The aim of this book is to broaden the understanding of picturebooks of the new millennium as found in various parts of the world, by looking at how they portray local, regional, national and/or global identity formation. Together, the various chapters discuss perspectives on current picturebooks representing different regions: Arabia, Europe and Scandinavia, and dif­ferent countries: Saudi Arabia, Canada, Australia, Norway, China, Den­mark, France, Greece, Portugal, The Faroe Islands, Cyprus and Finland.

To what extent is it meaningful to talk of a global, a regional, a national and a local identity in contemporary picturebooks? What tendencies are shared, and in which ways do the picturebooks differ between the various countries? Which visual styles can be identified? The antho­logy includes colour pictures to show the differ­ent visual styles represented.


Contents

Introduction
Åse Marie Ommundsen 7

Where is here? Landscape representations connected to local,
national and regional identity

Iconic Australia in Alison Lester’s Are we there yet?
Margot Hillel 15

Perspectives on Nature in Contemporary Arabic Picturebooks
Sabah A. Aisawi 29

Insider, Outsider Relationships: Considering the Textual Representation of Canadian Identity
Erin Spring 45

Promoting Ecoliteracy: the Challenges of Children’s Literature in the New Millenium
Rui Ramos & Ana Margarida Ramos 59


Picturebooks used to build, rebuild or strengthen national identity

Breakout or Bondage: the Nationalization of Chinese Picturebooks
Fengxia Tan 75

Tales of the King: Building National Identity in Contemporary Norwegian Picturebooks about the King
Åse Marie Ommundsen 87

‘It is forbidden to forbid’: Constructions of Frenchness through Revolution in Three Contemporary Picturebooks
Clémentine Beauvais 104


Changing identities: From national to regional or global?

Nationality in Finnish Children’s Literature – From Representations of Ethnic Difference to Representations of Culturally Diverse Society
Jaana Pesonen 119

“Do I get to choose?” European Picturebooks and the Meaning of Identity
Petros Panaou & Tasoula Tsilimeni 133

Questioning Identities through War: Representations of Victimized Children in Contemporary Picturebooks for Young Readers
Tzina Kalogirou & Vasso Economopoulou 147

National and European Identity in Six Faroese Picturebooks
Anne-Kari Skarðhamar 165

Contemporary Picturebooks in the Nordic Countries. Concepts of Literature and Childhood
Nina Christensen 183

About the Contributors 195


ISBN 978-82-7099-724-4, 201 pp., paperback
Format: 17x24 cm, weight 0,7 kg, year of publication 2013, language: English