"Den boken hade jag aldrig läst annars"
Om barns deltagande i bokcirklar
This two years master?s thesis is about book circles for children, arranged by the public libraries in Sweden. The purpose is to gain knowledge about how children experience their participation in book circles, and how they experience their own reading. It focuses on children aged 10 to 12 years, and their leisure reading. The research questions are: What are the book circles? function for the participants? How and why do the children read? What kind of literature do they like? Do the children experience that their reading has developed through their participation in the book circles? What parts of the reading process do the book circles influence?The theoretical framework is threefold. Firstly, I have used Aidan Chambers? reading wheel, which explains the different parts of the reading process: to choose, to read and to respond to literature. Secondly, J.A. Appleyard analyzes children?s reading development through five different reader roles. Thirdly, Sten Furhammar, in his theories, finds reading to be either impersonal or personal, and that people can read either for the experience or for instrumental use. Appleyard?s and Furhammar?s theories are used to examine why and how the children read.The main method has been qualitative interviews with children participating in book circles. I have interviewed six children in total, from two different book circles, three from each. I have also made an observation at each of the two book circles, as well as talked to the librarians who lead the circles.My conclusions are that children?s reading behaviour is changed by participating in the book circles. The majority of the participant experience that they read more books and more genres than before; some of them also use their imagination more when they read. I identify several functions for book circles for children: the participants find new books to read, they discuss books, they have improved their knowledge of finding books in the library, and they have priority access to newly arrived books in the library. They also develop as readers, develop their empathy through their reading, and some of them make new friends. Most of the children read to experience the imaginary worlds offered by literature.This is a two years master?s thesis within Library and Information science.