This master thesis is discussing ten pony books from 2006 in relation to the heterosexual matrix. It contains a rather extensive research overview regarding horse riding from a gender perspective, pony books, traditional feminist studies of girls? books and queer readings of girls? and children?s literature. The aim of the empirical study is two folded; firstly to show how the girl protagonists? horse riding is presented in terms of masculinity and femininity (as defined by Natalie Koivula), secondly to analyze the relations between the girls appearing in the books from a queer perspective attempting to find some queer leakage in the depictions.

The topic of this bachelor thesis is the promotion of easy-to-read fiction for 10-12 year old children in public libraries. The number of easy-to-read fiction books is increasing on the book market. This can be expected to affect the public library. The hypotheses for the study are: 1) Public libraries expose easy-to-read fiction and use it in their reading promotion activities and, 2) The acquisition of easy-to-read books and the use of easy-to-read books in reading promotion activities have increased over the last five years. A self-completion questionnaire was distributed to 44 public libraries in Sweden.

During the 17th century the production and distribution of printed works increased in Stockholm and Uppsala. However, all works that the publisher wanted to print, did not reach the reader. This thesis aimed to show when, where and how printed books and dissertations did not reach the reader. To achieve this aim, aspects of several well known models showing systems of book production and distribution were combined and adapted to suit Swedish conditions in the 17th century. This combined model focused on processes of selection and was presented and used as a theoretical approach.

This paper is intended to provide a picture of which associations water can wake in the human mind from the perspectives of garden history as well as from that of environmental psychology. I hope to paint a fairly broad picture of our perception of water that can serve as a basis for discussion and as a starting point for different forms of design work in landscape architecture. The historical perspective emphasizes the importance of water as a condition for the emergence of gardens and in a wider perspective the importance of water in early cultures. Also, I describe a picture of how water has been used throughout the history of gardens from early Egypt to the baroque era. The garden history analyzed from an art historical perspective gives a picture of human associations to water, and the history behind these associations is presented. As a compliment to the art history approach, I have chosen to highlight our associations with water from the perspectives of environmental psychology and evolutionary science.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate the factors of children?s voluntarily reading in their spare time. We also want to know if the children choose non-fiction books for their voluntarily reading. The method as well as the empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of twenty-eight children in ages between 9 and 12 years. We conducted nine interviews with 3?4 children in each group.

This study examines how gender is at work in four series of teaching material of Swedish in the years 7-9 of the Swedish primary school. Analyzing eight books in total, and also their respective teacher?s manuals, the study focuses on the following aspects in both texts and pictures within the books: heteronormativity, marginalization, stereotypes, equality, and also general gender related issues. Doing so, this study approaches the analyzed material with the eyes of a feminist critic. Moreover, this study applies both a qualitative and a quantitative analysis as its method of approach. Initially, the theoretical background and scientific method for this study is presented.

This Master?s Thesis aims to examine the attitudes concerning gender issues among children?s librarians. The main purpose is to examine what their views on the subject are, and if they consider gender issues when acquiring and mediating books. We are also interested in their opinions about gender stereotyping in children?s books.

The Roma people have many times, and for a long period of time been described in a negative way, as a group of people unlike every other. Both novels and encyclopedias has been a part of this misleading discourse and therefore contributed to large misunderstandings. Also scholarly research from Sweden, and elsewhere, has featured inaccurate representations of the Roma people and altogether this has created negative attitudes towards Roma people which are still today a considerable problem.However, the last few years positive changes has taken place and today the Roma people is an official minority group in Sweden which, among other things, has led to promising possibilities, especially in schools, for a deeper understanding of the Roma people in the future. Reading Roma literature I believe is an important part of this.Katarina Taikon and Hans Caldaras both consider themselves Roma. They also have in common that they want to give voice for the group of Roma that has lived in Sweden since mid-nineteenth century.

The purpose of this essay is to try and bring clarity to the question, what is Chick Lit and which factors make it so popular. My thesis  endeavors to explain that it is not only the promise of light entertainment that draws the reader, but also the possibility that in an easy way they can read about existential questions such as self-development  and life -choices.As well as mapping out Chick Lit´s specific characteristics, followed by previous research on the subject and the litterateur?s history, I have found it interesting to discuss the female characters, their personalities and life choice?s against a backdrop of existentialistic philosophy.In my research of this form of literateur I have discovered that chick lit often deals with existential universal problems, and that in order to be entertaining these books must contain a serious element..

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to study if teenage fiction, published in Swedish during the course of one year, matches what boys in eight grade claim they want to read about. The background for our work is a survey initiated by Lärarnas Riksförbund, Läsa för att lära, in 2005. The conclusion drawn in Läsa för att lära is that many children, especially boys, lose their interest in reading when they become teenagers. Information on fictional books for teenagers has been collected from Bibliotekstjänst.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to investigate the factors of children?s voluntarily reading in their spare time. We also want to know if the children choose non-fiction books for their voluntarily reading. The method as well as the empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of twenty-eight children in ages between 9 and 12 years. We conducted nine interviews with 3?4 children in each group.

Libraries exist around us and for most of us they are a part of our every day life. But how often do we stop and think about their meaning?Libraries in fiction are usually not the center of the narrative, they play a role quietly in the background and offer a backcloth to the story. Yet they are a vital part of the story. Without them a big part of the magic in the stories would be lost.And what is their role in our lives? What do the libraries mean to the books they harbor, the readers who seek them out and society in which they have their axiomatic role?This essay?s focus is my story ?Between the shelves?, which is about the young girl Julia and the mysterious passageway she discovers in her local library.

ABSTRACTIn this study I have analyzed, throughout a gender perspective, two textbooks Den levandelitteraturen and Upplev litteraturen which are purposed to be used as teaching materials inSwedish schools in the subject of Swedish when teaching the history of literature. The intentof this study was to provide a gender analysis of two textbooks and the focus was on thepresentations of female and male writers, because they have not been studied earlier. In thisstudy, a qualitative text analytic method was used to achieve the best results as possible.Theories used in this study were Yvonne Hirdman?s and Raewyn Connell?s theories. Hirdmanclaims that there are differences between men and women at different levels in the societywhile Connell believes that this is a myth because, according to her, men and women arepsychologically alike.

The history of rhetorics in documentary film is a long one. The French brothers Louise and Auguste Lumiére were among the first persons who produced a documentary and their work has had a big impression in the history of documentary during the 1900 century. John Grierson has been called ?the father? of documentary film. He produced films in the English speaking part of the world and he is the founder of the concept ?documentary film?.

This bachelor's thesis is an investigation into the public libraries'actions following the debate of Stina Wirséns character LillaHjärtat, featured in picture books and films for young children.The character was accused of being racist, due to its similarity tostereotypes such as pickaninnies. Because of this, the books'existence in public libraries was questioned.The purpose of this study is to investigate how librarians havedealt with these books, and what they have based their decisionson. To explore the background of these decisions we have usedPatrick Wilson's theory of cognitive authority (1983). We haveexamined which cognitive authorities have been used in thedecision-making process of how to handle the books containingLilla Hjärtat, and why these cognitive authorities have beenchosen. The method used in the study is qualitative interviewswith seven librarians working in public libraries throughoutSweden.The results of the interviews show that the librarians? mostprominent cognitive authorities have been authors and illustratorsof children's books.