Gender in children's books Aspects of gender in literature and among agents on the market

This Master's thesis examines some aspects of children's books for 9-12 year olds, and the children's books market, from a gender perspective. The main objective is to make a gender analysis of attitudes among children and other agents in the book market towards children's books of different qualities. Children's reflections on gender roles in the books and the importance of gender aspects for publishers in the field, are investigated. A combination of methods are used, including literary analyses, surveys of publication lists of the BTJ group Bibliotekstjänst interviews with children and questionnaires sent to children as well as to Swedish publishers of children's books. The analysis of children's books clearly shows that images of gender roles vary in different kinds of books which supports theories of gendered literature. The thesis concludes that the division of girls' and boys' literature may influence images of the opposite sex. The girls more easily cross gender barriers and are encouraged to do so in their choice of books by title which is not true for the boys. Thereby they acquire more knowledge of the boys' world and can develop an understanding and empathy for the opposite sex. The publishers did not use any common criteria for valuation and had different opinions on the importance of a gender thinking when judging a script. Most publishers considered other aspects to be more important and would not necessarily refuse a book with sexist components. Finally the thesis suggests some methods for choosing and judging children's books to librarians and teachers who wish to encourage gender positive reading.Uppsatsnivå: