Er fagbøger en del af børnelitteraturen?

Abstract

Is non-fiction also a part of children’s literature? In recent decades, children’s literature researchers have only considered fi ction children’s literature (Maria Nikolajeva 1998 and Torben Weinreich 2004), and certain younger researchers have shown a tendency to write about experimental books by prize-winning authors (Bodil Kampp 2002). Very few researchers have shown an interest in non-fi ction for children, and the consequence is that a great many publications for children have been overlooked. In the Nordic countries, Nina Goga’s doctoral thesis from 2008 is the only exception from this exclusive defi nition of children’s literature. In this article, I present a defi nition of children’s literature that includes non-fi ction. In this defi nition, literature means 'something written’ after 'litera’ (Latin: letter). The purposes of the article are, on the one hand, to discuss different defi nitions and characteristics of non-fi ction for children, and on the other hand to identify ways to analyze these books as literature for children. The article includes a discussion of a series of books about zoology by the Danish author Bent Jørgensen and the illustrator Birde Poulsen. One book in particular is discussed as an example of contemporary non-fiction and that is Om natten (In the Night, 2005). This book is subjected to analytical tools from literature studies, and one of the points is that non-fi ction should be interpreted and described through a textanalytical approach.

Keywords: defi nitions of children’s literature, children’s literature research, non-fi ction for children, analysis of children’s literature.

(Published: 3 March 2011)

Citation: Nordic Journal of ChildLit Aesthetics, Vol. 2, 2011 DOI: 10.3402/ blft.v2i0.5836

Note: This article is being published simultaneously in Barnboken – tidskrift för barnlitteraturforskning/Journal of Children’s Literature Research and Nordic ChildLit Aesthetics/Barnelitterært forskningstidsskrift