The aim with this masters thesis is to investigate how gender is presented in Swedish picture books, in order to give librarians and other actors in the field knowledge about what kind of books they supply impressionable children with. I investigate if and how the changes concerning gender-equality in the Swedish society during the last 25 years are reflected in childrens literature, and compare how men and women are portrayed in four books from the early 1980s with four books from the 2000s. My study is delimited to three aspects of character formation, introduced by Maria Nikolajeva: description of psychology, actions and relations to other characters. It is carried through by consultation of Yvonne Hirdmans theory of how men and women are held apart and that the man in this relation constitutes the norm as well as Nikolajevas list of typical male and female characteristics. By reading and interpreting the chosen books, I analyse both text and pictures.

 AbstractMy curiosity of students' use of images for reading led me to seek knowledge of the students view on the text illustrations in the literature and through interviews. This study is about how pupils in the school year 2 experience reading, especially with images. The purpose is to investigate the significance of illustrations in reading for students in school year 2. I also want to find out how students see themselves as readers and how the survey material believes that the students comprehend reading. Eight children, both girls and boys have participated in the interview.

The purpose of this study is to examine modern constructions of Jane Austens work in films and in books on history of literature. The theoretical framework contains sociology of literature, cultural studies and film theory. I compared Jane Austens books Emma, Pride and prejudice and Sense and sensibility with three film versions from recent years. In the books on history of literature I studied, I found three different attitudes towards history of literature, which also influenced the interpretation of Austens novels. The stories in Austens books and in the films are similar.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate peoples experience when listening at audio books. During recent years the use of audio books has increased significantly. With that knowledge and the fact that this is an almost unexplored area within Library- and Information science our interest grew even stronger. The thesis is based on two different theories. To be able to place audio books in a context we have applied a media- consumption perspective by asking questions like when, where and how the media-consumption takes place.

This study discusses and examines the alternative teaching materials in religion class amongst seven teachers in Stockholm region. As religion is a complex subject to both learn and to teach it may be beneficial to use alternative texts to show the diversity of the subject. The aim of this study was to examine why teachers use news articles and other articles from daily magazines in their religion class. I also examined how the teachers motivated their choices of teaching materials. The study is qualitative and the empirical work was done by interviewing seven teachers in religion.

The aim of my thesis was to examine if educators need to be critical of what they read to the children from a gender perspective. I examined how picture books depict gender and if the books enhances or breaks perception of gender roles. I also examined educator?s perception of gender and if they think picture books can affect children?s perceptions of gender, but also what educators think about gender equality through picture books. The study is based on analysis of five picture books and interview with five educators.The results of analyzes showed that picture books are stereotyped and enhances perceptions of gender roles.

The purpose of this Master's thesis is to examine if stereotype gender patterns are showing, and how they are showing, in the picture books that have the highest number of loan in Sweden?s three biggest cities. It is also a purpose to show if these gender patterns can be compared to the outlook on gender in the curriculum. The method used is a qualitative text analysis. 13 picture books are analyzed on the basis of Yvonne Hirdman?s theories on gender and Maria Nikolajeva?s theories on children?s literature.

This study analyses five different picture books from the last few decades. The aim of the analysis was to investigate how relations between children and adults are presented in the picture books. One way to achieve this has been to focus on the adults? presence or absence in the narrative, and also what kind of authority the adult(s) can have in the action and how it can affect relations between children and adults. The idea is that this degree project can be adapted for practical use in school.

In the previous curriculum for the preschool Lpfö 98, the educational responsibility was documented belonging to all the team members. On the 1st of July 2011 a new curriculum was introduced to the preschool, Lpfö 98/10, where it is documented that the educational responsibility now belongs to the preschool teachers. According to curriculum experts at the Swedish school board this educational responsibility is not new, just a clarification of the preschool teacher?s educational responsibility.This study is a qualitative study and the purpose was to interview the preschool teachers about their thoughts concerning their educational responsibility. The purpose was also to examine if their educational responsibility has affected their role in the team at the preschool and if they believe that this has any significance for their profession.My result of the study shows that the educational responsibility of the preschool teachers now has been clarified and that they should take a leading role in the team towards the goals that are set for the preschool.

The purpose of this thesis is to study how children's librarians in public libraries use non-fiction books in their work to promote reading. My research questions are: What methods do children's librarians use för promoting non-fiction books? Are there children who can gain more from non-fiction books than other children do? Are there any differences in working with fiction and non-fiction books? To answer these questions I have interwieved five children's librarians about their methods, attitudes and thoughts on non-fiction books.The result shows that all of the librarians use non-fiction when it comes to promotion reading but not to the same extent. Some hardly use it at all, mainly because the schools that they are serving demands fiction books when practicing reading skills. while others use it but in less extent than fiction, as a way of separating the library reading from school work either because they want to keep the experience of reading in the library apart from school work or because they find it more efficient to do so.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how five works of fiction about anorexia and bulimia have been received in Swedish daily press reviews. The investigation is based on 60 reviews, which are analysed with a qualitative method consisting of close-reading and where a feministic perspective is used. The main question concerns how and to which extent the basis of valuation in the reviews is effected by the fact that the books describe a primary female world of experiences. The investigation shows, among other things, that many reviewers consider the books about eating disorders to be too many. They categorize the books about anorexia and bulimia as a genre of its own and place the books into the literary system principally by referring to other books about anorexia and bulimia.

The aim of this masters thesis is to examine how some childrens librarians in public libraries reason about Wahlströms series books. During the 1970s, there was a discussion about the series books, and the general meaning was, among other things, that the books should not be available at libraries. Therefore, we also want to study if the arguments for and against the series books presented today are any different than those presented in the 1970s. For this examination, two methods have been used. We have done qualitative interviews with nine childrens librarians, and in order to find the arguments presented in the 1970s, we have studied the literature regarding the mentioned discussion.

In the previous curriculum for the preschool Lpfö 98, the educational responsibility was documented belonging to all the team members. On the 1st of July 2011 a new curriculum was introduced to the preschool, Lpfö 98/10, where it is documented that the educational responsibility now belongs to the preschool teachers. According to curriculum experts at the Swedish school board this educational responsibility is not new, just a clarification of the preschool teacher?s educational responsibility.This study is a qualitative study and the purpose was to interview the preschool teachers about their thoughts concerning their educational responsibility. The purpose was also to examine if their educational responsibility has affected their role in the team at the preschool and if they believe that this has any significance for their profession.My result of the study shows that the educational responsibility of the preschool teachers now has been clarified and that they should take a leading role in the team towards the goals that are set for the preschool.

This work addresses how the book boxes that are shipped to different schools, that don?t havelibraries themselves, from the city library are composed in Karlstad municipality and whatbooks they may contain. A case study is made to find out which books can be included in theboxes. An interview with staff from Karlstad City Library is made and two different kinds ofbook boxes are analyzed. There is one book box with children books that have a genderperspective and one with fiction children books.The books are analyzed and the conclusion of this work is that it is important to know whatthe children are reading and how books can influence them.

The aim of this study is to increase the knowledge regarding the selection process of picture books by pre-school educators. My intention is to find out which criteria educators use to select the books. I have restricted the study to pre-school educators, because I wish to find out how they work with the selection process and which criteria and considerations are included. I also want to know if the children have influence in the book selection and how the books get to the pre-school.The study is based on qualitative interviews with educators at a pre-schools in my area as well as relevant publications. The questions the educators were given were semi-structured.