Zipes. Oxford, Oxford UP, 2000

 

Narratologisk teori och dess tillämpning i barnlitteraturforskningen (=Narrayive Theiory and Its Application in Children's Literature Research, in: Aspekter på narrativitet, ed Ulf Palmenfelt, Åbo: Nordiskt nätverk för folkloristik, 2000

 

Children's Literature comes of age? By Way of Introduction (in Chinese),  Zhongguo Ertong Wenxuw - Chinese children's literature (Beijing), 2000:2 

 

(with Carole Scott) Fra symmetri till kontrapunkt: Billebogen som kunstform (=From Symmetry to Counterpoint: Picturebook as an Art Form. I: Børns billedbøger og billeder, ed Anne Mørck Hansen. Copenhangen, Høst & Søn 2000

 

Tamed Imagination. A Rereading of Heidi, ChLA Quarterly 2000:2

 

The Power of Language: Ana Maria Machado. Bookbird 2000:3

 

(with Carole Scott) Dynamics of Picturebook Comminication. Children's Literature in Education 2000:4

 

På väg mot en teori över litterära karaktärer i barnlitteraturen (=Toward a theory of literary character in children's fiction). Barnboken 2000:2

 

Barnbokens väg i Mittens Rike (=The Way of Children’s Literature in the Middle Realm; on Chinese children’s literature), Opsis Kalopsis 2000:4

 

The Changing Aesthetics of Character in Children's Fiction. Style 2001 vol 35 no 3

 

The Art of Self-deceit. Narrative Strategies in Katherine Paterson’s Novels, in Bridges for the Young: The Fiction of Katherine Paterson, ed. Joel Chaston & Sarah Smedman. Lanham, MD, Scarecrow, 2001

 

(with Carole Scott) Images of the Mind. The Depiction of Consciousness in Picturebooks, Creata (Sydney, Australia) 2001:1

 

Imprints of the Mind: The Depiction of Consciousness in Children's Fiction. ChLA Quarterly 2001-2002:4

 

Heterotopia as a Reflection of Postmodern Consciousness in the Novels of Diana Wynne Jones, in Diana Wynne Jones: An Exciting and Exacting Wisdom, ed, Teya Rosenberg. New York: Peter Lang, 2002

 

The Verbal and the Visual. The Picturebook as a Medium, in Children's Literature as Communication, ed. Roger Sell. Amsterdam: John Benjamin, 2002

 

Growing up. The Dilemma of Children's Literature, in Children's Literature as Communication, ed. Roger Sell. Amsterdam: John Benjamin, 2002

 

"A Dream of Complete Idleness." The Depiction of Labor in Children's Literature. The Lion and the Unicorn 2002:3

 

Fairy Tales in Society's Service.Marvels & Tales2002, vol 16 no 2

 

Harry Potter - Return to the Romantic Hero, in Harry Potter's World: Multidisciplinary Critical Perspectives, ed. Elizabeth Heilman, New York, Routledge, 2002

 

Characterization in Picturebooks: Text/Image Interaction, in Art, Narrative and Childhood, ed. Morag Styles and Eve Bearne, London, Trentham, 2003

 

Beyond the Grammar of Story, or How Can Children’s Literature Criticism Benefit from Narrative Theory ChLA Quarterly 28 (2003) 1 

 

Fairy Tales and Fantasy: From Archaic to Postmodern.Marvels & Tales2003 vol 17 no 1

 

Auktoritära män och otillförlitliga kvinnor: Genus och berättande (=Authoritatve Men and Unrealiable Women. Gender and Narration), in: Berättaren: En gäckande röst i texten, red. Lars-Åke Skalin. Örebro: Universitetsbiblioteket, 2003

 

Crossvokalisering och subjektivitet: Den performativa rösten i litteraturen (=Crossvocalization and Subjectivity: The performative voice in literature). Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 2003:1/2

 

The verbal and the visual literacy: The role of picturebooks in the reading experience of young children, in A Handbok of Research in Early Childhood Literacy, ed. Jackie Marsh et al, London: Sage, 2003.

 

Toward a genuine narrative voice, Bookbird 2004:1

 

Harry Potter och barnlitteraturens hemligheter (=Harry Potter and the Secrets of Children’s Literature). Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap 2003:4

 

Narrative Theory and Children’s Literature, in: Routledge Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature, ed. Peter Hunt. Routledge, 2004.

 

Toward a Theory of Literary Characters in Children’s Fiction, in: What a Character! ed. Nancy L. Roser & Miriam G. Martinez. Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 2005

 

Stemme, magt og genus i børnelitteraturen. Passage (Denmark) 2005:52

 

Børnelitteratur: kunst, pædagogik og magt. På opdagelse i børnelitteraturen, red. Nina Christensen & Anna Karlskov Skyggebjerg. Höst, 2005

Word and Image, in Teaching Children’s Literature, ed. Charles Butler, Palgrave, 2006

New Masculinities, New Femininities: Swedish Young Adult Fiction towards the Twenty-first  Century. Changing Concepts of Childhood and Children’s Literature, ed.Vanessa Joosen och Katrien Vloeberghs. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2006

Skriket från jungeln – befrielse eller regression? På terskelen. Artikler om nordisk barne- og ungdomslitteratur, red. Harald Bache-Wiig. Oslo: Novus, 2006

(with Carole Scott) Dynamics of picturebook communication, Children’s Literature: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies, ed. Peter Hunt, vol 1, London, Routledge

The Changing Aesthetics of Character in Children’s Literature, Children’s Literature: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies, red. Peter Hunt, vol 3, London, Routledge

A Misunderstood Tragedy. Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Books” in: Beckett, Sandra and Maria Nikolajeva. Beyond Babar. The European Tradition in Children’s Literature. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow, 2006.

What do we translate when we translate children’s literature. in Beckett, Sandra and Maria Nikolajeva. Beyond Babar. The European Tradition in Children’s Literature. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow, 2006.

What is Theory, and Why and How We Could, or Should, Use It. Canadian Children's Literature 2006:1

Girls Take Over in Swedish Young Adult Fiction Swedish book review, Supplement 2006

Children’s Literature: Subject, Voice and Power. The Grimm Award Acceptance Speech. IICLO Bulletin vol 29, 2006

Voice, Gender and Alterity in George MacDonald's Fairy Tales. In "The Noble Unrest": Contemporary Essays on the Work of George MacDonald, ed. by Jean Webb, Cambridge Scholar Press, 2007

Books Every Canadian should read, Canadian Children's Literature 2007:2

Astrid Lindgren – famous and unknown. [Introduction to] Special issue: The liberated child: Childhood in the works of Astrid Lindgren, Barnboken 2007:1-2

Play and Playfulness in postmodern picturebooks, in Postmodern Picturebooks: Play, Parody, and Self-Referentiality, ed. by Lawrence Sipe, New York, Routledge, 2008

The Identification Fallacy: Perspective and Subjectivity in Children’s Literature, in a collection of essays ed. by Michael Cadden, Nebraska UP (forthcoming)

Zakaj Pika spi z nogami na blazini ali subverzija moči v delih Astrid Lindgren (Why Does Pippi Sleep with Her Feet on Her Pillow, or Subversion of Power in Astrid Lindgren’s Works). Otrok in knjiga, Ljubljana, Slovenia 2007:69

Det självutlämnande jaget: Den fiktiva dagboken i barn- och ungdomslitteratur (The self-exposing I: Fictive Diaries in Children's Literature), in Barnlitteraturanalyser, ed. Maria Andersson and Elina Druker, Lund, Studentlitteratur, 2008.

“The stuff from which dreams are made”. Om George MacDonalds esoteriska romanser (“The stuff from which dreams are made”. On George MacDonald’s esoteric romances”), in: Esoterism i litteraturen, ed Mattias Fyhr, Stockholm, Ellerstöm, 2008

Harry Potter and the secrets of children’s literature, in: Harry Potter's world: Multidisciplinary critical perspectives, ed Elizabeth Heilman, 2nd revised edition, New York, Routledge, 2008

Comparative children’s literature: What is there to compare? Papers 2008:1

Theory, Post-Theory, and Aetonormative Theory, Neohelicon: Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universalum 2009:2

Visual Literacy and the Implied readers of children’s picturebooks. ID EST 1 (2009) 2

Time and Totalitarianism, International Journal of the Fantastic in Art 20 (2009) 2

”The bravest man I ever knew”. Adult Heroism and Role Modeln in the harry Potter Novels, in: Heroism in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter. New York: Peter Lang, 2009

Devils, Demons, Familiars, Friends. The Semiotics of Literary Cats. Marvel and Tales 2009:2

Translation and crosscultural reception, in: Handbook of research on children’s and young adult literature, ed Karen Coats et al, New York, Routledge (forthcoming)

The development of children’s fantasy, Modern Fantasy Literature, ed Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn, Cambridge University Press (forthcoming)

 

 

 

  Fiction

 

Var är solen? (Where is the sun?, picturebook) Illustrated by Vladimir Galatsky. Stockholm, Carlsen 1987 (translated into Finnish, Danish and Dutch)

 

Vem sa det först? (Who said it first?, picturebook) Illustrated by Vladimir Galatsky. Stockholm, Carlsen 1989

 

En jul i Moskva (’Christmas in Moscow’, short story), in Jul när jag var liten, Stockholm, Rabén & Sjögren 1992

 

Nedräkningen (Final countdown, novel), Stockholm, Rabén & Sjögren 1993 (translated into Danish and Lithuanian)

 

Det finns inga kungar (There is no such rhing as kings, novel), Stockholm, Rabén & Sjögren 1994

 

Renata och sjökungen (’Renata and the Sea King’, short story), in Världen i Sverige, Stockholm, Litteraturfrämjandet 1996

 

Orpheus i underlandet (’Orpheus in Wonderland’, short story, Vi July 1997

 

Evigt ägs blott det förlorade (’Only the lost is eternal’, short story) in Det nya landet, Gothenburg, Lindelöw 1998